FUTBOL!!!

As just about everyone knows, soccer is a big deal in Europe. We as Americans really couldn't give two excrements about the game, but over here, you (could potentially - I've heard it happens) get stabbed or at least beat up for wearing the wrong team's scarf or just saying that you support a different team. That said, given that I've never watched any sporting event in an open stadium, let alone a boring ass...err...a soccer game, I decided that I would go ahead and accompany my friends from our dorm to go see the game between Локомотив (LOCOMOTIVE) and some other team that I will call the Kansas City Royals because of their uniform colors (and because they played about as well as the Royals).

I was a little apprehensive about going at first given all of the crazy stuff that I've heard about Europeans at soccer games (riots, stabbings, etc.) but given that the game wasn't between the two biggest teams in Moscow, I figured everything should be ok.

We met at the transfer to the red line and took the metro about five stops, got out, and headed to the stadium, just following the stream of people. Outside there was a big locomotive (for obvious reasons).

The home team's mascot, I guess.

We made our way inside and after about twenty minutes, the pregame started, with announcements of each home team player's name, followed by a thunderous response by the crowd of the last name.

Round-flag shaking during the pregame stuff and the anthem.

From there the PA announcer mentioned that the crowd should try and refrain from racial slurs (no, seriously) and the players made their way onto the field.

As the game got underway, I noticed quickly that Russians really love their cheers. They yell in perfect synchronization with hand movements and everything. I'm not really sure how they decide which cheer is appropriate for what part of the game, but they definitely were on the same page with each other. Here are some examples. I can only imagine what it would have been like if the stadium had been full.

As you can clearly see, these guys love them some soccer. However, as I watched, I noticed a strange Locomotive-supporting flag. You can imagine my surprise when I saw a familiar American symbol with slightly different colors...

I gotta be honest, I don't like watching soccer. I enjoy playing it, but man, it's so boring when you're not in on the action. What made it worse was that the Royals just could not do anything against Локомотив. I kid you not when I say that the Локомотив side of the field looked like this pretty much the entire time I was there.

I wanted to leave early on (yeah, yeah, beyond not liking the sport, I just don't like watching sports with a bunch of other people) but I decided to stay until Локомотив scored, since I knew the Royals wouldn't be doing it. Eventually a Лок. player got tackled near the other goal and got a penalty kick, which led to the first score of the game:

After that I figured that the lead would hold, so I left. Apparently Locomotive scored two more times quickly after I left, making their margin of victory 3-0.

I liked the game, though it was about what I expected - good environment, not an exciting sport for me. I'd recommend it, though.