world cup u20

it has been so cool to go to the world cup u20 in burnaby. the weather has been beautiful and it has been sold out each day. the teams i've seen are from zambia, spain, uruguay and jordan. the most vocal fans have been supporting zambia and uruguay. the most entertaining have been the zambian fans with their songs and their drums. there are several uruguayan fans around me and one fellow has a very passionate running commentary (in spanish of course which so reminds me of going to games in costa rica).

last sunday i talked to the zambian team manager (?) & told him i support a boy in zambia and asked if i could get a team picture. i took a few pix while they sat in the stands after their game but wanted a picture of them in their uniform. he told me to come back yesterday. knowing how excited the boys in costa rica get about their futbol team i thought boyd (my boy in zambia) would be equally excited to get a picture of his national team. last night when i went to see the team they weren't there, then they were warming up, then it was late and i wanted to get out of town and avoid all the traffic. they play again saturday in the first game so i'm going to try again.

the second game saturday is costa rica vs scotland. i will be there with my red jersey and my white jersey so i can switch depending on which jersey the team is wearing, my jacket and my hat and my 2 1/2' x 5' flag.

not being the most popular sport in north america people are surprised at the attendance records. but if you consider the cultural diversity in canada and that fact the futbol is the most popular sport in every other country in the world i don't know why they are so surprised. swangard is sold out and people still line up at the gates hoping to be able to buy a ticket. people at every entrance asking if anyone has tickets to sell.

i do have one complaint though. you can buy tickets that specify a non-alcoholic section which is what i did. it didn't mean squat. every person around me had 1 or 2 beer at a time. i heard the woman behind me say she had spilled her beer on herself. have you ever been to a sporting event where when someone scores the fans jump to their feet...

no i have another complaint. you could not take food or drink into the stadium. they were throwing out every food / drink item that you had as they searched your bags/purses as you walked through the gate. then you had to pay $3 for a bottle of water and stand in line forever to buy food. to buy a game ball - $180. not too many people are buying game balls.

so they enforce one rule to make money and don't enforce another rule to make money. so i go full and pray that no one spills beer on me.

i can't wait for saturday.