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There's a magic to the World Cup, wherever it's held.聽

In Brazil, the favelas didn't rise up against the fans. In South Africa, neither did the townships.

And here, in Russia, what was once dubbed 'Putin's hooligan army' hasn't turned on the Brits.

Like a magician who's cast a spell over his land, President Putin's policemen now smile, his ultras party with England fans, his jubilant visitors chant 'Ross-i-ya' as though they're demanding the return of Crimea.

Even the national team are smashing it - until Sunday's match with Uruguay which they lost 3-0. But thanks to their rash of previous goals they're through to the knockout stages anyway.

There have been some rumblings about the surprising success of the Russian national team in a nation known for state-sponsored doping.

They were bottom of the FIFA rankings before they thrashed Saudi Arabia 5-0.

They've covered exponentially more ground if you crunch the FIFA stats than any other team on the pitch and they're not the youngest bunch.

I am loathe to begrudge the Russian people the joy their team's unexpected success has brought them but sometimes when things look too good to be true in Russia, it's because they are.

Looking back through the filter of World Cup banter, beer and the bated breath of 32 nations, there are a few faint reminders of the Russia that will be once the summer fairy-tale wears off.

I'm thinking of the American mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Jeff Monson, who was granted Russian citizenship on the eve of the World Cup.

A self-styled "anarcho-communist" (whatever that means) who's partial to the odd jolly through the separatist regions of Eastern Ukraine, Monson is a massive fan of the Kremlin.

And that seems to be returned in kind. Mr Putin has in the past said Monson "has the Russian spirit, he never gives up". Now he has a passport and wants to run for parliament.

Then there's the other MMA fan with well-established political clout. Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's unsavoury leader whose homophobic policies have resulted in the hounding, torture and persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya (which is fairly standard procedure for his political enemies too).

He's the kind of guy who'd make the likes of Monson welcome, just as he did poor Mo Salah whom he effectively hijacked into giving honorary citizenship at a dinner for the Egyptian national team in Grozny.

Now Salah is reportedly thinking of quitting the national team.

Perhaps basing the team there wasn't such a good idea, though Egypt doesn't seem to think that way.

We Western journalists, mixing sports all the time with politics. Why not just kick back, chill a bit and enjoy the beautiful game?

Not that Putin's averse to mixing sports with politics. Right there at that opening match with Saudi Arabia - the perfect moment to talk OPEC oil production with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Europe's leaders haven't been much in attendance at the World Cup yet but if France or Germany make it through to the finals they'll very likely come, even if Theresa May won't.

And Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has already confirmed his attendance at the World Cup Final with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the guest list too.

The real icing on the World Cup cake though - a possible Trump-Putin summit.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton is in town this Wednesday to discuss the details and will meet with the President himself.

Mr Putin has been angling for this for a long time. Enough of the meetings on the sidelines. Russia wants to be dignified with a Presidential summit from the leader of the free world, one great power to another, even if precious little may come of it.

The summit may not take place in Russia, but it might. And if it did, what better opportunity than at the Luzhniki stadium on 15 July - handing on the baton from one FIFA host nation to a future one, as it were.

About as appropriate a moment given the current state of US-Russian relations as hosting FIFA's disgraced ex-President Sepp Blatter at this World Cup, but President Putin seemed to relish doing that.

We know very little of what's what in the slow burn of Robert Mueller's investigation into possible Trump-Russia collusion but those who suspect the worst of the Trump-Putin relationship will be treated to what may look like further evidence of it when the two leaders sit down face to face.

President Trump would do well to remember his NATO allies' concerns over Russia's strategic aims - the undermining of western alliances, first and foremost - before he makes any rash promises.

For all the foreign fans' ardour, it was often said in the run up to the tournament that this World Cup was for Mr Putin's domestic audience. For sure, there's a spring in many Russians' steps these heady, football-filled weeks.

But the president's popularity ratings have plunged after the government announced a pension plan overhaul the day the tournament began.

Knowing how unpopular pension reform is here, President Putin had said back in 2005 he wouldn't touch it.

But demographic and financial needs must and a retirement age of 60 for men and 55 for women can't keep pace with modern Russia.

Mr Putin has tried to pass the buck, saying this was all Prime Minister Medvedev's doing and nothing to do with him. But as his approval ratings show, his people aren't so easily fooled.

As far as my understanding of wizardry goes, all spells tend to wear off. The World Cup summer fairy-tale will, soon enough.

The rapture of foreign fans in the manifest wonders of Russia will fade too. And Russians' post-election enthusiasm for their president is also on the wane, even if that may just be temporary.

Only Robert Mueller can show us exactly what kind of spell, if any, President Putin has cast on President Trump. We're unlikely to know that before this summit.

As the US mid-term elections approach, as talk of the precarious fate of liberal democracies gathers steam, as President Trump's NATO allies wonder whether he's with them or against them, what further magic does Mr Putin have up his sleeve for once that final whistle blows?