Saturday, July 3: Quarterfinal Match vs. Paraguay

As Kelly has already shared in her previous blog, the football match was actually not the biggest happening in town this night – Madrid hosted its annual Gay Pride Parade which culminated in a free Kylie Minogue concert attended by several hundred thousand people. In between the parade and the concert, we watched the match at “Las Delicias del Jamon” – a local tapas bar / deli / butcher shop. The place had a very authentic, down-to-earth feel about it. One side of the restaurant comprised a deli counter and a bar, and about a dozen 2-4 person tables filled the rest of the place. All four walls were covered with about 100 hanging dried pigs legs.

We arrived right at kickoff and grabbed the second-to-last table. We enjoyed watching the match with the locals, and listening to their cheers and jeers. Of course, the place erupted when Spain scored the sole goal of the match, and everyone applauded when the game ended. Later that night, we saw lots of supporters decked out in their Spain apparel – even some dogs!

Wednesday, July 7: Semifinal Match vs. Germany

We weren’t sure where to watch this game this time, but about an hour before kickoff, Kelly received a tip from our hotel receptionist to go to Real Madrid stadium, where they were showing the match on giant screens. The stadium was about 25 minutes away (walking and subway). We weren’t certain which station to get off, but we figured it out real quick when the entire subway train emptied and everyone started cheering and blowing horns. It brought a huge smile to our faces right away – and mine hardly went away the whole night.

Exiting the subway station placed us right on top of the stadium. The place was buzzing – it had a definite tailgating feel to it. Vendors were selling souvenirs and fans were downing beer – it wasn’t allowed inside the gates. After walking through security into the plaza outside the Real Madrid stadium, we found the four giant screens surrounded by mobs of people. I’d estimate we stood with about twenty thousand people to watch the match.

It was a blast to see and hear the crowd wave flags, blow horns, cheer, gasp, moan and applaud throughout the entire match. Fans continually sang several cheers/fight songs, including “yo soy Español, Español Español!” (I am Spanish) and “Este partido, vamos a ganar” (We will win this game). Written down, they don’t look like much, but I enjoyed cheering along with them – and I heard them quite a bit the next few days!

We were very amused during the game that a group of college-aged Spanish men accused us of being Germans. They looked at us – about a foot taller than the average Spaniard, blondish hair, fair-skinned, not decked out in Spanish colors – and assumed we were rooting for the enemy! We assured them that we were from the USA, which brought big smiles and enticed them to chant “USA! USA! USA!” (they were among the leaders in starting all chants throughout the match). Later on, they asked us which state, which of course resulted in an “O-HI-O! O-HI-O!” chant! And of course, it must be noted, that these young men were, of course, under the influence of liquid courage.

After the match ended victoriously, we entered into the loudest subway station I have ever been in. Everyone was yelling and hollering and blowing horns. I thought it was great, but felt a bit sorry for the workers who were likely in for a long, headache-filled night. Oh well, it sure beats losing! And during our walk home, all of the cars were honking their horns and people were still singing and chanting. I believe we still heard celebratory car horns the following morning!

Sunday, July 11: World Cup Final vs. Netherlands

We had so much fun watching the semifinal match at the Real Madrid stadium that we returned for the final match – this time of course decked out in Spanish (and University of Cincinnati) red. Only one problem, there was no buzz and no crowd, just a few dozen other fans looking around confused with us. The vendors were still all set up – we spoke with a couple of them, and they informed us that the viewing party was at the Plaza de Colon, “about a 15 minute walk away”.

Of course, a 15 minute walk really means about 35 minutes (about 2 miles). We had begun to get worried that we had gotten lost, but we eventually found our way, and found the party. The city shut down the street between two squares and set up at least eight giant screens for everyone to watch. Newspapers estimated 300,000 people watched the match here. And of course the crowd’s spirit was just as energized as Wednesday, except that the crowd was a multiple of ten larger! Absolutely awesome.

