Tag Archives: soccer

Winning the World Cup!

(Paris, France)

The 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia was scheduled to take place at 5:00 p.m. (Paris time) on Sunday, July 15. Our train from Vitré was scheduled to arrive in Paris at 6:52 p.m. Just in time for the end of regulation time!

Standing on the bus stop on Boulevard du Montparnasse

We had hoped that the game would be shown on the train. We boarded the train and looked around hopefully. Not only was there no game and no wi-fi…our assigned seats were in a car filled with 40 young sea scouts on their way home from a weekend camp. And they were all looking for a passenger, any passenger, with a portable device that was showing the game.

Shutting down Rue de la Gaîté, in Paris Montparnasse

In short, our highly anticipated viewing of a France victory, while in France, did not really work out as materialized…until we pulled into Montparnasse Station in Paris just as the final whistle sounded and France recorded a 4-2 victory.   Now, things got crazy.

Boulevard du Montparnasse

Encumbered by our luggage, we struggled to find our way out of the massive station and to our hotel.  The chaos had already started.  Cars and motorcycles festooned with flags and barely-attached passengers roared by with horns blaring.

Boulevard du Montparnasse, Paris

After unloading our luggage, I rushed out in the direction of the loudest noise.  Some streets were already closed off.  On others, pedestrians were running out into the street and high-fiving strangers leaning out of car windows.  Even I received random high-fives and jubilant cries from people I had never seen before.

Random building on Rue Fabert showing its support the next day

People were climbing on top of bus stops and shooting off flares.  Music blared from balconies and flags tumbled from thousands of windows.   Huge crowds of people were performing the Icelandic chant that captivated hundreds of thousands of spectators in Russia. The horns got louder and the shouts became hoarser.  This was like nothing else I’d ever seen.

View of the Arc de Triomphe, from l’avenue des Champs-Élysées

The next day was perhaps not as crazy, but just as impressive.  We found ourselves on the Champs-Élysées, the famous avenue leading up to the Arc de Triomphe (see photo at the top of this post).  However, there were no cars.  It was closed off for a victory parade:  the French soccer team was returning from Russia and heading straight for the admiring throngs!

More of the crowd on the Champs-Élysées

I have no idea how many people were there.  Hundreds of thousands, maybe?  Even though the team wasn’t arriving for hours, it was already impossible to get close to the parade route.  The mood remained jubilant, and it seemed like the entire country was welcoming its liberating heroes.

View of the Arc de Triomphe, from the far end of l’avenue des Champs-Élysées

By the time we got back to the hotel, the team was finally arriving.  The French air force soared overhead, leaving contrails of bleu, blanc et rouge.  An entire nation was feeling unequivocally great about itself.   What a rare and special time it was!

 

Travel Flashback: Exciting Oslo! (2010)

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Today’s flashback takes us to Oslo, Norway. In English, the name of this city is probably the least exciting of the northern European capitals.  After visiting Bergen and the mighty fjords, we anticipated seeing a few major sights and then moving on to somewhere in Sweden or southern Norway with a better travel reputation. Oslo’s legendarily high costs also weighed heavily on our minds. Surely, we wouldn’t spend the entire remaining week of our vacation there?

But a funny thing happened on the way to somewhere else: Oslo grew on us!

View from the top of the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Norway
View from the top of the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Norway

The high costs were partially offset by the saving grace of Scandinavian tourism: because business travel basically shuts down during the summer, Oslo’s better hotels all compete mightily for the modest number of tourists that find their way to the city. The result: 4-star hotels at (almost) bargain prices. The unforgettable (and included) smorgasbord breakfasts remain the same year-round, so we were able to skip lunch most days…as long as we treated ourselves to some hitherto unheralded Norwegian gelato in the early afternoon!

View of the Holmenkollen ski jump from the "take-off" point
View of the Holmenkollen ski jump from the “take-off” point

Norwegians are sports-crazy and it is only fitting that two of our favourite Oslo experiences were sports-related…and yes, very exciting!   The first was a journey to the legendary Holmenkollen ski jump facility (also known as Holmenkollbakken) in the northern part of the city.  The Norwegians excel at ski jumping and this facility is the Mecca of ski jumping in Norway.  The ski jumping events at the 1952  Winter Olympics were held here and it has continued to host prestigious meets ever since.

Looking down the still-under-construction Holmenkollen ski jump
Looking down the still-under-construction Holmenkollen ski jump

When we visited Holmenkollen, the structure was in the process of a complete rebuild.  Nonetheless, we could still go to the top and look down from the top of the ski jump.  I’ll cut to the chase:  if you think flying off a ski jump is crazy, don’t go to the top of a ski jump and look down.  It looks even crazier, with a steep, narrow path ending in absolute nothingness and seemingly certain death.   It is definitely scary, even for someone who has spent on awful lot of time on skis.

