Morristown’s Santi: My experience at the World Cup in Russia

Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Guarin-Rios family.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Santiago Rios, 10, of Morristown won a McDonald’s video contest with his dad and was a player escort at the Mexico-Germany World Cup soccer match in Moscow this month. Here’s what it was like, in Santi’s own words:

By Santiago Rios

It was a bright, sunny day in Moscow, Russia, when our plane arrived at the airport.

Suddenly, a coal-black bus arrived next to the plane where we walked down the stairs. It brought the passengers to Terminal  B. Once the police inspected my father’s and my passport, we went to get our luggage. Then, we went down an escalator. There, we found a skinny woman with a lollipop-shaped sign representing McDonald’s.

She said,  “Hello, I will be your guide when you arrive at the Azimut Hotel. We are waiting for a kid from Washington state.”

Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, and his dad Geovanni Rios, at the 2018 World Cup at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. Photo courtesy of the Guarin-Rios family.
Morristown’s Santiago Rios, 10, and his dad Geovanni Rios, at the 2018 World Cup at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Photo courtesy of the Guarin-Rios family.

Moments later, after the kid arrived, a taxi arrived.

The guide said, “The taxi will bring you to to the Azimut Luxury Hotel. See you there!”

“Thanks,” I said. While the taxi raced away, we saw a stadium. Later, we saw a bunch of banners of the World Cup. As we were arriving to the hotel, we saw a tall building that went up into the heavens.

In front of the main entrance, there was the same skinny woman that waited for us in the airport.

She said, “Welcome to the Azimut Luxury Hotel. I will be your guide through this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Now, if you would follow me we’ll arrive at the player escort playroom. It’s a private room for all the winners. It’s sort of a hangout room. It’s also where we gather to go on a trip.”

Slideshow photos courtesy of the Guarin-Rios family:

Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow with mascot Zabivaka. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, seond from left, before Germany-Mexico game at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Geovanni Rios and son Santiago Rios, 10, sightseeing at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, sightseeing during the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, right, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Santi's dad, Geovanni Rios, with mascot Zabivaka at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, fifth from right, before Germany-Mexico game at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, sightseeing at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, with his dad, Geovanni Rios, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR... Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, with his dad, Geovanni, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Their video won a McDonald's contest. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Geovanni Rios and son Santiago Rios, 10, sightseeing at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, tours Moscow at the 2018 World Cup . Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Geovanni Rios and son Santiago Rios, 10, with mascot Zabikava at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, and his dad Geovanni Rios, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
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Moments later, we were in the level of the playroom, Level 4. There were two guards, our guide talked gibberish with the guards, it seemed to be Russian language, then the guards let us in.

There was a 40-inch TV, a fussball field, and two Playstation 4s with the brand new videogame on the PS4, FIFA World Cup 2018. It isn’t even out to the public yet!

Read this story in Spanish

Lea esta historia en español

Our guide gave us two ID displays. They were definitely scratchy, but they looked very nice. We went downstairs to the reception room, got our passports back, and our key cards.

Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, visits Peter the Great statue, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Guarin-Rios family.
Morristown’s Santiago Rios, 10, visits Peter the Great statue, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Guarin-Rios family.

Finally, we went downstairs to the play room to eat dinner at a typical Russian restaurant. This is what I ate, picture a huge chicken nugget.

I woke up in the morning. Later we went to the playroom. We went to the replica of a King Tsar’s palace. We ate there. Later we went to a field to learn amazing soccer tricks.

Later we went to the hotel to have free time. We used it to go to the  central mall of Moscow, Russia. The mall was so beautiful I don’t have words to describe it.

For the first time in my life I got to sail on a fancy restaurant. As we passed the Moscow River we saw the Peter the Great statue, most of the Red Square, and a lot more tourist attractions.

Finally. The day has come upon reality. I’ll be walking with a soccer star. For breakfast we visited the largest McDonald’s in the world! It has three levels!

Guardians:

Our parents went to a tour of the Red Square then went to the VIP section. A Russian servant surprisingly knew how to dance salsa. My dad did a photo with the official World Cup! Later, they went to the VIP section in the stadium.

Kids:

We arrived at the stadium. The police officers let us in the gate where it leads to the stadium. As we were getting our special passes, photographers took photos of us. I smiled. That’s just the beginning, I thought to myself. And my thought was actually true.

Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow with mascot Zabivaka. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown’s Santiago Rios, 10, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow with mascot Zabivaka. Photo courtesy of the Guarin-Rios family.

As we went to the other playroom there was a camera guy filming us. Anyway,  once we went inside we caught a glimpse of an 8 foot fussball field, a 20-inch TV to watch games, paper to draw, and a dozen board games.

We were in the playroom for about three hours. Next, we practiced our jobs at the stadium. We got beautiful certificates and medals. We had an hour to eat pizza.

Moments later, we had a photo with the mascot, Zabivaka (or in Russian, “the one who scores our goals”)!

We played a bit more for about 25 minutes. Then, the girls went to the women’s locker room and the boys went to the men’s locker room.

I found in a locker a red Adidas backpack with a name tag. It had my name on it. When I looked inside I found a cool yellow and red uniform. And inside a box of Adidas there were the new Adidas cleats that few soccer players have.

The time has come. We are already in the tunnel. I knew I had to smile, the camera focuses on the escorts. The soccer stars had arrived.

Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, second from left, before Germany-Mexico game at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown’s Santiago Rios, 10, second from left, before Germany-Mexico game at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Guarin-Rios family.

The director, a short skinny lady in an elegant suit holding a few papers on a Zabiva clipboard, said to all the escorts and the rest of the winners, “Good luck guys, same thing just like practice. Just people are watching you.”

I felt excited. All the players jumped up and down. The line moved. I smiled then I walked forward. I heard thousands of people hollering. The upbeat music started when we walked in the field.

I looked around. Thousands of people, 15 cameras clicking on both my left and right side. We stopped at a straight line, 25 on each side, in front of us in the middle was a huge camera, the main camera.

The TV said the names of the player escorts! While the anthems were played, the camera that travels through a line focused on us. I smiled even more. As we ran to the corner, there were another 25 cameras doing photos of us.

Then, we went to where our parents were, the VIP section. I was rooting for Germany, but Mexico won. We went back to the hotel, ate a fancy dinner, then, slept.

Next morning, I woke up, took a shower, then, the taxi brought us to the airport. We went to the plane. Then the plane took off.

And so far, the last words I’ve said in Russian is “Goodbye Russia!!!”

Santiago Rios will enter the 5th grade at the Alexander Hamilton School this fall. He loves soccer, and his LEGOs.

MORE ABOUT SANTI’S WORLD CUP TRIP

Morristown's Santiago Rios, 10, right, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Rios family.
Morristown’s Santiago Rios, 10, right, at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. Photo courtesy of the Guarin-Rios family.

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