CSKA arrives in Athens

After greeting the New Year in the above - 0 temperature of Belgrade it didn’t seem that the summer weather in Greece would be anything special for CSKA. Nonetheless the difference in temperature and the general conditions was striking. In a little more than three hours on an Aeroflot flight, CSKA arrived in sunny Athens from snowy and cold Moscow. In Greece the grass was already green, the street fountains were running, and on the beach one could see not only sunbathers, but swimmers as well. The air temperature difference between the capitals of Russia and Greece was more than 40 degrees. The thermometer at Sheremetevo read –26, while in Greece the sun brought the mercury up to +17. Outside you want to stand just a few minutes longer to drink up the spring. You see, it’s not clear how much longer will have to wait for such chances in Russia.

The only minus for tourists currently in Athens is the absence of taxis. The streets, which are usually packed with yellow cars of different makes and models, look empty now. The taxi drivers union has announced a 48-hour strike, which started at midnight on January 8. The hotels, not wanting to disturb the rights of their guests, are dealing with the matter in their own way. Tourists are being offered free access to the services of minibuses belonging to the hotel. But the taxi driver strike in no way affected CSKA. The Army team is getting around on a bus offered by the hosts Olympiakos.

The Metropolitan hotel, where CSKA is staying, is located not far from the famous Peace and Friendship Sports Palace, where Olypmiakos has played its home games for many years. By the way, it is the arena in which the two clubs’ most famous game took place. The famous “poison” game. This time the arena poses no threat to CSKA. It is being prepared for the 2004 Olympics which will take place in the Greek capital. Because of this, Olympiakos is being forced to hold its home games in the comparatively small arena in the Athenian suburb of Koridaplos. The hotel is quite far from this arena—about a half an hour by car. But the Greek club is in no danger of losing fans. According CSKA video operator Sergey Makarov quoting his Greece travel guide, the country is second to the bottom of European countries in crime. Only tiny Iceland has less crime. And the majority of work for local police officers come in handling Olympiakos fans.

CSKA’s arrival has sparked a great deal of interest in the Greek press. They were the first to meet the Army team at the airport. Both Americans — Jon Robert Holden and Victor Alexander — plus head coach Dusan Ivkovic were swarmed. But most of all the journalists were anxious to talk with former Olympiakos player Teodoras Papaloukas. Whenever he was help up slightly in customs, the journalists began to shout: “He didn’t arrive!” However, these expectations were in vain. Papas, as he is called by his teammates, came out and headed for the bus.

CSKA’s practice last night was planned for a late hour. It started at 21:00 local time, meaning 22:00 Moscow time. However, that was even better. The game will start at this time, and that means that the CSKA players will have an opportunity to adjust to the slightly later time and make things a bit easier for them tomorrow.