A bear helped start match in Russia and we can only hope we see this at the 2018 World Cup

Russia, apparently, is on an entirely different level when it comes to soccer. In a third division match between Mashuk-KMV vs. FC Aungusht, a freaking real bear was used to hand the ball to the referee. This isnt a joke. A real bear, a massive, scary yet cute creature, handed the ref to the ball and also started clapping. Take a look:

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A bear helped start match in Russia and we can only hope we see this at the 2018 World Cup

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What is going on in the world? I mean, this is awesome visually but who thought this was a good idea? I dont care who thinks this is safe because the bear is trained.Did we not learn anything after that Mastiff bit that Denver news anchor in the face? Not to mention this is not obviously a bears natural environment and could border on the line of animal abuse.

In the end, this has to be the craziest thing you see all day. And this cant settle well with Russia president Vladimir Putin. You just know hes going to have to upstage this at the 2018 World Cup, but how? I think it will be with him being named to the final roster for the Russia national team or having this bear be part of the opening ceremonies with a Russia jersey on.

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Roger Gonzalez is an award-winning writer based in Virginia that has covered pro soccer from Europes top clubs to Argentinas first division. Roger started out his pro soccer writing career with …Full Bio