The first thing I realized when I walked into the stadium was there were very few women in attendance. I believe I could count on two hands the number of women I saw at the match. I felt initially out of place, but then I was like screw it and decided not to worry about it. But, hey, the announcer was a woman! 
Penalty kick for Qatar...but they missed it! Who misses a penalty kick at this level? I should have kicked it for them! It is not about power or faking the GK out, but placement. BTW The Bahraini GK was a rather attractive fellow. How YOU doin'?
A security guard...just chillin' in his patio chair. I want his job.
Love the massive firework confetti thingy behind me (I had to be careful taking photos of particular people). They bring this stuff into the stadium and love firing them into the air. This would never fly in the United States BECAUSE IT IS DANGEROUS! Anyway, the confetti sticks to you when it rains down thanks to the sweat that is coating your body. I found some in my hair this morning (I thought I got all of it out last night before I went to bed...but I guess not...) and I likely will be picking up little pieces of confetti around my apartment for days.
The Emir and his posse sit in the VIP section. Check out those thrones.
This is the Qatari party section. These guys wave flags, play drums, sing, dance, etc. throughout the game...yet without any booze in them. How is that possible? I guess pure love for their nation.
I have never seen so many injuries at a soccer match in my life. Every few minutes, even less at times, some player was down and acting as if he was experiencing the greatest pain known to man. The golf cart medics were constantly coming and going from the field. Yet most of the time after shaking around on the field like a fish and crying or whatever they were doing, they were completely fine. It was frankly dumb. Suck it up, dudes! Or as my dad would say, "Walk it off!" Anyway, my favorite was when there were not one but TWO random injuries at the same time, one from each team. And the action when this happened was on the opposite end of the field. I do not get it. So there was lots of stoppage time. Look at them...
Towards the end of the match a bunch of dudes circled the stadium and turned their backs to the field. I have no idea what this meant. I feel like it was some sort of good luck gesture because the game was tied. And do you see the guy with the megaphone? His job was to ramp up the crowd throughout the game. I guess he is the equivalent to music being played at a sporting event in the States. He would yell a number of things and people would respond and get all hyped up, but the most popular thing he would yell was "Allah!" over and over again. 
1 comment:
Too funny! Keep up the good posting and maybe someday you can accumulate all your posts into a litle book. Love, Dad
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