U 20 WM IV
Football rules! Thursday was pretty cool. I was a bit worried at first that we’d be late because traffic around the stadium was so heavy – but then we arrived right at the VIP parking where we immediately found a free space and smoothly entered the stadium via the VIP entrance. We were even luckier than I thought because most people were not even treated as VNP (Very normal Persons) but suffered the treatment of VUAUPs (Very Unimportant and Unwelcome Persons): for some completely incomprehensible reason the organisers thought that it would be sufficient to open up only two ticket boots, and open them only one hour before the start of the match. Mind you, Commonwealth Stadium has a capacity of 60,000. As a consequence people kept on streaming into the stadium all throughout the first half. Man, I would have been sooo pissed. Attendance by the way was about 30,000 in the end.
The VIP seats itself were nothing special, apart from the fact that they were in a very nice location and covered with red cushions. What was nice, was the VIP lounge though. Free beer, free food.. But VIP lounges are a weird thing. A glass box, air conditioned, the match shown on a screen but without sound. Calm and silent. A completely different world than the rest of the stadium with it’s heat and noise and emotion. And I wonder whether that is a little bit an analogy for what it means to be super-rich: you’re in a wonderful glass palace and enjoy luxury and you see the world, but then there is always this glass wall that separates you and you actually don’t feel the real world. Just a thought..
The match itself was not a really good one. Especially the first half was pretty dull, the second one was – at least for Matthias and me – exciting because Austria scored the goal and until the end we were worried that our boys would manage to receive the equaliser (which they almost did). But happy end for us – the Canadians were understandably not so amused.
What I didn’t know at first was that all tickets (VIP and VNP) were valid for both matches. So of course we stayed for Chile vs Congo - which offered both the better atmosphere and the better match. That was sooo cool. Apparently Edmonton has quite a substantial Chilean community – and it seems every single of them was there. Flags and jerseys and dancing and chanting – so different from the Canadians (who do have flags and jerseys but no dancing and chanting).
On Sunday - we went for Mexico vs New Zealand and Canada vs Congo (and this time actually even paid for the tickets) – it was the same again. The Mexicans – although their team had already won the group – went simply crazy. And even during the Canada match it was the Canado-Mexicans that did the chanting and dancing. They even tried to come up with new chants (“Uh. Ah. Ca-na-da!”) but apart from their sector didn’t have much success. The rest of the stadium remained pretty much silent. Laryn (who is Canadian) suggested that they really need lessons in fan behaviour.
Anyway, you know what’s the funniest thing? On Saturday Kinga told me that a friend of hers has two passes but can’t go this Wednesday so we can watch the match for free. And guess who’s playing? Haha, it turned out that exactly that day it’s Austria’s knock out match against Gambia. Lucky bastard again. Haha. Seven and a half hours until kick off. I’m already soooo excited!
Immer wieder,
immer wieder,
immer wieder Österreich!
:)
The VIP seats itself were nothing special, apart from the fact that they were in a very nice location and covered with red cushions. What was nice, was the VIP lounge though. Free beer, free food.. But VIP lounges are a weird thing. A glass box, air conditioned, the match shown on a screen but without sound. Calm and silent. A completely different world than the rest of the stadium with it’s heat and noise and emotion. And I wonder whether that is a little bit an analogy for what it means to be super-rich: you’re in a wonderful glass palace and enjoy luxury and you see the world, but then there is always this glass wall that separates you and you actually don’t feel the real world. Just a thought..
The match itself was not a really good one. Especially the first half was pretty dull, the second one was – at least for Matthias and me – exciting because Austria scored the goal and until the end we were worried that our boys would manage to receive the equaliser (which they almost did). But happy end for us – the Canadians were understandably not so amused.
What I didn’t know at first was that all tickets (VIP and VNP) were valid for both matches. So of course we stayed for Chile vs Congo - which offered both the better atmosphere and the better match. That was sooo cool. Apparently Edmonton has quite a substantial Chilean community – and it seems every single of them was there. Flags and jerseys and dancing and chanting – so different from the Canadians (who do have flags and jerseys but no dancing and chanting).
On Sunday - we went for Mexico vs New Zealand and Canada vs Congo (and this time actually even paid for the tickets) – it was the same again. The Mexicans – although their team had already won the group – went simply crazy. And even during the Canada match it was the Canado-Mexicans that did the chanting and dancing. They even tried to come up with new chants (“Uh. Ah. Ca-na-da!”) but apart from their sector didn’t have much success. The rest of the stadium remained pretty much silent. Laryn (who is Canadian) suggested that they really need lessons in fan behaviour.
Anyway, you know what’s the funniest thing? On Saturday Kinga told me that a friend of hers has two passes but can’t go this Wednesday so we can watch the match for free. And guess who’s playing? Haha, it turned out that exactly that day it’s Austria’s knock out match against Gambia. Lucky bastard again. Haha. Seven and a half hours until kick off. I’m already soooo excited!
Immer wieder,
immer wieder,
immer wieder Österreich!
:)
relationes - 2007/07/11 18:15