The Russian government provided free public transportation on match days for ticket holders and we could take the free shuttle service S10 between Pulkovo Airport and Moskovsky railway station.

The signages for the shuttles weren't really clear and we needed a volunteer to point us to the exact location.



The journey took almost an hour and we passed through several interesting sights en-route.

Monument of the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad at Victory Square was dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Siege of Leningrad.



House of Soviets, the Stalinist-style building which used to house a Soviet research institute.



Leningrad Hero City Obelisk, located right outside of Moskovsky Station.



There was a left-luggage inside Moskovsky Station and we stored our bag for 500 RUB/bag for the day. We would retrieve it later in the evening before our train to Moscow.

With our lightened load and some time to spare, we decided to take the metro line 3 from Mayakovskaya to Gostiny Dvor in order to check out Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood.

Like all good metro stations in former Soviet Union, the stations were situated in deep underground. Mayakovskaya station platforms are around 51m deep and it took a long time even with the escalators.



The city of St Petersburg was buzzing; we could see numerous supporters from both Iran and Morocco on our walk to Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood.



The church was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 and it was completed in 1907. Although it no longer functions as a church, it is one of main tourist attractions in St Petersburg today.





There are also lots of souvenir shops and matryoshka dolls are readily available.



St Petersburg's FIFA Fan Fest was also located beside the Church of Saviour on Spilled Blood. Fan Fests are large public viewing events organized by FIFA at host cities and were inspired by the success of similar events during 2002 World Cup in South Korea. Fans could catch the matches on giant screens, enjoy entertainment and activities at Fan Fest. However, we didn't enter it due to our limited time.



Iranian fan interviewed by media along Griboyedov Canal



Portrait of a Russian boy



Kazan Cathedral is the mother cathedral of St Petersburg and is dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan, the most venerated icon in Russia.



World Cup is in the air with decorations along Nevsky Prospekt, the main street of St Petersburg.



After the quick lunch at the Golden Arches, we joined the masses heading towards the stadium. Metro Line 2 would bring us to Novokrestovskaya, a newly opened station in May 2018 and within walking distance from the stadium.

Horde of fans transferring between stations at Gostinyy Dvor and Nevsky Prospekt



Fans began cheering their teams way before reaching the stadium.


Krestovsky Stadium or Zenit Arena is the home stadium for Zenit St Petersburg, the main football club in St Petersburg. Its construction was plagued by delays and scandals; when it finally opened in April 2017, it was already delayed for almost 10 years and the cost had ballooned to 1.1 billion USD, 5 times the original estimate.

Morocco vs Iran would be the first of seven World Cup matches taking place at St Petersburg and we were impressed with the turnout of fans from both side.





Suspension bridge, part of Western Rapid Diameter, connecting Krestovsky island with Vasilyevsky Island



We had gotten our tickets through FIFA official ticket portal during the first sales phase's random selection draw last October. At that time, the identity of the teams weren't known yet and we just chose to ballot for matches based on location and schedule. Mrs and I balloted for four matches in total (two Cat 2 tickets per match; 165 USD per ticket during group stage) and had a 100% success rate.

Queuing up for security check



Match ticket



Beside the ticket, we would also need to scan our Fan IDs during the security check.

Once past the security, the fans could check out the booths set up by sponsors. Budweiser is one of them.



FIFA World Cup logo



We decided to go to our seats early.



Bought two cups of beers (350 RUB each) and managed to spill one of them before the match even started. We had wanted to purchase Coca Cola instead but only Budweiser had the special souvenir cups customized for this match.



Pre-match: Unveiling of the flags before the national anthems




It was a match pretty much dominated by the Moroccans although Iran had some good chances along the way.

Attendance of 62,548



Just as we thought that the match would end goalless, Aziz Bouhaddouz, the Moroccan striker who just came on as a substitute, managed to turn a rare Iranian corner into his own goal deep into injury time and it sent the Iranian fans around us into delirium.






Iranian players thanking their fans after the final whistle



It was also the second time ever that Iran won a World Cup match, 20 years after its 2-1 win over USA in France 98. Naturally the Iranian fans were ecstatic.




Instead of returning the same way that we came from, we decided to try out the shuttle buses. Once again the signages proved to be confusing and we had to ask the volunteers en-route. However, while they tried to be helpful, the volunteers whom we spoke to had limited English ability and seemed to struggle with comprehension and answering. We would experience similar issues in Moscow (poor signages and volunteers' weak English) and I wondered how it would be like in the smaller cities.

To reach the pick-up points, we would need to walk through Primorskiy Victory Park and it turned out that there weren't any shuttle buses that went direct to Moskovsky railway station.

Fans still celebrating / mourning at Primorskiy Victory Park



The shuttle bus would drop us off at Vyborgskaya instead. We had a quick bite at a kebab place opposite the station before connecting to Ploschad Vosstaniya, one of the metro stops for Moskovsky railway station, on Metro Line 1.

We spent the time looking through the shops before our train departure.



Schematic map of Russian Railway network



Our Fan IDs and match tickets entitled us to free transportation between host cities and there were numerous free trains between St Petersburg and Moscow on our day of travel. We chose the earliest departure at 23:36 and would arrive at Moscow the next day at 7:19.

Platform 7 where Train 027ЧА would depart.



Driving us to Moscow.