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I am happy and sated. I had a fantastic time!!
Today was a dream.
The Emirates Stadium is a fantastic architectural site. The outside of it is fantastic, and the inside of it is just breathtaking. When I first stepped foot into the tiers of seats, it literally took my speech away; I was so awed by the vast bowl of sunshine, the brilliant emerald pitch, the wave-like arrangement of red seats, the Norman-Foster-esque white steel tubular roof and the Pantheon-like oval eye of the sky above. And the sky! Brilliant blue, with little fleece clouds! The pitch patterned in shade and sunlight. What a September day!
Outside, as we walked from my friend's house to the stadium, the plot thickened a bit before we got to the stadium: pools of fans milling around, women and men and children in yellow shirts everywhere (plus a few sprinkled Argentinian supporters...), people banging drums -- a carnival atmosphere on this brilliant day. it reminded me of the last time I milled around as a pedestrian on London's streets which was during the protest march against the war on Iraq (remember,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lazlet? *winks*).
The atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic. What it must be like when a competitive game is played! The subdued roar in this big bowl. 59.000 people! At the start, they had a minute of silence for all victims of violence in the recent years as today is the anniversary of the Beslan massacre, and the effect of 59.000 people rising to their feet in silence was quite powerful.
When the game started, I was so confused it took me a while to adjust my brain to the fact that I was actually at a live Brazil:Argentina match. Me, I, who have only been to two live football games in my entire life, and both of those at a tiny provincial stadium. 3 weeks ago I ogled Ryan O'Neil from West Ham, and all of a sudden I'm propelled into one of the world's most famous stadia and am witnessing live on stage some of the world's most famous players!! How did this happen?
I love football! I love football fandom!! I just loved the whole thing today!
We had fantastic seats (the operative word of the day is definitely fantastic), near the corner but not behind the goal, in the director's tier which is the tier above the lowest tier, and right up against the balcony railings. The stupid sons had contrived to lose our binoculars and I have to say, these would have been immensely helpful because even with our fantastic seats, I still couldn't make out anybody's face nor even read the names next to the numbers on the screen so half the time was trying, with my friend, to figure out who the fuck was who. For about 65 minutes we mistook Robinho for Dudu!! How shameful -- I love Robinho, and here I couldn't even identify him!
30 minutes before the end, they brought Kaká on, and I went into a sort of brief delirium. The whole game suddenly lurched onto a different register, nay another dimension. I was transfixed by the vision of Kaká. A total Troy moment (the ancient Greeks transfixed by Achilles whenever he enters the battlefield). As I have bored on about a hundred times before, football stars are the modern Achilles. ( Read more and see pics )
Today was a dream.
The Emirates Stadium is a fantastic architectural site. The outside of it is fantastic, and the inside of it is just breathtaking. When I first stepped foot into the tiers of seats, it literally took my speech away; I was so awed by the vast bowl of sunshine, the brilliant emerald pitch, the wave-like arrangement of red seats, the Norman-Foster-esque white steel tubular roof and the Pantheon-like oval eye of the sky above. And the sky! Brilliant blue, with little fleece clouds! The pitch patterned in shade and sunlight. What a September day!
Outside, as we walked from my friend's house to the stadium, the plot thickened a bit before we got to the stadium: pools of fans milling around, women and men and children in yellow shirts everywhere (plus a few sprinkled Argentinian supporters...), people banging drums -- a carnival atmosphere on this brilliant day. it reminded me of the last time I milled around as a pedestrian on London's streets which was during the protest march against the war on Iraq (remember,
lazlet? *winks*).The atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic. What it must be like when a competitive game is played! The subdued roar in this big bowl. 59.000 people! At the start, they had a minute of silence for all victims of violence in the recent years as today is the anniversary of the Beslan massacre, and the effect of 59.000 people rising to their feet in silence was quite powerful.
When the game started, I was so confused it took me a while to adjust my brain to the fact that I was actually at a live Brazil:Argentina match. Me, I, who have only been to two live football games in my entire life, and both of those at a tiny provincial stadium. 3 weeks ago I ogled Ryan O'Neil from West Ham, and all of a sudden I'm propelled into one of the world's most famous stadia and am witnessing live on stage some of the world's most famous players!! How did this happen?
I love football! I love football fandom!! I just loved the whole thing today!
We had fantastic seats (the operative word of the day is definitely fantastic), near the corner but not behind the goal, in the director's tier which is the tier above the lowest tier, and right up against the balcony railings. The stupid sons had contrived to lose our binoculars and I have to say, these would have been immensely helpful because even with our fantastic seats, I still couldn't make out anybody's face nor even read the names next to the numbers on the screen so half the time was trying, with my friend, to figure out who the fuck was who. For about 65 minutes we mistook Robinho for Dudu!! How shameful -- I love Robinho, and here I couldn't even identify him!
30 minutes before the end, they brought Kaká on, and I went into a sort of brief delirium. The whole game suddenly lurched onto a different register, nay another dimension. I was transfixed by the vision of Kaká. A total Troy moment (the ancient Greeks transfixed by Achilles whenever he enters the battlefield). As I have bored on about a hundred times before, football stars are the modern Achilles. ( Read more and see pics )