RUSSIA
Manager: Stanislav Cherchesov
MVP: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow)
Best WC Result: 4th place, 1966
The hosts will have their work cut out for them. A poor run of form has seen expectations dip and a squad defined by its mixture of aging legs and lack of experience means that the fabled home team bias will have to be working overtime to make this one happen. Still, they have a few tidy players—CSKA’s fancied Aleksander Golovin and powerful striker Fyodor Smolov among them—and the pride of a particularly prideful nation behind them. Maybe in this relatively simple group Russia could squeak out a few surprises...
Traktir Restaurant and Royal Gourmet Deli
8151 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
We pull off Santa Monica Boulevard and poke our head into the delicatessen portion of the building, next to the restaurant. Lead past rows of shelves and food behind the plastic counter—smoked meats, sauerkraut, vodka, pickled vegetables, white wine, caviar, cured fish, dried fish, dumplings, assorted Russian snacks, and, of course, borscht—we meet the owner, grumpy but gregarious Mr. Praisma, in his office filled with papers and assorted pop culture memorabilia and paraphernalia. On the walls: a framed cover of Interview magazine starring Cybill Shepherd, a picture of a possibly drunk Bill Clinton, and several years of calendars starring former boxer Vitali Klitschko, a visitor to Traktir only a few weeks earlier.
“In the 1970s, I came to America with just five dollars and my wife,” he says. “That’s all I had. A year later I had my own business, Herb’s Meathouse in South Myrtle Ave. I didn’t speak any English but I spoke money, I spoke business. I took out a ten-year loan for my own place and paid it back in one year. Forty years later, I’m still here but with a new restaurant. Schwarzenegger’s chef would be here all day every Friday buying to buy his groceries. People come from all over to buy just from us.”
Praisma leads us from his office to the restaurant, and orders us coffees and slices of Napoleon cake—a delicious Russian variant of mille-feuille made of layered pastry and sweet cream. He switches on the television, which is playing a Champions League match.
“Do you like soccer?” we ask.
“Don’t you know who you’re speaking to?” he says. “Six decades ago, I played soccer for Ukraine! Soccer is the sport. It’s the best. It’s the only sport.”
EGYPT
Manager: Héctor Cúper
MVP: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Best WC Result: 13th, 1934
The hopes of a nation rest on one man. A man who… might be still injured. That man is Mo Salah. The wide forward’s career took a little while to get going, but this season, everything clicked: an African Footballer of the Year award, several best player awards in the Premier League, and the love and adoration of the city of Liverpool. Salah’s success has seen him named “the Egyptian King” by the enraptured fans of his new club, who have been known to sing his name long into the night to the tune ‘Sit Down’ by Britpop band James. Injuring his shoulder in the Champions League final could hamper his impact, but expect to hear ‘Sit Down’ a lot this summer if Cúper can get his side flying in unison with their standout star.
Cairo Cowboy
46 Windward Ave
Venice, CA 90291
If you’re after a cartoonishly Egyptian-themed food truck masquerading as a dive bar set just a javelin throw away from Venice Beach, where you can order decent fries to the sounds of—for whatever reason—a whole lot of ska-punk then, buddy, you are in luck.
SAUDI ARABIA
Manager Juan Antonio Pizzi
MVP: Osama Hawsawi (Al-Hilal)
Best WC Result: Second Round, 1994
You might remember Saeed Al-Owairan’s mazy run and tumbling finish against Belgium in 1994, and the flapping hands and beaming smile that came after, but look: there’s no getting around it. Saudi Arabia are one of the weakest teams in this World Cup. On paper, anyway. But soccer is not a game won on paper and with a squad full of experience (captain Hawsawi and vice-captain Al-Jassim have over 250 international appearances between them) alongside certified goal scorer Mohammad Al-Sahlawi anything could happen. Besides winning it, we mean. That won’t happen.
URUGUAY
Manager: Óscar Tabárez
MVP: Luis Suárez (Barcelona)
Best WC Result: Winners, 1930 and 1950
At the start of World Cup history, Uruguay were one of the Big Guys: Italian steel, South American flair, so many mustaches it looked like a Queen convention. But then something changed… A good five decades of near-mediocrity later, they’re resurgent, albeit with a squad that looks a little lopsided at times. A strike force that boasts Barça’s Luis Suárez and PSG’s Edinson Cavani will always be a danger, and finishing second in the South American qualifying group for the tournament is not cakewalk, but Tabárez may have his work cut out providing them a suitable base to build from in the midfield and defense.
