The Russian government approved Friday rules on subsidising construction of infrastructure for the 2018 football World Cup for a total of over 5.5 billion rubles ($151 million, 113 million euros).

Last week Monday, I wrote in my column in the Vanguard Newspapers that we will be banned by FIFA. The closing paragraph was “…..Let no one be deceived that the bluff of a FIFA sanction can be called. It will paralyse football in this country, turn us into a pariah state and hit the youth of this country who will be thrown out of all football competitions until we learn to operate by the rules “

Ronaldo is a staff of Transporte Metropolitano. He speaks passable English and was glad that he met me to rehearse the language. He saw me at the Fabaguara Subway studying a map on the connections I had to make to get to Itakira where Corinthians Stadium is located on top of a hill.

What a thrill to be part of the World Cup in the very acclaimed home of football, Brazil.
But I will not be here for long. I will soon be heading home. However, the little I have seen has been satisfying. The football culture, the friendly Brazilian people and their ever exciting women.

It’s another world cup, and this time, it’s in Brazil, the street party capital of the world except now they are pretending not to be in party mode (what with all the demonstrations and all). It can only be expected that there will be big hair, pouty lips and miles of flesh in abundance. Not only are Brazillian women famed to be some of the world’s most beautiful, they are also the women who have had the most plastic surgeries. As the football goes on, a million and one side shows carry on simultaneously, mostly involving dance, cavorting and ‘behind-the-scenes’ action.