We had a late start to the day and passed by this strawberry on the way out.



Figuring that the Red Square area would be filled with fans, we decided to head to the nearby mall first at Rechnoy Vokzal, one stop away from Khovrino, for brunch.

Moo Moo, a popular Russian restaurant, was where we had our meal. The meal came to an affordable cost of 648 RUB.



I even had time to do some shopping and bought a World Cup T-shirt from O'stin, a Russian clothing retail store, for 999 RUB.

We took the metro to Teatralnaya but found the Red Square closed to public. Not quite sure why but there were lots of fans in the vicinity of Red Square area.

Statue of Georgy Zhukov, Soviet general during World War II or "Great Patriotic War" for the Russians.



Through a Facebook group which connects fans to trade match tickets at face value, I met up with the buyer of my Poland vs Senegal tickets by Zhukov's statue. After dealing, we walked around the area for a bit and soaked in the atmosphere.

Four Seasons Moscow, one of the top luxury hotels in Moscow.



Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, dedicated to Soviet soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the Motherland.



Cooling down in the summer heat



Since we weren't able to visit Red Square, we decided to head to the stadium early via Metro Line 1 from Okhotny Ryad station.

The Mexicans were out in full force; belting out Cielito Lindo, the unofficial anthem of Mexican national football team.


We decided to follow the majority of the Mexican fans who alighted at Frunzenskaya and kept chanting and singing on their way out of the station.



A sea of green greeted us outside the station. At least several thousand Mexican fans had received the memo and would make the 3km trek to Luzhniki Stadium together.



Trump made an appearance as well.



Many Mexicans had the same idea of getting drinks at the supermarket.


The procession of Mexican fans was a sight to behold and many Russians living and working along the route came out and take photographs and videos.

Spotted a jeep with South Korean plate; it must be a long drive for these guys.



New friends



It took us roughly 30 minutes to reach Luzhniki Stadium, venue of the day's match. The original stadium was built in the 1950s and was the national stadium of Soviet Union. It was torn down in 2013 for the current stadium which was constructed at the same location.



More singing by Mexican fans. It was clear that German fans were heavily outnumbered by the Latin Americans.


The enthusiasm of the Mexican fans were infectious. It was hard not to be affected by them from a neutral's point of view.







Finally some German fans... I suspected that the World Cup being in Russia had put off some European fans from attending.



German fans attempting Cielito Lindo on behest of Mexican media


It was a long but exhilarating walk with the fans and we decided to enter early to rest our feet.

Beautiful stadium



Queuing up for F&B



Picked up another souvenir



The teams came out for warm-up in front of the fans an hour before kick off.




Unfurling of flags




Mexican fans in full voice singing Mexican national anthem.


Pre-game huddle



Despite Germany being the defending champion and the heavy favorite, Mexico took the lead against the run of play in the 35th minute with a well-taken goal by Hirving Lozano.


Pandemonium!


Mexico went into half-time 1-0 and Mexican fans were jubilant.

Second half underway



We were one of the 78,000 spectators and I estimated that more than half to be Mexicans.



Germany had lots of possession throughout the game but struggled to conjure any meaningful chances.



Although the joke was made four years ago, Mexico's keeper is still Guillermo Ochoa, aka Ted Mosby's doppelgänger.


Nail-biting finish for the Mexican fans but they managed to hold on for an upset.


No prize for guessing correctly the man-of-the-match



Celebration continued outside the stadium. I could imagine that the whole of Mexico going crazy at that moment in time.



We went back to Fruzenskaya where there was a Moo-Moo. This time round we had shashlik while the game between Brazil and Switzerland was playing in the background.



Although it was already several hours after the end of the game, Mexican fans were still revelling in their happiness on our journey back on metro.


After three consecutive days of catching matches, our World Cup journey in Russia had came to the end. Although the games that we watched were relatively low-scoring (only 4 goals over 3 games), we enjoyed the atmosphere and the upsets. Not sure if we will be heading to Qatar in 2022; this could be our last World Cup game in a long while.