So there we were, all four of us, in our game gear, a couple of us had England shirts on and the rest had Brazil shirts, and we headed out to the stadium. There were two spots where we could get buses to the Stadium so we walked towards the bus stop and got into the bus without much trouble. 20 minutes later the bus dropped us off about a mile away from the stadium. We got off the bus and we got beers for the walk.
The walk to the stadium was full of England and Italian supporters by the roadside. The England fans decided to take over a number of the local bars with their St George flag(I think thats what its called, the white flag with a red cross). The flags had the local affilitations written on them for eg Stoke City etc. We arrived at a Shell gas station right across from the stadim which was literally overflowing with singing England and Italy fans. Lots of noise - honking, chanting, singing, hooting, booing, you name any kind of human sound, it was all there. It was probably one of the most lively parts of the trip. It was also at the gas station that we decided to go a little crazy, we purchased some more beer and some game gear, I left the gas station with some long yellow and green hair :)
We finally flowed like a human into the stadium, the security outside was a breeze compared to TSA and we were inside pretty soon. The stadium seats 45,000 which is pretty decent for a soccer stadium and the facilities were excellent. It is a brand new stadium built especially for the World Cup with a lot of money(what happens in the stadium after the World Cup is a matter of worry for the protesting locals) The best part was when we found our seats, you see we had gotten the cheapest tickets possible so we weren´t hoping for anything great, but, we got great seats. Right behind one of the goals and about ten rows up, perfect position to watch some great goals ! Perhaps the only not so great part about the seats was that we were in the biggest Italian section.
The Italian fans lost no time in making themselves at home, loud booming chants of ITALIA ITALIA filled the air. A couple of England fans in our section were trying hard to silence the Italians with some team songs from their collection but it was proving to be too hard. The big England section was right across behind the other goal and they seemed to be making their own noise. Later, I was to learn that the locals decided to get behind Italy as well, apparently the England coach´s discontent about playing in hot and humid Manaus with an untested stadium had not gone well with the locals and they decided to show him whos the boss on the day that it mattered.
The attendance for the game was 39000. The game itself was excellent, I´ll save you the match report, BBC probably has a better version of it. The highlight of the game for me was watching Gerrard and Pirlo play live, some of their visionary passes were a delight to watch for any soccer enthusiast. Gerrard, like a couple of other England players, was cramping up towards the end of the game. Pirlo looked as cool as he always does and was controlling the game in his flamboyant yet somehow subtle style of play. England´s first goal was on our end, it looked like great team work with Sturridge finishing off a nice cross. The second goal for Italy was on our side as well, it was more predictable and we saw Balotelli getting into position for the cross and he then scored like clockwork. After that goal we saw Joe Hart get mad at a ball boy for not giving him reserve balls quickly, that was fun to watch :) And then after what felt like a couple of minutes, just like that, Italy had won.
We then headed back to the square where we had a couple of sandwiches, we learnt that the egg sandwiches here have sausage in them as well. The England fans in the square looked really sad compared to the night before. The Italians were suddenly visible in huge numbers and they were showing everyone how to party. We walked through a bar with about 200 people standing outside, hanging out and having a good time. The irony was when we saw a bunch of about 50-100 cops standing quietly in the side amidst all the din, just making sure that nothing went out of control.
At the end of the day, looking back, the match lived up to all the hype sorrounding it, I had watched a truly world class soccer game at the highest level possible and had a ton of fun with a lighter wallet.
Some of the thoughts that went through my mind that day were - the World Cup consumes a ton of alcohol and I´d guess theres a ton of sex as well, it could be quite a public health exercise and a test of the local systems of administration. I also realized I was truly enjoying the experience of staying in a hostel while travelling. Another one that might be good for the future is to not put all your credit cards in one wallet and if possible to not take the credit cards with you all the time, just travel with the days quota of money. Simple lessons that most already know but if not remember its never too late to learn anything :)
The walk to the stadium was full of England and Italian supporters by the roadside. The England fans decided to take over a number of the local bars with their St George flag(I think thats what its called, the white flag with a red cross). The flags had the local affilitations written on them for eg Stoke City etc. We arrived at a Shell gas station right across from the stadim which was literally overflowing with singing England and Italy fans. Lots of noise - honking, chanting, singing, hooting, booing, you name any kind of human sound, it was all there. It was probably one of the most lively parts of the trip. It was also at the gas station that we decided to go a little crazy, we purchased some more beer and some game gear, I left the gas station with some long yellow and green hair :)
We finally flowed like a human into the stadium, the security outside was a breeze compared to TSA and we were inside pretty soon. The stadium seats 45,000 which is pretty decent for a soccer stadium and the facilities were excellent. It is a brand new stadium built especially for the World Cup with a lot of money(what happens in the stadium after the World Cup is a matter of worry for the protesting locals) The best part was when we found our seats, you see we had gotten the cheapest tickets possible so we weren´t hoping for anything great, but, we got great seats. Right behind one of the goals and about ten rows up, perfect position to watch some great goals ! Perhaps the only not so great part about the seats was that we were in the biggest Italian section.
The Italian fans lost no time in making themselves at home, loud booming chants of ITALIA ITALIA filled the air. A couple of England fans in our section were trying hard to silence the Italians with some team songs from their collection but it was proving to be too hard. The big England section was right across behind the other goal and they seemed to be making their own noise. Later, I was to learn that the locals decided to get behind Italy as well, apparently the England coach´s discontent about playing in hot and humid Manaus with an untested stadium had not gone well with the locals and they decided to show him whos the boss on the day that it mattered.
The attendance for the game was 39000. The game itself was excellent, I´ll save you the match report, BBC probably has a better version of it. The highlight of the game for me was watching Gerrard and Pirlo play live, some of their visionary passes were a delight to watch for any soccer enthusiast. Gerrard, like a couple of other England players, was cramping up towards the end of the game. Pirlo looked as cool as he always does and was controlling the game in his flamboyant yet somehow subtle style of play. England´s first goal was on our end, it looked like great team work with Sturridge finishing off a nice cross. The second goal for Italy was on our side as well, it was more predictable and we saw Balotelli getting into position for the cross and he then scored like clockwork. After that goal we saw Joe Hart get mad at a ball boy for not giving him reserve balls quickly, that was fun to watch :) And then after what felt like a couple of minutes, just like that, Italy had won.
We then headed back to the square where we had a couple of sandwiches, we learnt that the egg sandwiches here have sausage in them as well. The England fans in the square looked really sad compared to the night before. The Italians were suddenly visible in huge numbers and they were showing everyone how to party. We walked through a bar with about 200 people standing outside, hanging out and having a good time. The irony was when we saw a bunch of about 50-100 cops standing quietly in the side amidst all the din, just making sure that nothing went out of control.
At the end of the day, looking back, the match lived up to all the hype sorrounding it, I had watched a truly world class soccer game at the highest level possible and had a ton of fun with a lighter wallet.
Some of the thoughts that went through my mind that day were - the World Cup consumes a ton of alcohol and I´d guess theres a ton of sex as well, it could be quite a public health exercise and a test of the local systems of administration. I also realized I was truly enjoying the experience of staying in a hostel while travelling. Another one that might be good for the future is to not put all your credit cards in one wallet and if possible to not take the credit cards with you all the time, just travel with the days quota of money. Simple lessons that most already know but if not remember its never too late to learn anything :)
Sounds like an action-packed day!!!
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