Russia’s National Soccer Team Does Not Advance Into The 2010 World Cup Finals – National Calamity?
Image by Flickr user Natahen
Today, the Russian national soccer squad lost in the second leg of the qualifiers for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa. The team lost to Slovenia -- 0-1. This means the Russian team will not be going to the World Cup championships in June of next year. And, it is something that still has not quite sunk in for many soccer fans back in Russia. The Russian-language sports channels are discussing nothing but soccer, analyzing every move that the Russian players made in that match to try to understand where the things went wrong. But, the general atmosphere is that of disbelief and confusion.
Now, soccer was always a big thing in Russia. And, I mean BIG. However, in the decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the level of soccer in Russia has subsided to well below average. But, the love for the beautiful game has been resurrected after a strong showing of the team at the 2008 European Championships. Out of nowhere, Russia advanced from the group stage, past the Netherlands and into the semifinals to wind up with a bronze medal in the end.
Ever since, soccer has been the nation’s obsession. Now, as Russia was trying to make it into the 2010 World Cup, the entire country was holding its breath before Wednesday’s game with Slovenians. Russians won the first game on home turf in Moscow - 2:1 last Saturday, but the victory meant nothing until the second and final match in Slovenia. But, the stars just were not aligned for the Russian team today – with two red cards, a messed up player formation and sub par fitness levels, there was little that the team and the head coach Guus Hiddink could really do.
In any case, I am already looking forward to the World Cup championships in South Africa next summer, albeit I will have one less team to cheer for.
The Creator Of Kalashnikov AK-47 Rifle Turns 90: One Of A Kind Life Story
The infamous AK-47 rifle, a creation of the Soviet inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, has turned military thinking on its head. Light and unpretentious, yet effective and reliable, AK-47 has firmly established itself as a key weapon in the arsenals of over 100 different countries. But who was the man behind the notorious AK-47?
By now, Kalashnikov’s name has become a brand and an unofficial symbol of Russia. Many people still think Kalashnikov is the name of a military lab, not someone’s last name. It gives me shivers to think how many people have been killed with AK-47 over the years, but the life story of its creator -- Mikhail Kalashnikov is something that has always fascinated me. In a sense, he is the embodiment of the Soviet dream, which in analogy to the American dream, saw him rise from rags to riches. The seventeenth child in his family and a high school dropout, he achieved the popularity of an inventor of the most commonly used weapon in the world. And, it is his incredible life story that makes many Russians take personal pride in his invention.
His name was officially declassified only fifteen years ago and it was than that the world first saw a human face behind the powerful AK-47. Kalashnikov created his weapon in the trenches of World War II as a sergeant with virtually no technical background. But, his creation saw him rise in military ranks to general-lieutenant and earned him a Ph.D. in technical studies.
But, Kalashnikov is not your typical weapons designer. At 5 feet 3, Kalashnikov wrote poetry and says he would have become a writer if it was not for the War. He says he never profited from the sales of his rifle and always wished he would have rather invented a lawnmower…
And, at 90, he keeps on plugging away at his test lab in Izhevsk, getting up every morning to get to work and tickle his inventor’s bone. For his 90th birthday, President Dmitri Medvedev bestowed Russia’s highest honourary title upon Kalashnikov, the man who is one of the few remaining walking legends that modern Russia has inherited.