So last night us and the Kings went to a soccer match. Neither of us had been to one before- like not even a little league soccer game. The Kings explained the basics to us. So it was new and fun. It was our national team against Singapore so there was quite the crowd (picture above is before the half started so everyone was pretty docile). They ended up tying 1-1, so no one left in a bad mood- I guess.
The only scoring happened in the 2nd half. Above is the celebrating after the score. As much as this was a normal sporting event- loud music, big screen, fans wearing colors, national flags waving, chanting, booing, etc- something odd happened when we got there that is worthy of the "we live in a foreign country" blog.We got there for the 2nd half. Before entering the stadium we all bought bandana's (bright yellow, the team's colors) to show our support. Anthony and Justin tied them in the guy 'kung fu' fashion and Daniela and I wore them like girly headbands. I'm not gonna post the pics of us with the headbands out of vanity...they're really bad pictures. Anyway.
It's pick-your-own seating so as we were making our way down the walkway to some seats things got interesting. (see walkway in top picture for reference). As we 4 white folks with our bright yellow bandana's would walk past a section everyone would start cheering. Since the team was entering the field for the 2nd half we just figured it was for them. But after about 4 sections we all realized they were cheering for us- or at us. The folks with their backs to us in the lower sections were even turning around to cheer us. In the middle of the 5th or 6th section Anthony and Justin responded back to their cheering by holding up their arms and yelling for the team too. That was all it took. When they did that the crowd yelled even louder, stood up, and everyone started sticking their hands out for high-5's. When we finally got to a section with open seats people were shouting at us to come sit by them. Hilarious.
White guys with bandanas haven't heard cheering like that since Ralph Maccio's crane kick in Karate Kid I.
3 comments:
Yeah, my dad and Mr. Bee (brandon) went to a "football" match that was pretty crazy. But I have to tell you a story along those lines. We were at the festival one night with some "tourists" and my national friend. That night, our team was playing Kuwait, and they won. It was insane! What would have taken us ten minutes took us an hour! Young guys were running in the street, dancing with flags wrapped around them. Others were sitting on top of their cars, while someone was slowly driving (or more like revving their engines, honking, and screaming. Well, my brother, my friend, and I opened the big van's window we were sitting near and started cheering. my dad then opened his window and revved the engine a few times. Well they loved that. In fact, one guy came and sprayed silly string all on and up in the van! It was crazy! Well, I better stop my epic novel now. Miss ya'll!
That is just so cool - I wish I could have been there - I have goose bumps and tears in my eyes! MammaL
hooray for big soccer matches! all I know about soccer is that they show huge riots on tv all the time with people falling over the railing because it gets too crazy! don't fall over the railing. ok?
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