The professional careers of Russian soccer players Aleksandr Kokorin and Pavel Mamaev appear to be on the ropes after the pair was filmed beating up a man with a chair in a Moscow cafe.
I know what you’re thinking. How can a penalty kick, even the most conceivably perfect one, be unique or memorable enough to be called the greatest? Trust me, you’ll think differently once you watch what Norik Avdalyan of Rubin Kazan’s reserve team did here:
This morning, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre and the United States Justice Department accused the Russian government of carrying out cyberattacks against a number of international bodies, including the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S.A Anti-Doping Agency. The coordinated announcements came on the heels…
In 2015, the World Anti-Doping Agency suspended Russia’s national anti-doping agency in the face of overwhelming evidence that the government was running a sophisticated doping operation for its top athletes. As of today—despite Russia’s failure to meet the basic conditions of its suspension, and outrage from athletes…
Russian gymnastics legend Svetlana Khorkina, when she’s not busy talking about whether American gymnasts are doping and what she really thinks of WADA (hint: she likened them to a certain WWII Axis power), can be found lending her expertise to the Russian speedskating team—she’s now listed as a “specialist” for the…
Lots of wrestlers cosplayed as commies during the Cold War. Nikolai Volkoff, who died over the weekend, was way closer to the real thing, and took his act far more seriously, than all the rest. He was 70 years old.
The four members of Pussy Riot who ran onto the pitch during the World Cup final have been sentenced to 15 days in Russian jail. They’ve also been banned from sporting events for three years. [The Guardian]
I can’t quite describe why I find this image so funny, but here it is: Vladimir Putin, grinning in the handshake line at the World Cup medal ceremony, with like the one umbrella anywhere in sight being held over his head dutifully by an attendant, while all around him are drenched in pouring rain:
Kylian Mbappé had just made a great run. Danijel Subašić saved it. The Croatian team went for a counterattack and… suddenly, there were idiots on the field.
After Croatia defeated Russia in the World Cup quarterfinal on penalty kicks this weekend, former Croatia international Ognjen Vukojevic posted a video of himself and Croatian defender Domagoj Vida celebrating in the locker room and exclaiming “Slava Ukrayini!”, which translates to “Glory to Ukraine!”
Stanley Cup winner Alex Ovechkin is wringing as much out of the offseason as he can, presumably so he can drink it while shirtless. The Washington Capitals captain took his championship tour to his hometown of Moscow this past weekend. Ovi attended a viewing party for the national team’s World Cup match against…
A wildly entertaining quarterfinal match between Russia and Croatia produced the only just and acceptable result: Croatia advancing in dramatic fashion, and the world being spared a Russia-England semifinal matchup of pure awfulness.
Fraud-ass Spain lost in penalties to rigged-ass Russia Sunday in a match that was an exercise in pure teeth-grinding frustration. Spain dominated possession but were the very worst version of their pass-happy selves, noodling around in the midfield and the attacking third but failing to play with any urgency…
If you were annoyed by the plaudits this seemingly mediocre Russia team received after their admittedly impressive, high-scoring victories over absolute joke teams like Saudi Arabia and Egypt at the start of the World Cup, then you must’ve loved seeing Uruguay bust up on the vile Ruskies in today’s 3-0 thrashing.
Yesterday Russia beat Egypt 3-1, and have now formally clinched a spot in the Round of 16 thanks to Uruguay’s victory earlier today. In fact, out of all the teams in this World Cup, it is the host country of Russia—ranked 70th overall by FIFA, behind the likes of Guinea, the Cape Verde Islands, and Burkina Faso—that…
An official social media account for Burger King in Russia posted a promotion this morning promising a reward of 3 million Rubles ($47,000) and a lifetime supply of Whoppers for any Russian woman who got pregnant with the child of a World Cup player.
A Russian lawmaker warned that Russian women should not have sex with non-white foreign men during the World Cup because they could get pregnant and end up with children who would be discriminated against in Russia, according to a Reuters report.
Oof. We figured this Saudi Arabia team would be bad, the worst in the tournament even, but we didn’t expect that. Russia just curb stomped their Saudi opponents by a score of 5-0 in a beating even uglier in real life than it looks on paper.
The last time the world turned its attention to an international soccer tournament, the Euro 2016 was marred by bands of violent Russian hooligans who spent a portion of the tournament, held in France, attacking fans from other countries. And as the World Cup kicks off in Russia, there’s good reason to worry that more…
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