Kevin Whitcher
So, we have now seen our first game in the flesh, Germany trouncing Portugal. First though, to answer a few questions in the comments from part one of this diary.
We are over here for a fortnight. We have five more matches as follows...
England v Uruguay in Sao Paolo
Italy v Costa Rica in Recife
Germany v USA in Manaus
Switzerland v Honduras in Manaus
Last 16 game (featuring 2nd placed team in England's group) in Rio.
And five internal flights in between, of which we have made the first one from Rio to Salvador.
I was also asked about availability of tickets over here. If you are looking, you will most likely be offered - there are touts, and there are fans with spares - including us for some games. We applied for tickets before the draw was made based on places Adam suggested were worth visiting. However, we did not decide where we would go when exactly until the draw was made, knowing the tickets had been secured. This has left some spares for matches in places we are visiting, but sometimes are elsewhere come the day of the game, as there are three of us and we did a combination of applications. Some were returned to FIFA for re-sale, although Adam's spares did not make it due to his franking machine at work having gone south without him realising it, so those have come over. We are trying to shift spares for the Salvador matches we have and will not attend through the hotel reception here in Salvador where we are until a Wednesday evening flight to Sao Paolo. These are for matches between France and Switzerland and Iran and Bosnia. As the latter game did not even sell out on the FIFA website, those tickets could not be returned to FIFA and we may well end up giving them away. There is however, some demand for France v Switzerland, so we are optimistic on those. We generally paid 90 dollars each for the group game category 3 tickets. Category 4 tickets are the cheapest ones, behind the goals, and were only available to Brazilian residents. Cat 3 tickets tend to be behind the goal, but closer to the corner flag, cat 2 tickets are more or less side, but behind goal line and anything pitchside is category 1, including many sponsor and hospitality tickets. This is often where you will see empty seats. Freebies not being used. So you can find tickets if you are looking, but for some games, who is offering them will determine whether you can get face value. I have read the stories about touts charging a lot of money for England v Italy, for example, but at the same time, if you were in Manaus, you may have got lucky and picked up spares from fans who were only asking what they had paid for them. No question Manaus is a bugger to get to. Apparently there is no road in, you only reach the place by plane or the Amazon, and I can't imagine many England fans travelled there by boat!
So back to the plot and our first internal flight, and the airport experience. Rio to Salvador on TAM airlines was a smooth enough transition. Then again, you would hope that of a flight departing Rio at least. Salvador too seemed a fairly established airport. An internal flight, security did not require us to separate laptops and liquids from our suitcases, and boarding was smooth. So all fine so far. The air hostesses were actually attractive, which is an idea that seems to have passed into distant history. I had made contact with Lillian, a resident in Salvador whose number had been given to me by a Brazilian friend of the Brazilian girlfriend of podcast regular Basti (aka Mustafa Goldstein) in London. She offered to meet us at the airport, and give us a lift to our hotel. She had spent time as part of doing a chemistry doctorate in Virginia, USA, so her English was of a decent standard. She took a detour to show us the stadium here, and then dropped us at the hotel, offering to help us if we needed anything. We offered to take her out for a meal by way of thanks, so time allowing on her side, we will be able to say thanks properly. She told us that, although there had been some protests in Salvador regarding the tournament, it now seemed that they were done. It seems a typical case of haves and have nots, and in fairness, as a qualified professional, Lillian lives on the right side of the tracks, and told us she lived not too far from where we were staying, which is quite obviously in the part of town where visitors come and prices are higher.
The hotel we were staying at is on the beach. Not too expensive, although we decided to take a room for two to save money, so I waited outside while the other two checked in. Once we got to the room, a minor crisis. With phones and my laptop running very low on batteries, we had the wrong type of adaptor for the plugs in the room. We were fine the night before in Rio, but these sockets were different. What chance of finding an adaptor for a UK plug here? As it turned out none. We visited the local shopping centre - open until 10pm on a Sunday - and there was initial hope when a mobile and light electrical store told us to return in a couple of hours. While the guys went to explore the beach area and the fan park, I watched France beat Honduras failry comfortably, then tried the shop again. No joy. However, from what was there, I figured there was an adaptor that would fit the sockets that our own adaptors could fit into, so bought one for approx £3 and took a gamble. It worked ok, and we were able to power up. A decent piece of improvisation which saved the day.
Salvador was warm and balmy on this Sunday afternoon. There is a long promenade which leads to the fan park, and the length of it was full of generally young Brazilians not wearing very much and with the physiques for a neutral not to object to the notion. If I were twenty years younger, single, and fluent in Brazilian, I could see me being tempted to relocate here. There seems to be a freedom and lack on inhibition which appeals greatly to one brought up in the protestant way of doing things that is England. And remembering this is winter, frankly, you would be mad to wear more than something to cover your modesty. All the women are in short skirts or less, and bikini tops or vests. It is no different from the cliched image of the Copacabana. And hell, they do not even seem to mind the admiring looks that you give them. And at times, it is hard not to. For balance, the males that are here are, I am sure, equally attractive eye candy for those who would prefer me to write about them. No one is wearing very much in the way of clothes.
We caught the Argentina v Bosnia game on TV in a fairly average standard local restaurant bar. The fan park, unique in Brazil, was only showing matches on the days when either Brazil were playing or there was a game in Salvador itself. Madness. This meant that all the restaurants and bars were packed out on this day. We found one that was off the front and with some space. Ordering from the menu was a bit of fun, with an element of guesswork. I have no issue with this. It's a bit like a lucky dip. Sometimes you get something that is really tasty, sometimes your luck is out. I ended up with a large plate - half of it was fries - expected, half was some very salty short strips of beef that kind of curled up with the cooking. It was certainly filling, just a little too salty. The beers we were drinking went down very quickly as a consequence. Argentina did not look particularly brilliant, and Bosnia seemed unfortunate not to get something from the game. The Messi goal was the highlight of the match. There is room for improvement in the Argentinian side, no doubt about that, but at this stage, there is no need to play good football. However, the defence does not look all that, and I can't see them winning the tournament for that reason alone. The same goes for Spain.
