Sometime in January, a friend from work asked me if I woud be interested in going to a women's world cup game in July. In Februray, another friend and I put our names in the official FIFA drawing for tickets (the cheaper version to my work friends' ticket purchasing endeavor). In March, I heard that we got tickets in the best category. In June, I picked up my tickets at the post office. On July 2, we FINALLY saw the game! It was so wonderful.
Now, obviously women's soccer isn't as big of a deal as men's soccer, as exciting as that would be, but there is a fair amount of hype surrounding the women's world cup (WWC) here, as the German team is the 2x reiging champ, and due to the fact that it is in Germany this year. The stadium was full. Now, for those that don't know (everyone) - the games are taking place in stadiums all across Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt, Dresden to name a few) and one such stadium is just a 30 minute train ride from me (so close, in fact, that many teams playing in Sinsheim are being put up in the hotel at the end of my street!) We arrived with a little extra time to find our seats (since we bought tickets seperately, we were sitting in two different areas).
Martha and I were pretty excited to find that our seats were in the first row in the Northwest corner of the field! We were also pretty excited to sing along with the national anthem (like the good choir kids that we still are in our hearts)
Watching the US women defeat Columbia 3-0 was definitely a highlight of my summer thus far. I am reminded time and again how cool it is to be a part of a big group of strangers. (think back a long way to my post about Oktoberfest...) From the moment we got on the train, to the moment we stepped off after our return journey, that energy specific to sports and concerts was palpable in the air.
However, I was a bit puzzled by the wardrobe choices of many of the game-goers. Outfits and/or flags included (but were not by any means limited to): Lots of Germany gear like huge flags, facepaint and jerseys (heads up Germans, Thomas Müller, Phillip Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger are not in fact playing in this particular world cup...), a large Welsh flag, a Canada sweatshirt, and a Swedish flag. We're apparently very international here.
Anyway, just a little update on my birthday present to myself :) ~love~
2 comments:
How fun! I love that you got to go to the women's world cup. Just think of us living parallel lives a year apart. Me world cup last year, you world cup this year. Yay! Happy belated Birthday my dear friend!
Your blogs are the best...I'm glad you are back!!! I think when you are done with your Masters degree you should be a professional blogger. love you.
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