Quarter Final
England v Sweden
Samara Arena
Samara, Russia
7 July 2018
Following England's dramatic penalty shoot out victory over Colombia in the Round of 16, all eyes were now focused on Samara and a Quarter Final fixture against the Swedes who had edged past Switzerland in a tense affair in St Petersburg by 1 goal to nil scored by Emil Forsberg.
More and more England fans started to wake up to the fact that the team were doing quite well and that Russia was proving a great location for a football tournament. Thankfully I had secured my ticket through the FA so didn't have to worry about competition from the mass exodus from England's shores.
The Free Lions front cover shows the moment when Jordan Pickford makes that epic safe against Carlos Bacca.
The Cosmos Arena is to the East of the centre of Samara, on the way to the airport and looks like a flying saucer. It has a capacity of 44,918 and following the Word Cup it will host the Russian Premier League matches of club side FC Krylia Sovetov Samara (Wings of Soviets).
England v Sweden
England 2 Sweden 0
Attendance: 39,991
Following a tortuous bus journey from the Wings Statue we are rewarded with an electric atmosphere at the Stadium and to make it even better it is boiling hot. Despite the copious amounts of Russian beer that I had consumed I was totally focused on this game. From the off it looked like it would be our day as the lads pressed and dominated the early stages. On the half hour Harry Maguire broke the deadlock with a corner set piece that paved the way for a bullet header that nobody was stopping.
Pickford was called to make a great save down to the left from Marcus Berg before Deli Alli headed in Jessie Lingard's cross at the far post following a fine move from Trippier. Pickford was called on again to make a fine save from Viktor Claeson and then saved one more time from Berg to secure a clean sheet and ensure that England progressed through to the Semi Final in Moscow against the winners of either the hosts's Russia of Croatia.
Day 1 - Arrival at the hotel that Booking.Com, AirBnB and FIFA Hotels refused to sanction.
Entrance to our 'Den'.
The start of the first embankment on ulitsa Maxima Gorkogo
The Volga - 1st Embankment
First impressions are good, for the first time on the Volga there are no flies.
River cruise ships
Very up market and spotless😮
First England flag spotted in Samara
River life
Two Big Marshrutka Dolls enticing
tourists into the souvenir shop.
The embankment is immaculate
Monument remembering the site of a mooring
berth for Marines during World War 2
Barge haulers on the Volga captured in a frame
The barge being hauled in the background - clever!
Contemporary Marshrutka Dolls
Volga life!
Craig and Tommy are somewhere down there???
Easily spotted by the towels borrowed from the our
utterly 'respectable' hotel 😉
On the way to collect our Free Lions we pass this Lutheran Church on Kuybysheva Street. More evidence of the German settlers known as 'Volga Deutsch'.
A first glimpse of the monument known officially as 'Wings'. The locals call it "Monument to the only Sober Russian" because both of his hands are permanently occupied!😂
View from the 'Square of Glory' to Embankment 2
'Wings' from street level.
On tour at the Best Bar in Samara (on Kuybysheva Street).
For future reference the bar is called 'турбаза ветерок' 😜
which translated means 'Camp Breeze'
Day 2 - Matchday at the He Brugge pub on Molodogvardeyskaya Ulitsa.
Early KO - It's going to get really messy
Entrance to the Cosmos Arena in Samara
England's No1 Supporter
Foot Fetish 😎
Derby, Leeds and Sunderland - All England
девочка (small girl) and девочки (girls)
in traditional costume
Ist priority - Beer tent
Posing with Craig's Sunderland flag
A melting pot of Nations
Flag hung - Bud time
....And relax
Nervous...who's nervous
Anthems
The Main West stand with the press and FIFA delegates
Sunshine on the East Stand
Swedes in the North Stand
England's Top Boy in the South Stand
Walking back we pass the statue of the only Sober Russian
Russian ladies supporting England
Day 3 - The Storm
Me and Craigski are caught in a terrible storm whilst swimming in the Volga and had to run to for the safety of higher ground
Like two good Christians we go on a Grand tour of Churches.
Above is the Polish Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart (Frunze Street).
The Russian Orthodox Church (Icon of the Mother of God) also on Frunze Street
Iversky Convent
Fire Watchtower
No 908 has just arrived to take me home
Day 4 - Culture
Stalin's Bunker was dug using 'hand tools' by a work force who were sworn to secrecy about the project. Built between Feb and Oct 1942 it was created as an alternative HQ in Kuybyshev (now Samara) for the High Command of the Soviet Armed Forces, should Moscow fall. The main bunker is located 37 meters under ground and has 8 floors.
At the entrance to Stalin's Bunker is a stained glass window of the former Soviet leader.
We start the tour with a Geography lesson.
Stalin's Office
"Priviet Joseph speaking"
Operations Room
Samara Drama Theatre
and Nikolaya Chudotvor Church
Down to Embankment 2
"Wings" in all of his glory
Our guide crashes her car against the kerb just so me and Craig can get this photo (so Russian)😎
The R-7 Rocket known as 'Soyuz' is the show piece at the Space Museum, but Natasha didn't like this place so refused to take us, she had different plans ✋
Instead we were driven out of Samara to Tolyatti. On the way we passed scenic views of Samarskaya Luka National Park and the Zhiguli Mountains
The only sober Englishman at the Heli Pad.
The mighty Volga stretching out to Samara
On arriving at Tolyatti me and Craig were taken to a huge Army Museum by our Russian guide who proudly boasted of the former Soviet Union's military might. To be honest it was really impressive!
T-72
The show piece is this gigantic submarine
...Tango Class Submarine B 307
Craig and I are completed taken back by this exhibit, especially when we found out that that it sailed down the Volga, was hauled out of the river and shipped by road to the Sakharov Open Air Technical Exhibition.
...rockets and stuff
...towers, guns, bombers
..more tanks
...more rockets
I'm like a kid in a sweet shop
After our exhausting day we took Natasha for dinner at a motorway restaurant. We ate local Volga Catfish and Cabbage Soup (щи)😮
I don't know who this is but it's my last Samara photo.
I totally loved this place.
No comments:
Post a Comment