The red and white train just keeps rolling along. In the city where Russia’s space programme shot for the moon, England’s footballers have now entered their own near-earth orbit. There they go now, a little giddy but still upright, out there floating in their tin can, high above the world.
It has been a month and a day in Russia, all the way from the fly pits of Volgograd, to Kaliningrad on the Baltic, and now on to Samara, a city lodged in the humid armpit of the south-east. But after Wembley in ’66 and Turin more than a quarter of a century ago, a 2-0 defeat of Sweden means England will now decamp to the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow to play Croatia for a place in a World Cup final.
Written by Barney Ronay at the Samara Arena
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/jul/07/gareth-southgate-science-rockets-england-towards-moon-world-cup-semi-final under the title “Gareth Southgate’s science rockets England towards the moon | Barney Ronay”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