The facility also has a ski museum that traces the development of skiing from its earliest cross-country roots to modern day alpine skiing, ski jumping and freestyle skiing.  For a kitschy bonus, I decided to take a ride on the alpine skiing simulator set up there.  Along with a handful of strangers, I got to experience a World Cup ski race…complete with chattering ice and every other unnerving effect you can imagine.

The skiing simulator in action - I'm inside and in the process of being horrified
The skiing simulator in action – I’m inside and in the process of being terrified

I  once experienced a scary radar-gun-verified speed of 85 km/h on skis on a controlled slope in Switzerland and, after seeing a colleague take a bad spill at roughly that speed, it was something I resolved to never try again.  However, that uneasy feeling was nothing compared to this terrifying simulation at roughly twice that speed.   Ski racing is just as crazy as ski jumping!

The other sports experience in Oslo was seeing a professional soccer game at Ullevaal Stadion, home ground for Oslo’s legendary Vålerenga soccer team (wearing blue, in the photo at the top of this post) .   As with our visit to an international match in Stockholm two years later, we had a great time at the game itself and really felt like we had experienced a “real” aspect of life in Oslo.  There were few tourists here!

Vålerenga fans show their colours before the game
Vålerenga fans show their colours before the game

It was great to see a lot of goals, as  Vålerenga romped to an 8-1 victory over IK Start from Kristiansand.  Despite the one-sided result, fans of both teams were boisterous but well-behaved.  We’ll never forget the fans from Kristiansand singing on the subway out to the game!  We were also impressed with Vålerenga’s appreciation for their supporters.  As with Feyenoord in the Netherlands, jersey #12 is reserved for the  Vålerenga fans as the “12th player” and the players diligently saluted their fans when the game was over.

Vålerenga salutes their fans after an easy 8-1 victory
Vålerenga salutes their fans after an easy 8-1 victory

While these sporting expeditions were memorable, there is plenty more to see and do in Oslo.  Stay tuned for details!

Travel Flashback: Ultimate Soccer Experience in Stockholm, 2012

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Sweden doesn’t enjoy a high profile among Canadians considering a trip to Europe.  It may be perceived as being somewhat similar to Canada, both geographically and culturally…and therefore perhaps not quite “exotic” enough as a destination.  However, we loved it there and hope to return someday.

While I hope to report more on Sweden in a later post, I’ll cut to the chase in this one: even if we had done nothing else in Stockholm, the evening of August 15, 2012 completely justified our three day visit to that vibrant, beautiful and multicultural city.  The final international soccer game to ever be played in historic Råsunda Stadium was scheduled for that evening.

Fun at halftime. This is how close we were to the field!
Fun at halftime. Every attendee was given a Swedish flag!

While it has hosted the Swedish national team for many decades, Råsunda is best known as the stadium that hosted the 1958 World Cup.  In turn, the 1958 tournament was notable because it was Brazil’s first ever World Cup victory and also marked the emergence of a brilliant new 17 year-old superstar named Edson Arantes do Nascimento…better known as Pelé.  Pelé is generally acknowledged to have been the greatest soccer player of all time.  In the final, Brazil defeated Sweden by a score of 5-2.  And now, 54 years later, the stadium was being retired with a match between the current national soccer teams of Brazil and Sweden.

Neymar prepares to humiliate a Swedish defender
Neymar prepares to humiliate a Swedish defender

I found out about this match in a most unusual way.  Earlier that year, I had been asked at the last minute to play in a hockey tournament in Kingston.   A team from Sweden had arrived without 3 of their players and were looking for some local replacement players.   One of the tournament organizers heard that I was “Swedish” and I was contacted to play.  While my background is actually Swiss and Dutch, it is not uncommon for people to confuse Sweden and Switzerland.  In any case, I brought along a couple of (equally non-Swedish) friends from my local team and we all had a great time playing for the Swedish squad.  We even made it to one of the tournament finals.

Neymar takes a first-half free kick against Sweden
Neymar takes a first-half free kick against Sweden

I stayed in touch with a couple of the Swedish hockey players and I asked one of them about going to a pro soccer game when visiting Sweden that summer.  He told me that the timing was not right for a regular league game…but that an international match between Sweden and Brazil would be played while we were there.    Although he couldn’t make it to that match, he gave me the contact information for the tickets and I embarked on a complicated journey to purchase them from Kingston.  It was a crazy roller-coaster of very long-distance phone calls, credit card follies and international money orders.  I persevered, however, and we were able to get tickets only a few rows from the field!

