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lobelia321I 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. They are larger than life Heroes. For me, at any rate, an aura radiated around Kaká -- it was quite extraordinary; I couldn't take my eyes off him. I couldn't make out his face (I seem to have the eyesight of a mole, even with spectacles) but his physique and gait was totally recognisable, and the way he always lifts his face slightly up into the heavens. Being the football god he is, that seems only apt.
Also, if I were a man I'd have had an erection for sure. The sentence kept running through my head and brimming on the tip of my tongue: 'I need to have sex with this man.' I was most shamelessly Mary Sueish!
Later, he did his extraordinary glory run and scored his goal but it was on the other side of the pitch -- and that's one thing I realised watching matches live: you love it when action happens near where you sit -- and I so wanted Argentina to put more pressure on Brazil, simply to bring all the Brazilians closer to where we were sitting!
But it is the first few minutes of Kaká on the pitch that shimmer in my memory. They were such exquisite minutes. And it wasn't even and only the slash, nor even and only my admiration for his skills, but a sort of unarticulated combination of the two plus simply the Hero's Aura. It was as if I were floating.
My gay friend is also enamoured of Kaká so that helped but he has a 24-year-old Brazilian boyfriend so my need is greater...! This did however mean that for him, too, Brazil is a cathected site -- even more so than for me, in fact.
I now really, really want to see Arsenal play. I really, really, REALLY want to see Arsenal play Manchester United! And then I will have seen both of my football darling boys live on stage!
Afterwards, we walked with thousands of others milling pedestrianishly anarchically onto the car-clogged streets to Carluccio's in Islington -- and some of you know how I love Carluccio's! (*winks atlazlet, sheldrake and sophrosyne31*)
Pics wot I took
The Emirates stadium. I love it.
The crowd. Incl. sikhs in Brazil shirts and yellow turbans. I love London.
The pitch seen from where I sat.
Pics wot gentlemen of Getty took
Kaká on his glory run
Celebrating Kakás goal (incl. member of the public who rushed onto the pitch; 5 men in all rushed onto the pitch and ran around hugging players until they were dragged off by nonplussed security personnel -- oh, how I would have loved to be those men)
I really need to have sex with this man.
Robinho (ach, der Kleine -- ist aber gar nicht so klein!)
In the air: Tevez. Dear Tevez, you are not pretty but you are a wizard on the turf.
Pics wot I gacked fromfavoriteflavour over here
ETA: More pics of the day added as I found them; these ones are from the wonderful soccergirlz.de site:
Bonus pic of Daniel Carvalho:
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. They are larger than life Heroes. For me, at any rate, an aura radiated around Kaká -- it was quite extraordinary; I couldn't take my eyes off him. I couldn't make out his face (I seem to have the eyesight of a mole, even with spectacles) but his physique and gait was totally recognisable, and the way he always lifts his face slightly up into the heavens. Being the football god he is, that seems only apt.
Also, if I were a man I'd have had an erection for sure. The sentence kept running through my head and brimming on the tip of my tongue: 'I need to have sex with this man.' I was most shamelessly Mary Sueish!
Later, he did his extraordinary glory run and scored his goal but it was on the other side of the pitch -- and that's one thing I realised watching matches live: you love it when action happens near where you sit -- and I so wanted Argentina to put more pressure on Brazil, simply to bring all the Brazilians closer to where we were sitting!
But it is the first few minutes of Kaká on the pitch that shimmer in my memory. They were such exquisite minutes. And it wasn't even and only the slash, nor even and only my admiration for his skills, but a sort of unarticulated combination of the two plus simply the Hero's Aura. It was as if I were floating.
My gay friend is also enamoured of Kaká so that helped but he has a 24-year-old Brazilian boyfriend so my need is greater...! This did however mean that for him, too, Brazil is a cathected site -- even more so than for me, in fact.
I now really, really want to see Arsenal play. I really, really, REALLY want to see Arsenal play Manchester United! And then I will have seen both of my football darling boys live on stage!
Afterwards, we walked with thousands of others milling pedestrianishly anarchically onto the car-clogged streets to Carluccio's in Islington -- and some of you know how I love Carluccio's! (*winks at
lazlet, sheldrake and sophrosyne31*)Pics wot I took
The Emirates stadium. I love it.
The crowd. Incl. sikhs in Brazil shirts and yellow turbans. I love London.
The pitch seen from where I sat.
Pics wot gentlemen of Getty took
Kaká on his glory run
Celebrating Kakás goal (incl. member of the public who rushed onto the pitch; 5 men in all rushed onto the pitch and ran around hugging players until they were dragged off by nonplussed security personnel -- oh, how I would have loved to be those men)
I really need to have sex with this man.
Robinho (ach, der Kleine -- ist aber gar nicht so klein!)
In the air: Tevez. Dear Tevez, you are not pretty but you are a wizard on the turf.
Pics wot I gacked from
favoriteflavour over hereETA: More pics of the day added as I found them; these ones are from the wonderful soccergirlz.de site:
Bonus pic of Daniel Carvalho:
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-03 11:59 pm (UTC)*tries to control self*
Okay, so the GolTV commentators were having orgasms the entire time. They kept saying how this game was better than ALL the games during this year's World Cup. That's how excited they were about this game.
