"Somebody in Washington was frightened to see the statistics of ticket sales for the FIFA World Cup 2018 to take place in Russia. According to FIFA, at the beginning of April 16,462 tickets had been purchased by American sports fans. They will constitute the biggest foreign fan group," the embassy said in a Monday statement published on its Facebook account.
On Sunday, The Guardian newspaper reported that a senior White House official had said that the football fans from the United States should "think twice" about attending the forthcoming sports event in Russia because of the ongoing diplomatic crisis and alleged terrorist threat during the FIFA World Cup.
"This cannot but make us happy. Despite the active anti-Russia campaign in the leading American media, and maybe because of it, the interest for our country is growing. Americans wish to see with their own eyes what it really happening in Russia," the Russian diplomatic mission said.
Russia will host its first FIFA World Cup from June 14 to July 15. Matches will take place in a total of 11 cities, namely Kaliningrad, Kazan, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, and Yekaterinburg.