Somebody must have cancelled their purchase right before I bought those tickets, as the game was completely sold out.  We arrived to a scene of sheer madness:  there even was a samba band playing at the entrance, complete with outrageous Carnival costumes.  It was a little bit of Rio in Scandinavia.

A little bit of Rio in Stockholm, Sweden.
A little bit of Rio in Stockholm, Sweden.

Just a few minutes after we settled into our seats, the ceremonies began.  First, we saw some of the Swedish players who played in that 1958 final.  Then we saw some of the Brazilian players who played…including Pelé himself!  Wow!  He said a few words about the 1958 World Cup and even performed the ceremonial opening kickoff (see photo at the top of this post).  For a soccer player and fan like me, it is truly amazing to be able to say that I saw Pelé kick a soccer ball.   He was 71 at the time and still looked like he could control a game.

Pelé runs off the field after performing the ceremonial opening kickoff
Pelé runs off the field after performing the ceremonial opening kickoff

The game was equally thrilling.  Led by Neymar (the “next Pelé”), and having just finished playing at the Olympics in London, the Brazilians made the Swedes look like amateurs.  The final score was 3-0 but it could have been much worse.   Their ball control was particularly amazing:  we could not believe how Neymar (and many of his teammates) could do such magical things with the ball while also running at full speed.    It is far more impressive in person than on television.   Even the partisan Swedish crowd had to applaud the impressive display by the Brazilians.

It was a "friendly" match, but there were still some hard tackles (and resulting injuries)
It was a “friendly” match, but there were still some hard tackles (and resulting injuries)

We felt sad when the game ended, as it had been so entertaining, but for the Swedish fans it was especially poignant because this was the last hurrah for their fabled national stadium.  There was a great deal of emotion in the air on that beautiful northern evening:  we felt honoured to have been a part of it.

Getting back to our hotel on a ridiculously packed subway was a chaotic experience but it did not diminish the thrill of seeing both the greatest soccer player of all time and (possibly) the greatest soccer player of the near future.  We will be extremely lucky if we ever see something like that again.

More Professional Soccer: the Feyenoord Experience

(Rotterdam, the Netherlands)

A must-do item for this trip was seeing a professional soccer game in the Netherlands. I always follow the Dutch national team in the Euro and World Cup competitions, but I also check on the progress of Feyenoord Rotterdam in the top Dutch professional league. Together with Ajax Amsterdam and PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord is usually one of the top three teams in the Netherlands.  They have been frequent champions in the Dutch league and have also performed in European club competitions.

Soccer allegiances tend to be hereditary. My father bought me the occasional Feyenoord jersey when I was a child, so it was only natural that it would become my favourite Dutch team too. I found out later that my father had actually played against Feyenoord once when he was still living in the Netherlands. At that time, he played on the ‘s-Gravenzande town team and after a couple of early victories in the annual nationwide Cup competition, they happened to draw Feyenoord as their opponent in the next match.  Even then, Feyenoord was an extremely strong team and my father’s team lost the game. But this certainly helped establish his respect for the Feyenoord club.

We arrived in Rotterdam at this train station
We arrived in Rotterdam at Centraal Station

Even more recently, I found out that my cousin Jan (as well as his entire family) is an extremely devoted Feyenoord fan: he has season tickets and is also active in the fan club. When I mentioned that I was interested in seeing a Feyenoord game, he found us tickets for the August 15 game against Heerenveen and arranged to meet us for dinner before the game at a “Feyenoord restaurant” right beside Stadion Feyenoord.

Anticipation as the opening kickoff draws closer in Stadion Feyenoord
Anticipation as the opening kickoff draws closer in Stadion Feyenoord

How did it compare with my experience in Reims?  While some teams in the French league may have more money, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the level of intense fan devotion that I saw with Feyenoord.  Before the game, anticipation in both the restaurant and the stadium gradually reached a fever pitch.  I was almost ready to play the game myself!

Some of the fans at Stadion Feyenoord - and this is just the area behind the goal!
Some of the fans at Stadion Feyenoord – and this is just the area behind the goal!

Alas, it was clear that Feyenoord was not quite at the top of its game.  Feyenoord had five players on the Dutch national team that reached the World Cup semi-finals, but three of those players have since been sold to other teams (as their value was at an all-time high).  Last year’s top scorer had also transferred to a new team.  Some new players have been acquired in the meantime, but there was a lot of miscommunication throughout the first half and well into the second half.

Eventually, Heerenvenn took a 1-0 lead on a deflected shot.  This finally seemed to wake up Feyenoord and they began dominating possession and generating scoring chances.  Feyenoord tied the game shortly afterwards and (as with Paris St.-Germain) it seemed like only a matter of time before Feyenoord would score the winning goal.  Alas, that goal never happened and in fact Heerenveen almost won the game on a blast that the Feyenoord goalkeeper managed to deflect off the goalpost and out of harm’s way.  In the end, a 1-1 draw was probably a reasonable outcome.

