If Carlos Vives sings that "the city of New Orleans is similar to Barranquilla", it could very well be said, with all its gigantic proportions, that "the city of Moscow is similar to Bogotá". And let it be clear that it is not because of its spectacular underground metro. No doubt about it.

It is similar in terms of its climate. On the morning of this Tuesday, the thermometer reached 19 degrees with a scorching sun, like that of the Cundinamarca savanna that reddens the cheeks when, in addition, the cold breeze blows. Just at one o'clock in the afternoon, the sky turned gray and before 1:30 it was already raining. It was a shower of small, scattered drops.

The Red Square, the most symbolic site in the center of Moscow, was closed for a while to tourists and visitors who have come to this city of myths and legends on the occasion of the start of the World Cup tomorrow. June 12th is Russia Day. Yesterday was a holiday. The Declaration of National Sovereignty was celebrated: in 1990, the Russian Federation became independent from the Soviet Union.

In one of the bars next to the square, next to an image of a mustache and goat; that of Colonel Sanders in a Kentucky Fried Chicken and not of Lenin's mustache and goat,

groups of fans from Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico are pouring out among glasses of beer at different tables.

And in a first World Cup match, they challenge each other with chants: "How could I not love you...!", shout the Peruvians as they bang the table. "Go, Peru: damn it!", the war cry that they have repeated without getting hoarse ends the chant. "Russia, tell me how it feels to have your dad at home...", the Argentines sing in response, without stopping, as they did four years ago in Brazil. The Brazilians take their turn and respond "we have come to be champions", a chant with the same rhythm as the chants from the River Plate bars. It's not samba.

The group of Colombians can only manage to repeat "Co-lom-bia, Co-lom-bia, Co-lom-bia!", which always ends in that furious shout so typical of the land, as they wave a flag and move around a plastic imitation of the FIFA World Cup Trophy 'made in China' that is worth 5,000 pesos in the street markets of Bogotá and is a sensation here: everyone borrows it to grab it and kiss it like the champions, while taking photos with their cell phones.

That being said: Argentines, Peruvians, Brazilians, and Colombians come together to sing "It's for Chile that watches it on TV", encouraged by a multicultural group of journalists with cameras and microphones trying to save the workday.

The sun shines at 9 o'clock at night and in the rest of Moscow it seems like they don't know that a World Cup is about to begin here. Only in the surroundings of Red Square do some of the 25,000 fans who, according to official data, will arrive for the World Cup make noise...

GABRIEL MELUK
Sports Editor
Special envoy to Russia
Moscow
On Twitter: @MelukLeCuenta