Fulham v. Everton...FOOTBALL!

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So today I went to my first professional football game aka soccer to us Americans. It was totally epic! It's custom to go to a pub and drink before you go to the game. We went to the Fulham Football Club stadium but we were on the Everton side. Thank goodness I don't follow football so I didn't really care which side I sat on. The way they check your tickets though is through bar code. You just slide your ticket under a scanner and they let you go through those rotating bars. It's actually really efficient rather than have someone check each ticket at a window. Also just at like rock concerts in the states you aren't allowed to have the lids on top of your drinks or bring your alcohol into the stands so there are tons of people drinking on the outside of the stand before the game starts and at halftime. Our seats were awesome! They were right behind the Everton goalie during the first half and the second half they switch goals. Each half was 45 min long and they don't stop the clock for anything during the game, instead time is added at the end of each half. Everton made the first goal and it was so exciting! Everton's colors were blue and gold with their jerseys being all blue and then Fulhams colors are black and white. The stands were is the same shape as the football field and there were three sides of Fulham fans while there was one section of Everton fans. My seat was in the H row which was literally only 8 rows behind the goal and I was nearly eye level with the field. So of course during the game there were a few stray balls that flew in our section of spectators, but no one got hurt and just threw the ball right back. The game was barely two minutes into it when Everton scored the first goal! It was really spectacular. There was a lot of back and forth action after that but no one seemed to make a goal. After the start of the second half and 67 minutes into the game Fulham finally made a goal. It seemed for awhile as if Fulham was going to make another goal and almost did but the ball hit the top of the goal and flew over. Then in the 87th minute (there are only 90 min in a game) Everton made a goal and the crowd erupted! Then because the clock never stopped for anything there was three minutes added on at the end and Everton knew they had to step up their game. Within those extra three minutes Everton scored again and the crowd was ecstatic! There was no way that Fulham could catch up then. The game finished off and Everton beat Fulham 3-1. It was an awesome game and even much more so because we were right behind the goal and chanted along right with the crowds chants. Although there were more Fulham fans Everton fans were much louder and more lively which I think might have added to the players game.

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