World Cup Gives a Glimpse of a Happier Russia
The festive, friendly atmosphere won’t last beyond the monthlong competition, but it shows what could be.
Artem Dzyuba is having his moment.
Photographer: William Van Hecke/Corbis/Getty Images
Artem Dzyuba, No. 22 on the Russian national soccer team, has scored a goal in each of of Russia’s winning games against Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the 2018 World Cup. He is probably the most fitting symbol of the event, which is all about surprising external transformations.
The lumbering, 6-foot-5-inch son of a cop and a shop assistant from a Moscow concrete slum was once accused of stealing cash from a Spartak Moscow teammate (he denies it) and exiled to a second-rate Siberian club. Now, he’s almost 30 and nearing the end of his soccer prime. He spent the last season at Arsenal Tula, which placed seventh in the Russian Premier League. At the World Cup, though, he's displaying a fluid freedom and a joy of playing that no one expected. Russian fans jokingly call him Dzyubinho because he’s so unlike light-footed Brazilian stars like Ronaldinho or Philippe Coutinho. But during the Egypt game, a German commentator described one of Dzyuba’s goals as “Technisch klasse,” the highest compliment in the country of the reigning world champions.