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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

World Cup stars protected but magic of fans endures

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Almost 10,000 miles separate Yekaterinburg and their school in Montevideo but for a group of Uruguayan children, Jose Gimenez’s 89th-minute winner felt within touching distance.


As they bolted out of the classroom door and sprawled around the playground outside, some leapt, others soared with their arms outstretched, and the rest just ran.


In physical terms, teams and players at this World Cup have never been further away or more hidden from their fans.


And yet, the fans still have a huge influence on football’s global showpiece.


In the streets of the Iranian capital Tehran on Friday, a traffic warden was being scooped up by cheering supporters, hoisted onto a pair of shoulders after his country had just beaten Morocco for their first World Cup win in 20 years.


Iran midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh said: “We are not in Iran but I have spoken with my family and friends and they say people are going crazy in the streets and that’s all that matters.”


All the leading contenders in Russia are billeted in carefully chosen locations, screened by trees, walls or bolted gates.


Germany are staying behind a thick concrete wall in the midst of forest in Vatuinki, 45 minutes away from Moscow, Brazil are in a luxury hotel complex in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, 20 minutes out of the city, and England are based in Repino, an hour’s drive from Saint Petersburg.


Security in Russia is tighter than at any previous tournament and spontaneity so squeezed that any hint of it is greeted with a combination of surprise and celebration.


England’s Kieran Trippier and Jesse Lingard tossed a few balls down the bowling lanes at the hotel where journalists covering the team are based, and within seconds the pictures and videos had been posted online.


It is perhaps why the ecstasy that spilled out in Tehran and Montevideo is so cherished, with World Cups owning a unique power to bring people together and make them feel a more tangible part of the story.


Before their hard-earned draw with Argentina on Saturday, Iceland supporters gathered in Moscow’s Zaryadye Park to perform the Viking Clap, a ritual now so established it has its own emoji.


Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson still maintains the habit of meeting supporters in a bar before games, a throwback to an era before fans, miles away, were left connecting only with each other. — AFP


Thomas Allnutt


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