Nah, not big football person. However Russia has left a good impression on the people from my country who has gone there.
For most of my life, people who have gone to Russia are both the kinds of people who were more inclined to appreciate the "glorious revolution" Russia-of-the-everyman and more likely to be unwaveringly accepting of the cultural theatre they were dumped in by the propaganda artists of the land, Potemkin Villages and all. Since Glastnost, some of the shiny chrome has peeled off the rusting reality, but that still appeals to some people I imagine, because if one supposes you see the flaws you might suppose you see all the flaws, meaning you overlook anything like a nasty elephant's foot deep within the sarcophagus of the old power-plant in the off-limits forest.
Personally, I don't think most of the people you'd meet in Russia would be at all unfriendly, especially when coached not to be, but I've personally seen the stark difference between East and West Berlins and I'm probably more enamoured of the kool-aid on this side, knowing that all sides produce different kool-aids of their own. The big problem is that in football venues you get motivated people, not the everyday ones, and I remember feeling more uncomfortable in London, a hundred yards from a protest march as I noticed the emergency services parked up in the side-street I was casually routing through on my own business , than I ever did anywhere in Berlin, even that time when I saw their police ready for something (that I later walked through), including water-cannon vehicles!
It also seems its Russians that come here that are the problem. Or problemed against. And now it seems they can't even dispose of their litter correctl. Maybe they just couldn't find the "biohazard" recyling bin!
I don't think this is a very football(/soccer)-orientated forum, if this is the first mention I saw of this obscure competition, but I'll bump the thread anyway.
So... who will England eventually lose against? Sweden? If not, then surely Russia (home-turf/poisoned-umbrella advantage over Croatia). Meeting Belgium, again, in the final would be interesting. Winning that
more so quite unlikely.