PR101 wrote in #8
We can understand the English envy toward Russia.. Russia and Great Britain were two great empires in 19th century but whereas Great Britain failed to rise from the ashes of the collapse of the European empires of the 19th century, Russia went through several dramatic transformations, transformations which were both great and some which were tragic.. The English have accepted their subordinate position with respect to the U.S but for historical and political reasons, it is hard for the English to accept Russia played key role in shaping in the 20th century and will play key role in shaping the future of 21th century. .It is about time the English learn to accept that Russia is big, rich and strong and start doing business with Russia. There will be lot of business opportunities in Russia in the 10-20 years, the English should start respecting Russia and do business with Russia.. Russia was the logical choice for hosting world cup 2018..
I think you need to have a lye down in a dark room! Most of us in England dont really care about Russia or the USSR's past, this is about a corrupt FIFA which goes against our renowned "fair play". A bit by any of the other countries would of involved their whole country but with the Russia bid its just the western side of the country, what about the poor folk who will not benefit from regeneration in the east?

Every western country should boycott that 2018 World Cup and 2022 World Cup as well. It's time for now on western Europe and South America to organize their own football tournament. Last World Cup in South Africa was disaster even for vuvuzela horns alone.

It's totally unacceptable that World Cup is given to Russia or Qatar over some great football countries such as England, Spain, Holland etc.  

We can understand the English envy toward Russia.. Russia and Great Britain were two great empires in 19th century but whereas Great Britain failed to rise from the ashes of the collapse of the European empires of the 19th century, Russia went through several dramatic transformations, transformations which were both great and some which were tragic.. The English have accepted their subordinate position with respect to the U.S but for historical and political reasons, it is hard for the English to accept Russia played key role in shaping in the 20th century and will play key role in shaping the future of 21th century. .It is about time the English learn to accept that Russia is big, rich and strong and start doing business with Russia. There will be lot of business opportunities in Russia in the 10-20 years, the English should start respecting Russia and do business with Russia.. Russia was the logical choice for hosting world cup 2018..

Mark Of course, as you have correctly noted, I was referring to WWII in which time Russia won over the Axis forces and paid the price for resisting the Nazi war machine with 30M soviet lives. I do not know how dirty or clear FIFA is.. but the greatest hypocrisy I see is assertion that the "Clean" English bid lost to corrupt Russians!From this follows the assertion that the reason why Russia won is because Russia must have used money and bribery to win this bid! This is disgrace because the English should know this bid was given to Great Russia.…This bid was given to largest country in the world, the winner of WWII, the land of so much greatness and also so much tragedies.. The England’s bid not only failed to win this bid but it lost badly. Little England is not Great Russia..

PR101,   It seems that you're overexcited here. Modern or New Russia - yes, your "Great Russia" is either so archaic or unheard of that I doubt anyone cares to remember on this occasion. 

I imagine PR101 is actually referring to WW2 rather than WW1, in which Russia was defeated by Germany.
Undoubte dly, congratulations are due to Russia, which will, I am sure, provide an entertaining spectacle in 2018. However, people in England are very concerned about FIFA, an organisation tainted by corruption and a bidding process that was at best woefully lacking in transparency and, at worst, an utter farce and disgrace. Our free media has obviously ruffled a few feathers, and probably caused England to lose the bid, but I think English people would rather have a free media than host a sporting tournament. 
Nevertheless - congratulations to Russia, a country I have always personally admired and one that will, I am sure, do itself proud. I hope there will be at the very least heat, foot and water in St Petersburg in 2018.

Sorry, Roger. I admit that I used the word "British" too freely regardin g this matter. I forgot, that in the context of the topic, it makes difference -- British vs. English.

As a result of the Sunday Time's investigation, six Fifa's officials have been suspended and four more are in question after the BBC's "Panorama" report for their alleged willingness to sell their votes to a higher bidder. British have all rights to doubt Fifa,  and it shouldn't be such a surprise that some headlines call it " England has been robed". The general mood is that, according to Fifa's drive into new territories for commercial and legacy reasons, Russia is best placed to host. The English football's wealth and its global reach make little difference in terms of desire for cash-cow Fifa's prize.  

Congrats to Russia. You won it, you need it and FIFA see this. What is annoying from our part is if FIFA wanted to give the WC to countries who have not had it before and will have more of a legacy, why did they let the likes of England and Spain bid? It was a waste of money which could of been spent elsewhere if this was known before.

I for one am looking forward to my free travel round Western Russia, once I have bought tickets of course!

I'm delighted for Russia and hoping that Brits will bring back happy memories of their experience in Russia 2018.  I'm not sure that the FIFA officials used any criteria of "charisma" in making their decision. Attributing 'failure' to the team England "boring " presentation is equal to attributing a 'sparkling' credit to ex Mrs Justin Portman ( Natalya Vodyanova). There has been a lot of 'postmortem' in British media which is normal occurrence following an unfulfilled expectation and public overoptimism. T he "Panorama" investigation report and other articles on alleged corruption allegations of FIFA will certainly gain momentum thanks to British investigative journalists. I don't think that their intention is to harm team Russia.   &nb sp;