It was quite a nerve-wracking game, with no goals scored during regular time, leading to extra time. When Spain scored the goal with only a few minutes left in extra time, absolute bedlam ensued. Horns, yelling, everyone jumping up and down. Fireworks, cheering, hugging, singing. Everyone calmed down – just a little – to make sure that the goal held up for the final minutes of the match, and then the celebration began! We spotted a few grown men in tears – this is after all the first time Spain has won the world cup – and right as the game ended, the barricade protecting the drained fountain was pulled down and everyone rushed to celebrate around the fountain’s statue. We have since learned that this is a Spanish celebratory tradition, and is likely why this fountain was emptied. We saw photos the next day of other people splashing around in the fountain beds.

After the match ended, the streets became flooded with more than one million revelers, and the largest street party that I have ever experienced ensued. We walked around town for a couple of hours, taking it all in. We made it back to our apartment shortly before 2 a.m., and I’m sure that the party lasted until sunrise.

I feel so lucky that the timing of our move to Madrid coincided with this World Cup run. It was so much fun, and I understand and value how unique and rare of an opportunity it really was — the World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world, save the Olympics. I also have a great appreciation for the rarity of championships, coming from Cincinnati. I joked to Kelly: we have lived in Cincinnati for the last 20 years without witnessing a championship, it only took two weeks for it to happen in Spain!

Click here to view more photos from our World Cup viewing experiences.

This was my first venture into the popular online t-shirt design world and I found that there are an overwhelming amount of t-shirt websites featuring great work. I chose to submit my work to 5quid Ink for a three distinct reasons:

1. I needed to find a website that didn’t require a length submittal process and/or lengthy voting process because I just decided to do this last week and clearly timing was important.
2. 5quid Ink is a fairly new site, so I figured I had a better chance at getting noticed.
3. I liked their website and the work they featured.

I’ve always loved watching the Olympics. I love seeing the passion of the athletes and I am a sucker for “feel good” stories, so Olympics are perfect for that. I’m always impressed by the athletes’ hard work and dedication. I can’t imagine training for eight hours almost every day, but then again, it would be pretty sweet to get paid for flying through the air on skis or dancing on ice (though I know their earning potential is nothing compared to most professional athletes in leagues like MLB, NFL or NBA).

This year watching the Olympics has felt a little odd since we are in Croatia. Sometimes we watch it on EuroSport in German or on a local Croatian channel, but without the pro-USA commentators filling in the slow moments with their stories it quickly becomes background noise. I easily get distracted and then I miss half of an event by the time I look up again. Luckily we have a Slingbox and we have watched some of the coverage being aired in the USA. Our Slingbox (a tv-streaming internet device) is connected to my parents’ cable box at home, so we can watch local Cincinnati tv right here in Croatia over the internet. It has done wonders for keeping us connected to all sports’ events in the USA, including the Olympics. It has been fun watching the Americans do so well. Croatia even has two medals, which is pretty impressive for a country the size of West Virginia.

I hope everyone else is enjoying the Olympics too and heads on over to www.5quidink.com to buy a new Olympic t-shirt (which luckily you can wear until 2016 since Rio de Janeiro is on there too).

*This was on the Sunday night of Sveti Duje weekend (read Kelly’s Top 10 Sveti Duje Moments for all details!). During the concert, Kelly and I noticed a boy wearing an Indiana Wesleyan hat standing next to us, with what appeared to be his two brothers and his mother and father. Once the concert ended, Kelly was brave enough to introduce us and ask if they were from Indiana, and to tell them that we’re from Ohio!

It turns out that Joel (the father) and his wife went to school at Indiana Wesleyan University. We chatted for a few minutes, and Joel invited me to play football. I was a bit hesitant, because frankly I’m not-so-good, but he said it didn’t matter and that it’s just for fun, so I thought I’d give it a shot! So far, I’m very glad that I did – it’s been a lot of fun.

The games are very informal. There are about ten to twelve guys who get together on Mondays and Wednesdays at an outdoor football facility. We play for about an hour or so each day, just split into two teams of 4, 5 or 6 and play. It’s very informal, no referees or anything, and we all take turns playing goalie. It’s a small field, so the running isn’t too bad. The facility splits each regulation size field into two smaller fields (basically, sideline to sideline instead of endline to endline) with smaller goals – even smaller than indoor goals – for recreational / pick-up football.

