Maybe it's a good thing Ireland didn't qualify after all... State news agencies in Russia are reporting that pitches on World Cup stadia in the country could be susceptible to locusts. Pyotr Chekmaryov who oversees plant protection for the state spoke of the possibility of a locust plague hitting the football pitch:
We have more or less learned how to deal with locusts, but this year I’m afraid we could end up in an international locust scandal. Soccer fields are green. Locusts like places where there is a lot of green. What if they fly to the places where football is played?
Speaking at a conference of agricultural experts, Chekmaryov said it Russia's responsibility to make sure that the Russians do not “disgrace ourselves in front of global society, especially where we will have guests from all over the world. Doesn't he sound like your mother when she tells you to clean up before the guests come over?
Chekmaryov name checked the Volgograd region as a particular worry, which is where England play one of their group games against Tunisia.
Now I don't know about you, but I can think of nothing more satisfying than sitting down to watch England play Tunisia in June and seeing a literal plague of locusts descend on the pitch decimating everything before them, including Eric Dier. How's that for sour grapes? Sure while we're at it let's have it raining frogs as well. In for a penny...
H/T: Associated Press
