2014 World Cup - Day 15 - Germany vs France

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Gameday!!!!

Because I went to bed late last night, I woke up a little later than I had wanted. For a 1pm game, I’ve been heading out the door at 10am and arriving at the stadium 2 hours early. Being early allows me to take my photos, enjoy the atmosphere and find my seat while the stadium is fairly empty. I then enjoy my beer watching everyone arrive. Today, I woke up at 9:50am, so I quickly and rushed out the door. I grabbed breakfast on the way to the subway station, which is a 10-15 minute walk from the apartment.

I was a concerned how long it was going to take me because the Maracana Stadium is the biggest one being used in this World Cup, and everyone going to the game was going to use the subway system. I got to the station around 10:45 and quickly got in the first train that arrived. We were packed in there pretty good, but the air-conditioning system was blaring and it felt pretty good. As for the subway fare, we were finally able to use our match tickets and essentially ride for free. In all my 40 or so World Cups matches I have attended over the years, Porto Alegre and Brasilia were the only 2 thus far where this was not the case. I’m sure there are other host cities in Brazil where a match ticket gets you nothing on gameday. Oh well.

The ride to Maracana took about 30 minutes as it was going pretty slow. Once we arrived, it took me a bit to walk all the way around the stadium to my designated gate. I must have gone through 6 or 7 ticket-checkpoints before officially entering the stadium. Sometimes, they would have a row of policemen from one side of the ramp to the other, and you only got through with a match ticket. The funny is that sometimes, the following check was 10 strides away, same thing. A bit much if you ask me, but at least everyone near that stadium pretty much had a ticket. Knowing how big the stadium and area is, they must have engaged thousands of policemen to not only provide security, but also check tickets. Needless to say, safety was not an issue.

Once I entered the stadium, I grabbed my beer and my souvenir cup and found my seat. Once I sat down, it was around 12:15. I was sitting on a corner, second bowl, just over half-way up. I was pretty happy with the seats and was seated right beside an Ecuadorian, who I chatted with throughout the entire game. We had lots of fun together, because we were just cheering for goals. Haha At one point, we’d sing a French chant (“Allez les bleus, Allez les bleus”) and one minute later, on a counter-attack, singe a German chant (“Super Deutschland, ole ,ole”). Good times!!

The game itself got off to a good start, with both teams going forward. It was super hot in Rio today, about 33C, so I figured the game was going to be slow. It may have slowed down a bit, but only later in the game after Germany scored on a header off a free kick. Once again, I was able to snap a photo just prior to the header. The goal occurred on our side of the field, so that was nice too.

After the goal, we kept waiting for France to turn it up a bit but they were stifled by Germany. I almost think they were too clumsy, with no real continuity when they got possession. Germany, on their part, were messing up on the last pass in front of the net, always by a hair. Benzema had a quiet game overall, but the few times he got the ball near the goal, he was dangerous.

In the end, 1-0 Germany.

I should also make a comment regarding the gong-show that was halftime. I left my seat a little early to grab a second beer and lined up in one of the many lines in front of the concession stand. It turned out that our line was an express line for seniors, pregnant women, handicapped people, etc..., but nobody seemed to care. So what ended happening was that when a person in a wheelchair or pregnant woman showed up, they were moved to the front of the line, but not our line, an extra line just to our right. What happened then is that people started lining up there as well. So we then had to share a cash register, but the lady correctly favoured the new line. This pissed off everyone in my line, and I had to tell them that we were wrong after they complained angrily. I quickly gave up, managed to get my beer and got back to my seat right when the second half started. The other thing is that they were out of food: no burgers, no cheeseburgers, and no hot dogs. I was going to say “only in Brazil does this happen”, but this was not the first time for me. The other time, at the 2010 World Cup Final game in Johannesburg. Oh well.

After the game, I hung around and watched people leave. By the time I left, the stadium was nearly empty. I was hoping to avoid the subway system for a bit and let people leave ahead of me. Bruno had invited me to go to a friend’s house to watch the Brazil vs Colombia game, and I had roughly 2 hours to get there. So I took my time leaving.

The walk to the subway station was pretty uneventful, and so was the ride to the Botafogo station. I found Bruno’s friend’s apartment in not time and got there just as Brazil was about to sing the National Anthem.

We didn’t suffer as much in this game. Brazil played its best first-half of the tournament and got off to another early lead off a corner kick. Our captain, Thiago Silva, who had been heavily criticized over the last few days for refusing to take a penalty kick against Chile in the Round of 16 game (and refusal to even watch the penalty kicks themselves), scored unmarked on the back post. We pretty much controlled the first half.

Early in the second half, we kept Colombia in check. A while later, our other central defender David Luiz nailed a stunning free-kick goal from way out. We figured being up 2-0 was enough, but a penalty kick against Brazil made things a bit more interesting down the stretch. Some would say our goalie deserved a red card for the foul. In the remaining minutes, Colombia was not able to really threaten our goal.

Final score: 2-1 Brazil, and Germany’s next in the semi-final game in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday.

At this point, I was super excited because it meant I was going to watch Brazil live in a few days. I’m going to sing and hear the National Anthem in the stadium, and I’m pretty pumped, especially since everyone sings way past the music. Can’t wait.

The sad news was Neymar’s injury. Neymar is our star player, our great hope this time around (and in the future). He took a knee to his back late in the game and had to be substituted. It turns out he fractured a vertebrae and is out of the World Cup. We went from being super happy getting past the quarter-final stage (which is where France and Holland sent us packing in 2006 and 2010) to being sad over Neymar’s injury. He’s been so crucial to our campaign thus far, is always happy, smiling, but had been hunted by the opposition since day 1 of the tournament. They finally managed to get him, although I think the play was not intentional, just a defender coming in late and hard trying to halt the counter-attack.



So now Brazil has to step up without Neymar. Let’s see what happens. We will also be without our captain Thiago Silva for the next match due to a silly yellow card. We have a player for his position, but we don’t have 2 Neymars. My money is still on Hulk, hopefully he comes through for us.

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