Well, I don’t know where to start, because I just read that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to resign. First question is: will the next PM visit Yasukuni Jinja? Nevermind. Yesterday, I attended my first ever soccer match. Chengdu is hosting the preliminaries of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and ZY’s friend, Alex, had extra tickets. FYF and I joined him for what many expected to be the best match of the entire Cup - USA vs. North Korea. And they were right. For me, an awe-inspiring experience. Something like losing my virginity…to Giselle

The match started at 5:00pm. We arrived 20 minutes before, but had to pass through security before entering. Slooooooooow. Like many others, we ran around the stadium looking for our gate. As we came closer, the excitement grew. Every “ooh” and “aah” heard from inside the stadium made us run faster. I can’t remember being this excited about an event in recent years. Michigan vs. OSU is big stuff and Christopher Hill negotiating nuclear agreements with KJ Il is fun stuff, but the former is between countrymen and I don’t get to bang on chairs when there’s a concession on uranium enrichment in the latter, so…. We missed the start of the game, but no goals. The place was packed - around 35,000 people - but not sold out. Clouds and rain covered the game.

I was wondering if there would be N. Koreans attending the game. The only other impression I had of them was when I was watching their women play Japan’s on TV. They had a section of guys (all guys), who looked like farmers, cheering like crazy. They won in a shoot out. To our left was a huge section of N. Korean fans, all dressed in identical uniforms - khaki pants, red shirts, white hats, N. Korean flags, and noisemakers filled with kimchi (serious, I smelled it). Someone pointed out that Kim Jong Il didn’t want to send people out of the country in fear that they would know what they were missing, so he sent money from that Macau bank (you know, the one that launders money for the DPRK) to the mainland and had some Chinese guys hire migrant workers from the countryside and dress them up, etc. But that’s just a rumor.

As you might expect, the Chinese were cheering religiously for North Korea. Chinese say they like Americans (but just not our government - but how is that possible since we are by, for, and of the people?), but we all know that’s not true (its an open secret we can say). And when it comes to allegiances, they’d choose their small, rabble rousing neighbor over the US anytime. No matter, I choose Japan, but we’ll get to that later. Every time a Korean player touched the ball, even if it was on the opposite side of the pitch, the crowd went wild. Really wild. Crazy. Bananas. Ape shit. Orgasmic-like. And the guy behind me kept say “好球” (good ball). I was thinking more like “好烦” (annoying). When the US had the ball, no one booed, but the sense of “oh, shit” filled the air. But that wasn’t often, because the N. Koreans did such a fine job of controlling the ball. As soon as we found our seats, they had a shot on goal, and it continued this way the entire first half. In fact, for those first 45 minutes I was feeling “oh, shit”. It was 0-0 at the half.

Finally, the USA scored the first goal and the crowd seemed overwhelmed with sadness. A big ‘ol “damn, Americans are so fucking good” kinda feeling. I played it cool. But soon after, the N. Koreans scored and the crowd exploded. Really exploded. I played it cool. Then the N. Koreans scored again. I played it cool. I’m a cool cat, what can I say? This whole time, Alex and FYF, who I clearly knew were pulling for N. Korea (even though they didn’t say it), were also playing it cool. I was surprised. Finally, the USA pulled through and tied the game at 2-2. I got fucking hyped!!!!

The game tied at 2-2. I have very little knowledge of soccer, so I thought there would be overtime period or, even better, some of those one-on-one kicks. But alas, no. This is tournament play and there ain’t none of that. So when I saw people leaving with 5 minutes remaining, I was wondering, ‘but why?’. haha.

Given all the political overtones (playing N. Korea, in China, on 9/11, etc) that the first game had, the second (Sweden vs. Nigeria) was something of a UN love fest. It was much funner. The “N. Koreans” changed back into their street clothes and revealed themselves to be local Chengdu people, who are funny as hell. Many cheers in local dialect and even that “o lay o lay o lay o lay” song. But those are the only words of the song people know…yours truly included. And I’ve never experienced “the wave” being done for so long on a continuous basis. Seriously, wave after wave after wave. 厉害!!!!! Most everyone cheered equally for both teams, with a slight lean toward Sweden, but maybe it’s because their scared of blacks? Yes, I said what you were already thinking.

Oh, wait, politics is everywhere. Before the second game, the broadcaster announced the names and home countries of the referees. I saw this information written on the scoreboard (in English) before the announcement. I saw that the first three were from China and the last from Japan. I wondered what the response would be to the announcement of the last one. Okay, I didn’t wonder, I knew, but I didn’t want to be a product of my environment - pretentious - so I waited. The crowd exploded for their compatriots, of course, as would I. And finally, a collective “boooooooooo” of the Japanese. But, hey, even if Abe is resigning, they are still a staunch US ally, helping us refuel ships in the Indian Ocean, etc. So, first in Chinese, then in honorific Japanese, I yelled, “Japan, yeaaaah, Japan, Japan, wooooooo Japan”. lol…It was great, especially in Chinese. People were looking really befuddled, but not angry. It was great.

Sweden and Nigeria tied 1-1. Japan and England, playing somewhere else, tied 2-2.

One misty evening in Chengdu…

Two teams got it on…

Americans repped to the fullest…

Jeff, Steve, and Pete. These guys really rocked. A lot of fun.


They were like rock stars at half-time. Everyone was coming up to take pictures with them. They didn’t turn anyone away, even old men. They usually held the flag behind them, as a backdrop, but realizing that wasn’t good enough, they they draped it over this girl in a perfect example of ‘chicks dig red, white, and blue guys’. Way to spread the culture guys! You are the real Ambassadors!!

Feng Yao Feng (FYF) and Alex

Get cha’ wave on!