Of course, most of the guys are way more skilled than me, but I haven’t felt too much out of my league yet – hopefully it stays that way! Everyone has been very nice so far – and yes, everyone speaks English, though I’m sure most of the guys speak other language(s). I know that out of the group, there are guys from England, Ireland, France, Denmark and Australia as well as a fellow American from San Diego and a Croatian who also just returned to Split in the past couple of months after living in Los Angeles for many years. Also, I just learned that one of the guys used to play professionally in the US – he apparently has a newspaper photo showing him playing with Pele that others have seen (he’s a bit older than me)!

I hope to make some friends from this group, and think that we will.

In addition to sharing our experience in journal and photo format, Kelly and I also captured video footage of the crowd – our favorite part of the night. Kelly then took the captured clips and merged them together to create the final video embedded below:

DISCLAIMER: I’m about to go into some Croatian football history, so if you don’t care at all, just skip over the next few paragraphs. I’ll let you know when I’ll continue about our game experience.

Hajduk and Dinamo have a very intense rivalry. Historically (going back into Yugoslavia times), Hajduk has been the premier football club in Croatia with a total of 15 league championships, but Dinamo has challenged that position in recent years. Since 1992 – when Croatia declared itself an independent nation, with Zagreb named the capital city (and also a new Croatian National League was established, previously the Hajduk club played in the Yugoslav Football League), Dinamo has won 11 league titles and Hajduk only 6. Prior to 1992, Dinamo apparently was not much of a football powerhouse. Hajduk fans will tell you that Dinamo has surged to their present state of power because they are in the capital and have much more money to spend on players (and referees?) than Hajduk. Whether there is truth to this, I don’t know.

Croatian History / Soccer History lessons aside, the game we attended wasn’t even part of the Croatian National League. It was the final round of the “Croatian Cup”, which is a national tournament that runs parallel to the Croatian National League season. The Croatian Cup is secondary in importance to winning the league, but it seems to also be a big deal. Each round of the cup involves home and away matches between two clubs – the team with the most aggregate goals scored (away goals count as two) advance to the next round. (The UEFA Champions League matches that have been on ESPN this Spring followed a very similar format.) Hajduk and Dinamo had already played the first leg of the finals, with Dinamo winning 3-0, so the Hajduk fans didn’t have much hope of coming back and winning, as they would have to outscore Dinamo by at least three goals to force overtime*.

*I didn’t find out most of this until during or after the game. Kelly informed me at the beginning of the game that this was for the Croatian Cup (her boss Tony told her), not a league game. She also told me that she thought Dinamo won the first leg 3-0, so we knew the Hajduk needed to outscore Dinamo by a lot to win. I have never attended a sporting event without knowing so much of the particulars. We had to base the significance of things by the excitement of the crowd.

END FOOTBALL HISTORY, RESUME GAME EXPERIENCE: Okay, hopefully I didn’t put anyone to sleep by that. If it didn’t make sense, it doesn’t really matter. Basically, what matters is that Hajduk/Dinamo is a big rivalry, but this particular match had lost a bit of significance because Hajduk had lost a couple of lead-up matches.

We took the bus to Poljud Stadium, and stepped off into a sea of white shirts – just about everyone was wearing Hajduk apparel. It was cool to see. We also noticed right away a major gender disparity – we’re guessing that for every thirty men, there was one woman. This didn’t really shock us, but still is a little bit of a surprise to see live and in person. There were also some families, but they were also the vast minority.

We walked from the street down some steps toward the stadium, and spotted about a dozen men relieving themselves in the nearby bushes – not by any means out of sight! This surprised us a bit, to say the least. Beer was flowing on the concourse outside the stadium. The place had almost a festival atmosphere, because the concession stands, if you could call them that, were just rectangular folding tables with tabletop grills cooking sausages and burgers. Surrounding each concession stand area were plastic-folding chairs occupied by everyone enjoying their food and beverage. We had just eaten, so we didn’t try the food, though it smelt good – maybe next time.

