Grozny's

Grozny's Dynamo stadium was packed to bursting as Ramzan Kadyrov the 34-year-old strongman who is head of Chechnya, led his team on to the pitch for a bizarre match against an all-star team from Brazil.

For football fans in Grozny, it's just like watching Brazil. No, really 2011

And suddenly Grozny's evil kickabout starts to look a little more appealing.

It's time to admit football is pure evil | Barney Ronay 2011

The second half progressed with a flurry of goals, one struck by Grozny's undisputed penalty-taker – Kadyrov – from 12 yards.

For football fans in Grozny, it's just like watching Brazil. No, really 2011

Kadyrov's side, apparently a motley collection of overweight and greying Chechen bureaucrats spiced up by the presence of Terek Grozny's coach, Ruud Gullit, and a couple of Russian supersubs, took the field against altogether more formidable opponents: a collection of Brazilian World Cup winners from 1994 and 2002, including Romário, Bebeto, Cafu, Dunga and Denílson.

For football fans in Grozny, it's just like watching Brazil. No, really 2011

From a shell-pitted apartment block on Grozny's Kasiora Street, the besieged capital city of Chechnya spreads out in a low-lying ruin of smoke, fire and shattered concrete.

'Like A Meat Grinder' 2008

A half-Chechen, half-Russian native of the village of Achkhoy-Martan, she drove a truck laden with explosives into Grozny's pro-Moscow administrative buildings in December 2002.

First Person: Children Of The War 2008

Soon after he arrived in Grozny's Minutka Circle, an airplane flew overhead and shelled the place.

GIVING BACK 2007

And yet, the tiny club where Grozny's rockers gather is itself a symbol of hope.

Grozny Live 2007

And that today is Putin's birthday, Grozny's young pay a highly orchestrated tribute to the Kremlin head.

CNN Transcript Oct 13, 2006 2006

The Brazilian players wore Terek's red, green and white scarves as they emerged from Grozny's airport earlier in the day to the cheers of a couple hundred flag-waving fans.

Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011