Soccer!Tuesday, we cheated out of work a little early and headed to the FIFA 2007 World Cup game. USA vs. North Korea.
35,527 people coming to support their Asian counterparts. We, of course were in the minority.
The local American Consulate Chamber of Commerce (a local group organized to support foreign nationals in Chengdu) had organized a block of seats for the Western Soccer fan. We had front row seats on the “40 yard line” to watch the game as it was televised on ESPN2 which showed in USA at 05:00 AM - and I am sure all of you were up to watch it.
Security was very tight. Metal detectors, bag searches, no incoming liquids, the works. Have I ever mentioned what happens when you force Chinese to get in an orderly line?
We had the best seats in the house unless it was going to rain because we were not under the partial roof.
And it rained. Hard.
And the fog came rolling in. Fast.
We didn’t care – We are in China watching two premier soccer teams have at each other! The fans kept up their spirits with the WAVE (they didn’t quite get it right and I think heard Skip Carey groaning somewhere). And they were quite vocal when they disagreed with a ref call (I found out that even Chinese can cuss in English).
A tremendous effort by both squads with USA scoring 1st and then letting a very fast, very quick and VERY tenacious N Korea pull out 2 to 1 lead.
However, a great rally by USA evened the score at 2 – 2. That is how it ended. No OT, No PK’s. Just a tie.Thanks to my lovely daughter, I was the local expert in our group for what the rules were so I kept them well informed.
Despite the weather, it was great event. Sorry for the pictures, but zooming in does lose some clarity. Enjoy.
2 comments:
Hey, Tom and Robyn Barkin both commented on how well you write and how descriptive you are. Robyn said you should write for a newspaper. Did you learn that at Tech, or did HB Plant High teach you that. Or, are you just naturally gifted in multiple areas? My guess is that you have covered this game in much more detail than the AJC has or will!
There are no pks until you advance out of the preliminary round. This is a pool made up of four teams with the best record advancing. But you still don't get pks until you do the extra time. Then you get pks.
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