It’s not Trump, it’s not Kim Jong Un, and it’s certainly not FIFA realising that they have made a grave error by allowing the World Cup to be held in a country that routinely executes those who speak out against its leaders.

Rather, according to the clearly rattled head of the agriculture ministry’s crop farming department, it’s swarms of locusts.

Here’s that very chap quoted on the Guardian:

Putin is hoping to use the the World Cup from 14 June to 15 July to showcase his country as a superpower at a time of frayed relations with the west over Syria and Ukraine.

Matches will be played in 12 stadiums in 11 cities. Pyotr Chekmarev, head of the agriculture ministry’s crop farming department, said the pitches could be targeted by locusts during the summer months.

“One way or another, we have learnt how to deal with locusts, but how do we not fall into a global scandal with locusts this year?” he said at an agricultural event in Moscow.

“The whole world is coming here. Football fields are green. Locusts love it where there is lots of green. How would they not come to the place where football is being played?“

Chekmarev said around a million hectares of land in southern Russia was infested with locusts, including around the World Cup host city of Volgograd.

Remember the uproar when Ronaldo was assaulted by that moth? God only knows what will happen if a swarm of locusts descends on a field and the world’s most fragile egos are forced to run for cover.

Here’s just a taster of what a swarm looks like, filmed in Russia last year:

I can already see the excuses as England is knocked out in the group stages.

[source:guardian]