Celebrating a Feyenoord goal
Celebrating a Feyenoord goal

Unlike the Reims fans, who seemed happy just to be in the top division and to be hosting world-class players, the Feyenoord fans are extremely demanding.  They know the game very well and have high expectations for their beloved team.  The exhilaration after Feyenoord’s goal was matched only by the shocked disbelief after Heerenveen took a 1-0 lead.  However, as my cousin pointed out, Feyenoord fans will support their team through the lean times as well…something that is missing from some of the other top clubs.

The final whistle blows and the game ends in a 1-1 tie
The final whistle blows and the game ends in a 1-1 tie

The merchandise, the songs, the intensity, the critical view of the referee’s performance…all of it was at a much higher level than in Reims, even if the actual on-field performance was rather inconsistent. Many spectators stood throughout the game, despite the fact that they had seats.  Should Feyenoord overcome its miscommunication challenges and defeat the hated Ajax for the Dutch title, Rotterdam will celebrate as if Feyenoord had won the World Cup.

Professional Soccer…in Reims!

(Reims, France)

When preparing for this trip, I wanted to make sure that I attended at least one professional soccer match. Focusing on the Netherlands, I found a game featuring my favourite Dutch team (Feyenoord) and made arrangements with a couple of my cousins to attend it.  I’m really looking forward to it.  As I was spending so little time in France, I didn’t even bother checking if there would be a game during my visit.  Professional games generally are on Saturdays and I was leaving Reims on Saturday morning.

However, shortly after arriving in Reims, I stumbled across an article that discussed the opening match of the top French professional league.  It was in Reims, they were playing Paris St.-Germain, and the game would be played Friday night!  I still had my doubts that tickets would be available:  Paris has so many internationally-renowned players (at least 10 of them play for their respective national teams) and Paris was close enough that its many fans could probably buy up any remaining tickets.  However, the stadium wasn’t too far from downtown and I decided to visit the ticket office between champagne house tours, just in case.

The opening kickoff is still close to an hour away.  Paris is in blue, Reims is in red.
The opening kickoff is still close to an hour away.

Sure enough, there were still tickets available.  It wasn’t cheap but I ended up with a seat in the 7th row, about 12 yards from midfield!  I was expecting to be in a nosebleed-inducing corner seat with an obstructed view, as I had bought my ticket mere hours before the season-opening match against such a fabled opponent.

...but for the warm-up, Paris wears white jerseys.
Reims wears red and Paris wears blue…but for the warm-up, Paris wears white jerseys.

I went to the stadium very early so that I could see part of the warm-up and get familiar with the players.  That was a good idea – it was very crowded near the stadium and there were police everywhere trying to maintain order.  Everybody was frisked before being admitted.  I found out later that Paris has had problems with some of its hardcore fans in the past.

Reims supporters show their colours
Reims supporters show their colours

The skill level, even in the warm-up, was astonishing.  I recognized Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) and Edinson Cavani (Uruguay) almost immediately – yes, they really do have tremendous ball control and vision.  Finally, it was time for the game to start…and for the rain to fall!  It rained for most of the first half, and the seats were very cramped, but it was still great to be seeing soccer played at such a high level:  the French league is one of the best in Europe.

Paris hammers a free kick into the Reims wall
Paris hammers a free kick into the Reims wall

Paris was clearly more skilled and they dominated possession of the ball.  Indeed, they made it 1-0 only six minutes into the match and I thought that I would be watching a one-sided slaughter.  But after scoring the first goal, Ibrahimovic hit the goal post on an easy tip-in opportunity and then missed a penalty kick.  Perhaps sensing that they still had a chance, Reims struck a free kick that seemed to catch Paris off-guard and suddenly the game was tied.  Then, shortly before half, a rare Reims counter-attack was perfectly executed and the home team took a 2-1 lead!

The fans were delirious.  It was unthinkable for Reims to be leading against such a  powerful club.  While Reims used to be one of the top French teams, it was out of the top division for more than 30 years and only returned last season.

Ibrahimovic argues with the referee, while the remainder of Paris St.-Germain shows little interest
Ibrahimovic argues with the referee, while the other players (on both teams) show little interest

Paris tied the match almost midway through the second half and it seemed like just a matter of time before they took the lead again.  However, Reims never gave up and their goalkeeper (see photo at the top of this post) played a sensational game.  Unbelievably, they held on for the tie and the crowd was overjoyed.  The police were everywhere and the stadium managed to empty rather peacefully.

This was a great (unexpected) experience and it will be very interesting to  compare this to the Dutch game I’ll be seeing next week.  First, however, I need to visit another country or two!