After walking around outside the stadium, we entered our gate and were handed free t-shirts! I was also handed a newspaper program, but didn’t really want it since it was all in Croatian, but held onto it anyway because I didn’t see a garbage can. Inside the stadium, we didn’t see any concession stands or souvenir shops or anything. This surprised us. Not sure if you could exit to buy food and re-enter, but there didn’t appear to be any available in the stadium.

After unsuccessfully asking an usher (I think he was an usher) where to locate our seats (he didn’t speak much English – but I think he more or less told me to sit wherever), we managed to find our seats on our own. As we sat down, we noticed the seats weren’t very clean, and that many people were using the newspaper as a seat cover – so, we followed suit. They didn’t seem terribly disgusting to me, but whatever. Apparently, the stadium doesn’t get cleaned very often or something.

We arrived at our seats about 30 minutes before game time, and already you could feel a buzz in the atmosphere. The crowd would sing to the songs playing and chants would break out. It made the pre-game fly by. Before we knew it, it was time to begin – just before the game started, the big cheering section (named Torcida) threw a bunch of streamers in the air and lit off some flares and M-80-sounding firecrackers. The streamers filled in the track area behind one of the goals.

The game was very exciting. The whole crowd seemed to be into it. As I said before, it wasn’t a sellout, only about 60% full (20,000 people or so), but those who were there were definitely emotionally invested. The whole game, people cheered and chanted and sang and carried on and waved big flags. Whenever there was a call that didn’t go Hajduk’s way, the fans would let the referees hear it, whistling loudly. And of course, we had the random flares and fireworks. I’ve never witnessed a crowd this into a game before – it blows NFL away. And to think, that this wasn’t even a huge game!

No goals were scored in the first half, but just a few minutes into the second half Hajduk got on the board, sending the place into a frenzy! Lots more flares, some thrown onto the track – causing fires that had to be put out by the firefighters diligently waiting with backpack fire extinguishers (they had to be summoned three or four times – never on the field, just on the surrounding track) and lots more fireworks and chanting and singing.

Only a few minutes after the first goal, Hajduk scored again! The place erupted this time. So many fireworks and flares this time, that the whole stadium filled with smoke. They had to stop the game for a few minutes while the smoke subsided – we couldn’t even see the field. I loved it! So now, we could tell that everyone was excited, but we weren’t sure if Hajduk needed one more goal or two more goals to matter, but everyone was on the edge of their seat the rest of the match. Especially the guy to Kelly’s right. He was quite animated, and eventually Kelly and I switched seats so he wouldn’t inadvertently drop her with a left hook.

Hajduk scored a third goal with about ten minutes left in regulation, and the funniest thing happened – no more flares or fireworks! I can only assume that they ran out! Still, the place went wild, just a bit more safely, I guess! After this third goal, the pace of the game slowed down. It didn’t seem like either team was trying to score with any urgency, and we couldn’t figure out why. So, nobody else scored in regulation, and Kelly and I still weren’t sure what happened next. Nobody seemed to be leaving, so we stayed put as well.

After a few minutes, the teams lined up for penalty kicks! As we figured out, Hajduk’s 3-0 win matched Dinamo’s 3-0 win from the first leg of the final, so the tie was to be broken in penalty kicks. I’m not a huge fan of PKs, finding them akin to deciding a game with field goals or free throws, but it’s definitely better than ending in a tie. Unfortunately, Hajduk lost in PKs, 4-3 (out of a possible 5), so they lost the Croatian Cup to Dinamo. We were a little disappointed, just because we wanted to see the place go bezerk one more time, but it was very cool to see that the crowd didn’t just file out once the game ended. They still continued to cheer and chant and applaud their team for several minutes after the game ended. Kelly and I thought it was a great display of sportsmanship.

The 2008-2009 Croatia National League season ended on Sunday, so I guess we’ll have to wait until next season to attend more games. But, we definitely plan to, because we both had a great time. We’ll just have to wait until the next season starts in August.

If you’ve managed to read this far, and are somehow still interested (bless you!), we have posted a photo gallery from the match as well. Check it out!