World Cup diary, day 19: England excitement builds in the big city

Being from the north of England originally, the first thing I noticed when I moved to London were the inflated prices, for everything. It is not as bad as people make out, but it is noticeable nonetheless.

In Moscow, in terms of the percentage price mark up of everything compared to elsewhere in Russia, it is as bad as people make out, not just simply noticeable.

A rather dodgy meal in the train station, which had been there for a while, cost almost double what I had paid earlier in the day for a fantastic Georgian lunch in Nizhny Novgorod before heading to the Russia capital.

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Then the taxi to the apartment in Moscow, in which I am finally going to spend some time, cleans me out of cash. Welcome to the big city, I suppose.

Moscow really is like nowhere else. With more than four million more inhabitants than London, Moscow is Europe’s second largest city, if you count Istanbul as completely in Europe.

The metro system, as I am sure you have seen, is fantastic. The stations are adorned with fantastic paintings, sculptures and mosaics, the mobile signal works on all of the line, and you can watch the World Cup on there. What is there not to like?

An easy journey back to the apartment and it is nice to be in somewhere a little bit nicer than some of the hotels I have been staying in.

Thoughts then turn to England, wondering just how many fans will have made the journey.

Moscow is at easy as it gets in Russia, with plenty of accommodation to fit every budget, with the smooth organisation of the tournament so far surely persuading some to make the trip over for the Colombia clash.

Riding the metro across the city after the Japan match, I was reminded how fortunate I have been to be in attendance at such a thrilling World Cup.

I actually thought England had missed a trick not securing a last-16 match up with Japan, but their exhilarating attacking football may have taken the England backline by surprise.

All too often, for work-planning purposes and getting carried away as a fan, I keep looking at England’s path to the final – will there ever be as good a chance as this?

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Colombia are not mugs. Radamel Falcao is as good as he has ever been, James Rodriguez, if fit, is up there with the very best, they have two wonderful central backs and a manager who knows his players like the back of his hand.

England haven’t, in reality, had a proper test yet. Tunisia was a better performance than the result suggested, but they are anything but a top team, Panama were out of their depth, while it became a training match against Belgium.

Therefore, it is impossible to predict the outcome, but my word, should England progress, fans can realistically start planning for the final – blimey.