Their excitement definitely came through and I was just BOUNCING! The first goal- I squeed. Kaka comes in- I hyperventilate and squee like the fangirl I am. I have no shame when it comes that boy. NONE. The second- I SCREAMED because omigod, KAKA.
Kaka's goal. Yes, it deserves it's own paragraph. I freakin...I just! The commentator is a bigger fangirl than I am, he was just going NUTS. It was the "best goal I've seen in YEARS!!" he deemed it!
AND YOU WERE THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't even be jealous because I'm so HAPPY that I know someone who was there!
*squees and fangirls*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 11:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 12:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 11:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 04:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 11:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 05:57 am (UTC)My gay friend is also enamoured of Kaká so that helped but he has a 24-year-old Brazilian boyfriend so my need is greater *snort* So what does t'h think of this? Just deposit the boy in the spare bedroom?
So who is your Arsenal darling?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 11:39 am (UTC)So what does t'h think of this?
*laughs*
I haven't got an Arsenal darling. I just love their stadium. It's t'sons who're into Arsenal. But Arsenal is playing Man U twice this season and that means Cristiano Ronaldo, *swoons*.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 06:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 08:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 11:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-10 06:09 pm (UTC)Okay, I need to move. Or maybe go on a mini-holiday because damn, I want to see him, too. *pouts* In the meantime I'm expecting a detailed report! :D
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-10 08:04 pm (UTC)I still can't believe that I saw Kaká in the flesh. :-) From Ryan O'Neil to Kaká: it's a steep curve over here. *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-11 08:09 am (UTC)It sure is. Damn. And I wouldn't even want an autograph since I wouldn't know what to do with it anyways and I find it a bit weird to ask....
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 06:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 11:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-07 07:26 am (UTC)It's so great that you're taking your sons now. Not just fun for you, but I'm sure it will be a great memory for your kids!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-07 11:49 am (UTC)I am so happy that we find that we are related via the football lust! Plus we look practically identical. *laughs*
Ve Tchermans ant our identical looks, fussball loff and difficult history.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-08 06:26 am (UTC)I know! The first time I went there, I had to shut the page because I started crying. Not only do we look identical, loff das Fussball, and have a fucked-up history, we seem to be capable of a great deal of sentimentality. My mother for instance, cries whenever any national anthem is played. She can hardly watch the Olympics, just for that reason!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-09 12:55 pm (UTC)omg, I am your mother.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-09 11:02 pm (UTC)Hah! I had my suspicions. And here you are, pretending to be computer-illiterate, when you've been posting on LJ and writing slash (OMG *is traumatized*) for all of these years . . .
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 07:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 11:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 08:19 am (UTC)And I could also picture your excitement when Teh Pretty came on the pitch and started working his magic. Kinda like I was in awe when I went to the matches that Rennes played at home and I could watch Kim Kallstrom in action as close to the pitch as I could get. (last year)
I really need to have sex with this man.
I'm trying very hard not to be overtaken by the same need. All the Elves and the hot football players that I fangirl are trying to hold me back. But I don't know how much longer I can resist. *le sigh*
You are, indeed, a very lucky person to have seen a match for the history books.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 11:44 am (UTC)The funny thing is when I was watching the match it didn't seem overawing or history book stuff; sometimes they were just piddling about, even, but I could tell they were playing very, very well. It was just the joy of watching them!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 01:01 pm (UTC)There's nothing quite like it, eh? The atmosphere is something special and the roar of the crowd sends shivers up and down one's spine.
Eru knows: who is Eru?
Umm... Eru is like God, the Alfather in Elvish mythology. I'm a big Tolkien geek, and an atheist one at that so, instead of God, I use Eru in exclamations and stuff of the kind.
What is Rennes
Rennes is a French city in Bretagne and they have a football team that plays in the First French division (Ligue 1, I believe.) I was in Rennes for three months last year and I went to all the matches that they played on their pretty home stadium.
who is Kim Kallstrom?
This here beauty is Kim Kallstrom:
He is a 24 years old Swedish international and I've been nutz about him ever since I've discovered him at Euro 2004.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 04:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 02:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 04:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 06:24 pm (UTC)*catches breath* Oh, how I wished that I could have been there too! Not only was it a great match (unless you were an Argie), but the stadium is pretty too!
5 men in all rushed onto the pitch and ran around hugging players until they were dragged off by nonplussed security personnel -- oh, how I would have loved to be those men)
o.O They....hugged......I.... I WOULD HAVE JUMPED ONTO TO THE FIELD! AND ATTACHED MYSELF TO ANY
KAKAANY PLAYER!Yes, yes, footballers are most definitevely the modern Achilles, Hector (and sometimes, Paris too)... *goes off to put her head in a bucket of water---to calm down, of course*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-04 08:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-08 01:43 pm (UTC)I watched Kaká score his goal and I thought: this was freaking blessed or something. I mean, it was beyond majestic. I've watched replays over and over and over. It was GolTV's goal of the week, but they said that people who called in to vote overwhelmingly made it the #1 goal. And that it would probably be the goal of the year.
You are right about the aura. From the moment that man came on the pitch he had something special all about him. And apparently his coach said Kaká wasn't 100 percent healthy that day!!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-08 07:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 08:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-12 09:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-25 06:10 pm (UTC)lol omg you are making me feel as if kaka was a god. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-25 08:29 pm (UTC)The online life has its moments!
And yes, Kaká was a god. Assolutamente.