The match was in Allianz Arena in Munich.Its a magnificent stadium with a seating capacity of about 70,000(including standing room) and the only stadium in the world that has changing color outside. The stadium was packed with German supporters and a few Argentinian Supporters scattered around.
We were about 15 Desis and we had hired a bus to go to Munich and come back.Incidentally, I was the only female in the group.The bus ride was pleasant and fun filled with lot of chattering and hot samosas with cold beer.
There was a huge crowd gathered for this match and it took us a while to enter after clearing the security check. The stadium was packed with football enthusiasts who were carrying German flags and wearing team shirts of their favorite players...people were drinking beer...cheering their team...singing and creating a lot of noise in general which made the entire thing a lot of fun. It was a dream come true for me to watch players like Messi, Ballack etc play in person and I even got to see Diego Maradona as he is the coach of Argentinian team for this World Cup. Argentinian defence was amazing and they thwarted a lot of goal attempts by the Germans and at the same time,their centre forwards continuously attacked the German goal. At last their relentlessness bore fruit and Argentina scored a goal just before the half time. There was a long queue for the snacks counter outside and a separate card was needed in order to buy the snacks instead of cash and this card was being sold at another counter.Finally we did manage to buy something and when finally entered the stands again,the match had already started. Compared to Argentinians, the Germans performed rather dismally and players like Ballack,Schweinsteiger,Podolski etc were huge disappointments.All this while Maradona paced the sidelines enthusiastically cheering his players...making quick changes and boosting their morale. In the end,Argentina won the match 1-0.The only dampener was the weather which was very cold and it was really chilly inside the stadium.
German supporters were rather quiet on their way out as their team had lost but we Desis were upbeat because it really didnt matter to us who won.The journey back was pretty much the same...Beer...Post Match discussions....Soccer stats...heated arguments over the correctness of these Soccer stats..bets being placed...Beer Jokes (named it so coz they are really lame but since everyone is high, people laugh at anything being said) etc.
My first International Soccer match in a stadium.....all in all,a very memorable experience. :)
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