By Brady Lang

Local fan experiences World Cup firsthand

Jul 5, 2018 | 12:00 PM

For the past few weeks North Battleford-born Lee Kormish has been 7,000 kilometres away from his home city attending the biggest tournament in the world.

This year is Kormish’s fourth consecutive World Cup, and he was able to talk with battlefordsNOW about his experience so far at the tournament.

How has the World Cup gone so far?

They’re saying this might be the best World Cup of all time. One of the big reasons is the unpredictable results and how small countries are able to beat the best teams in the world. Messi is out and so is Ronaldo. Those are the two best players in the world.

What has been your favourite moment so far?

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England winning on penalties. England faced their greatest fear, the penalty shootout, and they conquered it. They had never won on penalties, getting eliminated from numerous World Cups. It was a massive break of the jinx.

What has the atmosphere been like?

The atmosphere is so good; it’s brought by the fans travelling here. The South Americans have brought their A game. These countries are absolutely amazing. They’re out in droves. There were tens of thousands of Argentineans at their matches and the stadiums get so loud. It’s incredible.

There was so much pride shown in Russia for their country and for their players. The game of football, I don’t think there’s a lot of people in Canada that realize or have ever experienced how big it really is outside of our country.

What has the disparity been like this year?

It’s added life to the tournament. Typically, you have Germany left, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, you’ve got Argentina, and it falls into place for them. Now you have a bracket with one side of it, you’ve got Russia playing Croatia, you’ve got Sweden playing England, and one of those four teams are going to be in the final. It’s added life and colour to the tournament and it’s really given outside nations belief that they can win and compete in these tournaments.

How has the host country, Russia, handled the tournament?

There was a fear placed in a lot of people in coming here for this tournament. There was a lot of doubters about the safety and security. A lot of that is a perception of the past. These are all normal people. I’ve travelled a lot around the world and I’ve never felt a place where people have had so much pride in their country and making sure you enjoy your experience.

We had a guy drive us 600 kilometres from Saratov to Saransk. He was going to charge us $30 each, we got it out and he said ‘no, we like you boys and I don’t want to take your money, this was a fun experience.’

What are the travel times like at the tournament?

We’re looking at 600, 700 kilometres a day between cities. In a 55-hour stretch we went 2,000 kilometres in minivans paying $60 per 1,000 kilometres, which included three matches in Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and back to Moscow, so you really get the miles here. I work 47 months to live this one month, and it hasn’t disappointed whatsoever.

Who do you think will end up winning the World Cup?

France has every ingredient needed for a world champion. I picked France three years ago to win this tournament and they’re showing everything a championship team needs to show. They played a little bit boring at the beginning but they got through the group stage. They had a difficult match against Argentina which they showed their true colours. I think things are going France’s way.

brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangCJNB