Meeting a Swiss Star in Amsterdam



The Swiss did not qualify for EURO 2012 for 3 reasons:

1) in matches in Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Wales, they scored zero goal

2) the coach did not rebuild the team right after the World Cup and

3) for a long time, the captain of the team created tension and division within the team

so for the next 10 months, the Swiss have only friendly games to look forward to. First friendly game was against Holland, the number 2 team in the world.



I went to Amsterdam last Friday to see this match. I bought the most expensive seat possible from the Swiss Federation and before the game, the camera woman put me on the big screen several times.



The Swiss played well and held Holland to a 0-0 draw. They already beat the number 1 team in the world, Spain, in last year's World Cup and they played England at Wembley to a 2-2 draw early this year.

From my seat, I was very close to the players. But I wanted to get closer. I could not find where the Swiss team was sleeping in Amsterdam but I did find out where they were going to train the next morning.

So on Saturday, I went there early to wait for the Swiss players. It was a big park and there was supposed to be a sportsground. I found the park but I could not find the sportsground.

I spent more than one hour walking around the whole park. I was so disappointed. I gave up and went to the stamps market to look for some dutch soccer stamps. At least here, I was successful. I found stamps of van der Vaart and Kuyt as well as a stamp of that famous wizard.

  

The next day, I left Amsterdam. The Swiss team was also leaving Amsterdam but their flight was around noon (to Luxembourg for the next friendly game) and mine was before 10 AM (back to Zurich.) So no chance of meeting the team at the airport.

As I walked toward my gate, somehow my soccer radar told me to turn around. I did and I saw the Swiss Star Innocent Emeghara. He was walking very slowly. I stopped and chatted with him.



We spoke about his injury (inflammation of the left foot) and about his learning french. I said to him 'Innocent, we miss you at Grasshoppers!' and his facial expression and his reply (Grasshoppers, uh?) left me in no doubt that Innocent does not miss Grasshoppers.

We also spoke about the game against Holland. He agreed with my view that the Swiss plays well against the top teams but it is against the smaller countries that they have troubles with motivation.

for the WC 2014 in Brasil, the Swiss is in the same group with Norway, Slovenia, Cyprus, Albania, and Iceland. They will need to change their mindset if they want to go to Brasil.

Next week, the Swiss will face Luxembourg and early next year, Argentina comes to Bern. Let's see which game the players will be motivated for. I hope the answer is Luxembourg. 

Meetting Snow White in Yangju

Once upon a time, there was a championship soccer game in South Korea. It took place in Yangju, a small town north of the capital. The game was the first of two to decide the champions of the Daum Challengers League 2011.

Daum is the name of a popular Korean internet search engine (sort of like Google). The word Daum means 'next' in Korean and the Daum Challengers League is the third division of South Korean soccer.

The match was between Yangju Citizen and Gyeongju Citizen and when I saw the logo of the home team, I had to go to Yangju to see the onion-look-a-like and the blonde korean fans. 



So last Saturday, I took the metro from the capital and the trip took almost 90 minutes to get to Yangju. During the trip, I was amazed to see almost everyone, even the senior citizens, had an iphone. They could talk, send and receive text messages, watch TV, or play games even when the train was underground. South Korea is an amazing high tech country.

When I got to the stadium, I found out the tickets were free and the organizers were also giving away free pens, free cakes and free drinks. One of the organizers said someting to me when she gave me the free stuffs. I shook my head to indicate that I did not understand. She then pointed out a number (6002) printed on my ticket. I guessed there will be more free stuffs I can win with this number.

Next to the ticket table, I saw a woman dressed as Snow White. She was busy blowing up a lot of balloons. I wondered if the ballons were free.

Then I saw 4 young cheerleaders. And none of them was blonde. They were with a guy. And he did not look like an onion. He was carrying some drums and noisemakers.

When the home team came out to warm up, this man took the cheerleaders over to introduce to the players. Now I had no idea what the players said but the girls all screamed and ran back to the tent where Snow White was still busy filling up the ballons.

By now a lot of school kids and families had arrived so I entered the stadium to get a seat near the main stand.



Shortly before kick-off, Snow White and the cheerleading boss came in and gave all of us (yes, including me) free ballons.

then some local politicians arrived and the teams came out and they all posed for a group photo. The politicians sat in the VIP stand and in front of it, I could see the items that looked like prizes to be given away. More free stuffs!!!

The game started and the visiting team dominated and scored in the 12th minute. The politicians look amazed. For me, the amazing part was the score board in the stadium. It was the only score board.

South Korea is a very high tech country.

Half time. Yangju Citizen 0 Gyeongju Citizen 1. Despite the domination, the visitors could manage only 1 goal.

Many fans left the stadium to go buy snacks and I was trying to decide if I should do the same when the stadium announcer spoke. I did not understand everything but I could tell that the raffle was about to start.

One by one, the politicians were invited to pick a number out of a box and the number was read aloud. Now I have learned to say the numbers in Korean but at that moment, I was too excited to remember how to say '6002' in Korean.


Luckily there was a boy standing next to me and so I showed him my ticket every time a number is read, and he would look at me and shake his head every time.

Actually we were the only two people standing in front of the VIP stand (the rest was in their seats). We stood there because we both wanted to win a prize.

I saw some autographed soccer balls that I would love to have one.
I could tell that the boy wanted to win one of the bicycles.
and I could tell that neither of us wanted to bring home that big bag of rice.

but the strange thing was that no one came up to claim the prize. After reading about 5 or 6 numbers, the raffle was stopped. May be the people with the winning tickets have left to go buy foods.

The second half started and the home team improved. The cheerleaders tried to get the crowd excited but I noticed that some of the kids were busy playing video games and some of the adults were busy chatting. I was watching the game but it was more fun to watch the people.

With about 15 minutes left, Yangju got a free kick and they scored. Big celebrations. All the balloons were released. Well almost. Some kids wanted to keep the ballons to bring home despite being yelled at by the director of cheerleading.

As I released my 3 balloons, I remembered Snow White and thought it was strange that she had disappeared. So I decided to go look for her.

Now this was the Championship game of the Daum Challengers League 2011 so there were a few policemen around. But they were busy protecting the politicians. There was nobody to stop anybody from wandering anywhere, except you could not go into the VIP stand.

I could not find Snow White anywhere. Where did she go?

Back in the game, Yangju pressed for the winner in the last 15 minutes but the visitors held on for a 1-1 draw. The return game will be in Gyeongju this weekend.

I will not be able to be there. But I hope Snow White will. And if she meets the mascot of Gyeongju Citizen FC, they will live happily ever after...