Rain, Spain Are a Pain in Kiev

MOSCOW —  Thousands of Ukrainian soccer fans braved pouring rain and unusually cold temperatures in downtown Kiev on Wednesday only to see their national team -- making its debut in the World Cup -- lose to Spain, 4-0.

The crowd gathered around giant screens on Independence Square, the main political rallying site during Ukraine’s Orange Revolution of 2004-05, to watch the television broadcast. Fans huddled under umbrellas or covered themselves with unsuitably sunny yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags. Some watched somberly as their team’s chances for a victory slipped away, while the most optimistic continued chanting and clapping.

“We came to support our country and our team, to show that we’re not indifferent,” a teenage boy, his voice hoarse from chanting, told Rossia television.

Plenty of police, including riot troops, patrolled central Kiev and security around the Spanish Embassy was tightened, but no serious incidents were reported. Overexcited fans restricted themselves to a few smoke bombs and a small scuffle, Russian press reports said.

Ukraine’s federal government recommended that businesses and other organizations provide their staff with “favorable conditions” for watching the game, which began at 4 p.m. local time, before the end of the working day.

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