I expected huge crowds, lots of excitement and, frankly, a more exciting game. It was the championship game of the All Nations Cup after all, but sadly, the event fell short of my expectations and most likely others' as well.
The crowd, although big enough to make noise, only took up one-half of one side of Memorial Stadium, not exactly the turnout I thought an event like this should have. And the game between Brazil and Russia left too much to the imagination.
In the first half, Brazil scored first, and Russia quickly followed with a goal a minute into the second half.
But then the tight game began to drift as Brazil scored another goal - and then another goal. Oh, wait, and then another goal.
Brazil won the championship game 4-1, a soaring victory for them and a sore loss for Russia.
FANNING THE CROWD
But even if the game wasn't close enough to be entertaining, the fans could have been a show of their own, at least those supporting Russia.
One man waved the Russian flag the entire game while blowing a horn that kept most from hearing the announcer. But it wasn't just the one spirited fan; the entire Russian support fired up every chance they could get, yelling "Rossia...Rossia...Rossia."
At first, their constant jeers and shouting, not to mention the horns, seemed slightly obnoxious, but not for long.
Unfortunately, the fans' excitement didn't help their team score goals, but they stuck it out and kept shouting, "Rossia...Rossia...Rossia," even when they knew their team had lost.
Even though Brazil's cheer section didn't constantly shout during the game, the team they supported caused enough excitement of their own on the field.
I stopped counting how many times players pushed one another or pretended to be hurt on the ground so they could get a call. (Those players jumped up quite quickly once the ball was back in play.)
Sure, both teams did a little acting and had flared tempers, but the Brazilian players literally wouldn't let go.
One player finally was able to start fighting, and when he couldn't get through to the Russian player, he tried fighting with the stadium staff, including a man twice his size. Maybe he figured he could outrun them if he needed to.
At this point, in the game Brazil was winning 4-1, with less than 10 minutes left of playing time. Despite how happy the player should have been at this point, he made the game stop for 10 minutes before security escorted him off the field.
A great way to finish a championship game, huh?
MOMENTS OF RELIEF
After the fantastic displays of good sportsmanship, the stadium staff attempted the worst trophy ceremony I've ever seen at any sporting event.
The staff acted so slowly and were so disorganized that by the time they could start calling out players' names, the crowd had reduced to a quarter of its original size. And some of the soccer players had started to leave, as well.
I laughed aloud actually, so one of the Russian soccer players looked at me funny, clearly not understanding why this lame celebration and trophy announcement amused me so much.
Standing after the game, I found myself surrounded by a few members of the Russian team and one from another team. Eavesdropping, I realized they were talking about the other team players, but not negatively.
Instead, the two were discussing the strengths of Brazil's players, saying several times, "He played well," or "He positioned himself well on defense."
After seeing a Brazilian teammate try to start a fight on the field for the second or third time of the game, seeing and hearing of this good sportsmanship felt relieving. And they lost, but didn't seem to take it as bad as the guy who won.
But the reason I laughed and perhaps why almost all of the crowd left was how exciting the event should have been and how much more exciting the trophy ceremony should be.
Because of the message the All Nations Cup stands for, the stadium staff and the players disappointed me.
Jessica Van Gilder is a Washington Newspaper Publishers Association intern for the Herald-Outlook.
[[In-content Ad]]
