There are some great stories doing the rounds about how far people will go, just to watch the World Cup in Russia. One guy apparently gained 24 kilograms of weight so that he could get one of the easy access seats in the stadium - which is pretty extreme.
But arguably the best story so far comes from a group of Mexico supporters who decided to put all of their hard-earned cash into a bus to drive themselves from their home town to the Russian capital of Moscow. They also painted it, just to make sure they would stand out.
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Unfortunately, one of the LADs ended up having to miss out because, according to ABC Noticias, his wife wouldn't let him go on the once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
I mean, it only comes around every four years, to much excitement, and the opportunity to go would linger in the memory as one of the best life experiences ever. But fair enough, we're sure he totally gets it.
However, his good friends decided that this wouldn't be the end of things for their pal, Javier, and they would make sure he was there in spirit. Oh, and in cardboard cut-out form too.
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According to Oddity Central, it was during the Brazil 2014 World Cup that the five friends decided to travel to the next one together, in a bus painted in their country's national colours.
They started saving for the trip immediately and managed to buy a cheap bus that they hoped could handle the long journey.
But in April, just when they were getting ready to leave, Javier told the others the tragic news that he wasn't going to make the trip with them because his wife wouldn't give him permission.
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The four remaining mates had to quickly get over the loss and focus on the task at hand, but not before having the cardboard cut-out of Javier made that they could lumber around with them. Sounds... convenient.
Making sure they snuck in a gentle dig to Javier's situation, they even made sure his cardboard representative was wearing a t-shirt saying 'My wife didn't let me [go]'. Ouch.
Since arriving in Russia, it seems like 'Javier' has been rather busy. He's been posing with lots of amused strangers and celebrating the games with hundreds of thousands of fans.
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His friends have even found the time to make sure he has regular bathroom stops and gets his beauty sleep each night.
The mates have even set up a Facebook group, which chronicles their adventures with cardboard Javier, called Ingue Su Matrushka. Wonder if the real Javier is keeping up with the chronicles? More to the point, we wonder how he feels about the whole thing.
Saying that, we do hope that cardboard Javier continues having a blast and, real Javier - there's always 2022... or 2026. Plenty of time to pay it forward for future permission.
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Ingue Su MatrushkaTopics: Awesome, World Cup 2018, Interesting, World Cup, Mexico, Community, Russia