Moscow: During the day England fans were planning the best and least expensive way to get hold of a ticket for the final. By evening they had crashed down to earth, as by far their largest number of travelling supporters at the tournament saw the team lose to Croatia in extra time.
Many had dared to believe after the victory on penalties against Colombia and the regulation win against Sweden that things this year could be different.
There had been huge optimism during the day that while France in the final would be a tough proposition, there was little doubt that England would make it.
In the end, it was not to be, though amid the disappointment there was also a feeling that the tournament was still something to savour, the first such World Cup for a long time. At the England end, fans stayed singing and congratulating the team for some time after the final whistle.
“It’s been an incredible run and I feel lucky to have been here for this match. I’m really excited about what this squad can do in the future,” said Kieran Davidson, a fan from Stockport who had booked a last-minute trip to Moscow after England booked their semi-final place.
A packed stadium provided an intense World Cup atmosphere for the game, after thousands of England and Croatia fans had flown into the Russian capital. After the strangely subdued atmosphere of the quarter-final victory against Sweden in hard-to-reach Samara, the atmosphere inside the tournament’s biggest stadium was electric. The Croats were out-sung for the first 70 minutes, after Kieran Trippier’s early goal, but found their voice after their equaliser, and were sent into delirium by the extra-time winner.
At England’s first two group games there were only about 2,000 fans present each time, but as fears of hooliganism and violence in Russia have so far proved unfounded, and Gareth Southgate’s team have progressed further in the tournament than most expected, the dash to Moscow commenced. Flights from across Europe on Tuesday and Wednesday were packed with England fans scrambling to make the last-minute trip. Several thousand Croats also made the journey to see their country’s first semi-final appearance since 1998, with 10 charter flights from Zagreb landing in Moscow on Wednesday.
Russia’s ministry of communications said there had been 6,300 new applications for fan IDs, the document that allows visa-free entry to Russia during the World Cup, since England beat Sweden in the quarter-final on Saturday.
While semi-final tickets remained relatively affordable before the game, going for between pounds 300 and pounds 800 from touts and online resellers, the market for final tickets was already at several times face value.
Many England fans were waiting for the result of the semi-final before shelling out. “If we win I really want to be there, but I just can’t afford the prices being quoted. I think my wife would throw me out if I spent that much. But I also don’t want to miss England in the World Cup final,” said David, a 42-year-old from Leeds. It’s a decision he will not now have to make.
Though bilateral political relations between London and Moscow are at an all-time low, there were still plenty of Russians rooting for England in the stadium, not least because Russia and Croatia have their own beef, partially stemming from the warm ties between Moscow and Serbia.
The Croatia defender Domagoj Vida added to the long-standing tensions with a video that was released of him shouting “Glory to Ukraine”, after his team had put Russia out on penalties in the quarter-final. Every time he touched the ball on Wednesday evening, the home crowd made themselves known, whistling furiously.
