‘The Different Perspective’: Episode 1

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Sports Scene’s special program “The Different Perspective” aims to invite celebrates from different industries to talk about the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Host Mike Fox has sat with Club Football Chairman Rowan Simons and two Russian students who studied in China on Wednesday for the first episode, talking about the upcoming match between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Group A’s schedule/Sports Scene photo

Russia and Saudi Arabia are the lowest-ranked teams that have qualified for the tournament, and will chase the opening victory later tonight. Russia have failed to win in seven non-competitive attempts since beating the Republic of Korea (ROK) in October, while Saudi Arabia have lost three consecutive friendly matches – including against strong opponents Italy, and defending World Cup champions Germany.

Club Football’s chairman Rowan Simons said both the opening match would be extremely interesting and the host Russia might take both the opening and the first victory Russia have won at the World Cup since 2002 with local fans passionate supporters.

Before the first match, the opening ceremony will feature Robbie Williams and Ronaldo. Ma In’s international journalist Anastasia Sukhoretskaya said some traditional Russian elements, such as Matryoshka dolls would also be included.

From a non-sporting perspective, Sukhoretskaya thought that a big tournament or event will develop the host cities and countries and the new stadiums, built in different Russian cities for the World Cup, will be used by the public after the games finish. In addition, Russia's World Cup also benefits the country from a traffic and infrastructure perspective.

In the last part of the interview, two Russians taught some easy words such as "come on," and "rubbish", which would be used frequently during the tournament.