SARANSK: You get the first hint after turning up at Mordovia Arena’s media entrance. Instead of the usual bustle and long queues, there are just a dozen volunteers and security guards looking at you in amusement. Then you enter the media centre. Instead of journalists trying desperately to find a seat, there is emptiness. In every World Cup, especially during the last round of group games, there are matches of paramount importance, where a second of distraction can be the difference between teams staying in the tournament or going home.
Then there are the dead rubbers; teams with nothing to gain or lose having one last kick-about before boarding their flights. On Friday, most of the games were of the former variety. There was Senegal taking on Colombia in Samara, with a Round of 16 spot at stake, and Japan fighting to stay in the tournament against an already-eliminated Poland in Volgograd. Then in Kaliningrad, England was fighting Belgium for the top spot in Group G (though that later turned out to be the worst game of the night). But thanks to geography and curious coincidences, a couple of us found ourselves at the only meaningless game of the night, one that few fans or journalists were interested in: Tunisia taking on Panama in far-flung Saransk, a good 700 km away from Moscow.
The first thing anyone disembarking from one of the “free ride” trains instituted by the Russian government — truly the biggest hit of the tournament — were dozens of people advertising rooms for rent, hoping for one last financial windfall before the World Cup left Saransk forever. Sadly not enough had made the trip down to fill Saransk’s rooms. There were just a few hundred Panama and Tunisia fans. On the streets, people were flogging every last bit of their merchandise, ranging from overpriced Matryoshka dolls to World Cup merchandise, that will now presumably find a home in some dusty attic. The approach to the beautiful stadium — unfortunately a future white elephant— was unusually lonely, with volunteers far outnumbering fans, turning up early to plant signs and banners. But, by the time the referee had signalled kickoff, the 45,000-capacity stadium had seen quite the footfall. There were fans of both teams, but the majority were ordinary Russians who had finally found tickets to a game that hadn’t been hogged by visiting aficionados.
The game itself was a delight! There were no permutations to consider, no resting players for tougher tests and no desire from either team to hold back. Both considered the other to be beatable and unleashed waves and waves of attacks as the thousands of neutrals roared every move on. The not-so-neutrals contributed their own flavour to the atmosphere with their unique antics, banging on drums and singing songs. First came a Panama goal that had their supporters dancing, then two by Tunisia in the second half. The last act featured Panama throwing the kitchen sink in a bid to net their first-ever World Cup point, but in vain. After the final whistle, both teams were applauded off the pitch for their efforts.
Not exactly the best football of the edition, but a decent game played to a great atmosphere. Elsewhere England and Belgium were booed off the field after playing out one of the worst matches of the tournament, neither wanting to win so that they could avoid Brazil in the quarters. Maybe a dead rubber isn’t such a bad thing after all!
vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com