We had a stroll down the front and had another drink before getting a relatively early night. When there are three matches a day here, the kick off times are 1, 4 and 7. So the football is all done by 9 and then you can get something to eat if you have not done so early. However, it is a nice way to watch a match, having dinner at the same time, so we eat early on our first night in Salvador. We slept for about nine hours before waking up on Monday, the day of our first actual in the flesh game. Lillian had advised getting to the area early. We took her advice and could see why. The traffic there was a crawl. The taxi driver who took us did a little conversation. He spoke Portuguese, I spoke some Italian (hell, it's closer than English), and there was just about enough words for us to have some idea what the other was talking about approximately 30 per cent of the time. Gesticulation and pointing helped. I do regret not having the time to learn Portuguese for this trip. The intention was always there, I just did not make the time. It would be fantastic to converse with the locals properly, but such is life. We were dropped in the old town, Pelourinhio, which is walking distance from the Arene Fonte Nova, and where a lot of fans were gathering. There was a chance of rain, but aside from a few spots, it didn't happen. We strolled around a bit, decided we would return just to see the place properly on Wednesday, and headed for the stadium.
There, no problems getting in. It was well organised and efficient. It helped, I am sure, that people were staggering their arrival time, and we got there an hour before kick off. Inside, we had great seats in the middle tier behind the goal the Germans were attacking in the first half. There was no sign of an official tournament programme, although the souvenir stands were doing a brisk trade. It is a new stadium and looks fanatastic. There are two local sides that will use it (and looking at the goalmouths, I imagine they might have been doing so already) so hopefully it will see plenty of action after the tournament.
Food though, was an issue. They simply did not have enough to meet the demand at the serving points in the ground. Plenty of beer and coke served in nice solid plastic glasses with the date of the game attended and the two competing teams' flags. It was pot luck if you reached the front of the queue whehter there was any food left. Then, if you were fortunate, it was take what they had. One of a burger or a hot dog. Sandwiches were listed, but I never saw anyone eat one of these. On a table by one stand, a few blocks from where we were sitting (I had ventured round in search of food), I found a ticket and inside an info brochure, strangely about six seats along from the row we were sitting in. Ok, by this time, it was just a souvenir, but it was nice to return it to the owner, a Japanese girl.
Anyhow, I managed to purchase a hot dog eventually, even if I wanted a burger, and settled down to watch a cracking game, full of drama. My impression was that Germany simply played tidy, well organised football and took full advantage of their opportunities. They were generally clinical in front of goal, and you can see why they so often progress in major tournaments. They seem to do all the right things. They contained Portugal with ease, and were able to have some decent names that did not even make the starting line up, not least Schweinsteiger. Pepe's moment of madness was sheer lunacy, although if Portugal can beat USA and Ghana, he will have the opportunity to play a further part in the finals. Ultimately though, the impression was the Ronaldo cannot carry the team, and cannot win matches on his own.
When Mesut Ozil was subbed, he looked close to tears. He certainly did not seem to have contributed much, although it did not seem to affect the overall performance of the team. He seems in no way the same player that lit up South Africa four years ago. The likes of Kroos and Goetse seem to have taken his crown as the creative hub of the team. Mertesacker was solid, and I believe should win his 100th cap in this tournament. I thoroughly enjoyed the match, the atmosphere was vibrant and our seats superb. We waited around for the crowd to disperse a bit and soaked in the stadium as it emptied. Let's face it, the chances of our ever returning are slim, for me, it would probably need a lottery win for that to happen.
We queued about 20 minutes for a taxi back to town afterwards. Not bad at all. While waiting, I got into conversation with a Gooner wearing an Arsenal polo top. He told me a mate of his had one beer before the game, followed by four during it and then threw up. No sh*t Sherlock. Beer and the daytime heat here really do not mix. I did have one in the stadium, but that was it. I had water before and after the match.
We relaxed back at the hotel while Nigeria played what seemed a dull game against Iran, although we were not really concentrating on the TV. We had our evening dinner in a bar round the corner from the hotel - pizza for all - and caught the opening of the USA v Ghana game. We headed to the fan park where Adam met up with a mate from back home and caught the second half. They had set up a couple of those ropes that people slide across at speed in a harness from one tower to another - I forget what the term is for them, but these people were swinging below the giant screen every minute or so. It was frankly surreal. Ghana made a fist of it, but having equalised the States' early goal, then conceded almost immediately. There were people supporting both teams at the fan park. No repeat of South Africa for Ghana though, when they beat the USA in their last 16 clash. It was warm and breezy at the fan park, and the average age of the attendants was probably around about 18. It was hard to keep your eyes on the game sometimes. It was like a huge social event for the local youngsters, and the only reason we were there, at our age, was because we were visitors taking in the atmosphere. Would we go to a fan park back in the UK? Of course not. So it is that most of the locals at the places in Brazil are going to be more youthful. It is a chance to get out and do their social thing.
So, in summary, the traffic is the real issue in terms of getting to stadiums here. That is not going to change. Other than that, inside the stadium, food is unpredictable, so we will probably eat before in future. Aside from that, all good. We have not felt threatened, or had any really negative experiences as yet. Tuesday is a free day without plane journeys or a game to attend, so we will return to the fan park to watch the Brazil v Mexico match, armed with suntan cream.
