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I though I will never say this: “VPERED ROSSIYA” !!!
In fact, I thank Russian football team for such a wonderful game their treated us to tonight. TRULY AMAZING STUFF!!
Many simply love the Dutch football team and the way they play(-ed) football since the times of the total football invention by Johan Cruyff and his friends. They/we love it for their game's beauty, attractiveness, openness and flare. This sense of somehow granted (actually, well earned) support and expectations on each occasion for them to be better than their opponents did not occur tonight. We did pretty much offer this automatic support until the few minutes into the tonights game, only until we realized how amazingly play the Hiddink's coached Russian team.
On the other hand I personally never supported Russians, let alone their football squad. Quite on contrary. In most general terms, I grew up disliking the way Moscow influence (-ed) Serbian society, culture and politics, and think that they were/are the worse thing ever happened to Serbia in terms of the unavoidable foreign influence by much bigger countries and cultures. Turkish and German influence by contrast I view as brief and terrific. The Soviet-designed ways are still all around as, from the army and secret services, to the militant health system and all present partism and clientalism. I really dislike .... "the way the Moscow talk..the way it walks". I find Dostoevsky loony, Chekhov lousy, Tolstoy boring, their stew-like borsch disgusting, and stiling unattractive. Simply, I really dislike pretty much anything Russian that reaches Serbia these days and try to keep away from it. Till tonight that was. (remark: some people took this personally and I apologize for this. Having many Russian speaking friends I felt I should explain myself, see the new endnote)
YET…tonight during the Holland Vs. Russia EURO 2008 quarterfinal match I was so much enjoying the un-be-fuck-n-livable game of the Hiddink’s team led by cosmic Andrei Aershavin and his comrades that I thought that I am treated to a joy not possible. Russians played UNBELIEVABLY attractive, really! I only have seen Cruyff’s Holland, Platinis’s France, and few more teams play it like it. They were precisely executing passes and pounding the Van der Sar's goal like it is practice! I just could not believe it with my own eyes! Russian's players were running and running and passing and passing for two hours straight! They locked the Dutch play completely, the half dozen of 20m-ish free kicks were the only Dutch chances. Van Basten boys could not believe what is happening to them, they were clearly amazed and confused. They surely expected no such excellent tactical and physical game by Russians, nobody did, but I am sure that amazing Hiddink did!
Tonigh it was famous tika-taka but by the incredible Russians and not Spaniards.
I am sure that nobody but the Dutch themselves wonted their team to actually win tonight, especially not after it was obvious the absolutely wonderful way Russians were playing tonight—some cosmic football rarely seen these days.
END NOTE: Some people protested about my anti-borscht article this is my response
Firstly, sorry to see my borscht dislike was taken literally and personally.
I would never say that for the borsch you any of my friends made for me but than I wonder if any of them would pick borscht to prepare :-) I am open to be convinced that the borscht has comparative edge and I'll take it out of the list. I think this is fair. The same way I would try with you and czevapcziczi should you express disliking with it. But then I'd not expect you to think Kosovo is Serbian should you start liking szevapcziczi.
Hence, I may like better some better made borscht, I even may dig out some contemporary Russian singer (besides the ridiculous guy who won the 2008 Eurovision) that I could like, but I really can not judge current Russian imperial foreign politics but authoritarian and devastating for the nascent Serbian democratization.
Actually I missed listing of made in Russia things that I like since would not fit the article spirit, which means what I listed is truthfully: I did not like borscht, while the attractiveness of the Russian kitchen I know exactly matches the level of amount of good things reaching Serbia from Russia these days. Sorry to say, but really these days Russia is making an historic low in Serbia with its authoritarian and etatist advances.
To be honest it so easy to feel these days in Serbia about Russian exports as Poles/Checks/etc in 1950's. It is completely different thing that there are good things over there that can not surface in Russia itself let alone reach Serbia.
At the end of the day the borscht is just a paradigm, and one liking it like you do or disliking it like me is beside the point.
I LOVE MY RUSSIAN SPEAKING FRIENDS but I JUST SO STRONGLY DISLIKE PUTIN AND 60 YEARS OF MOSCOW INFLUENCE TO BELGRADE!!!