infamous

Yeah I was still able to use my FAN ID (Which acts as a visa) from the World Cup on my second visit to Russia in 2018 but a friend of mine who travels extensively told me he didn't write everywhere he has been. I don't think they are that thorough about it. They would receive around 20+million of these applications a year.

Been to Russia twice last year (World Cup 2018, Rangers vs Spartak) never had much drama. They get 40 million tourists a year. They don't check it too vigorously. Don't sweat it.

Selected tickets for Semi Final and Final. Also selected 2 games in St Petersburg as loved it there during the World Cup, became my favourite city. Will wait for draw to see where else to go.

Exactly, lets compare the stats from recent games. Not saying they are world beaters but they made the Quarters of the World Cup, Russian clubs normally compete well in european club competitions too.

Will be genuinely shocked if we can get 4 points against Russia lol.

Solid performance, some confidence from that. A meaningless tie given we need 4 points in our two matches with Russia.

That's true they don't travel well. They do seem to have some decent depth given they have had important players regularly out of the squad for the past 18 months. With that they still managed a Quarter Final at the World Cup and have had stable results. I disagree on saying they struggled with Cyprus, I just finished watching the match and Russia thoroughly outplayed Cyprus. On another day I feel the Russians could have put 4 or 5 past Cyprus, finishing was dreadful and one of the 2 disallowed goals was definitely not offside. The Russians are quite mobile, weak at the back. If we fail to win we can forget about finishing in the top 2. Cyprus had 0 shots on target over 90 minutes.