Friday, August 8, 2008

Tianjin Olympic match USA Japan


I made it to China, worldly possessions, wife, kid and all, but pre-employment and moving issues made it impossible for me to attend this match. Then, on game day yesterday, I discovered it was not on live on local Chinese TV. A few frantic calls cornered a bar (Big Bamboo) with an internet jockey who said they could get the match on and sure enough they did. It was grainy, with no sound or commentary, and it was pretty grim football, the kind that two mediocre football nations like Japan and USA could produce on a very very hot day in China. But it didn't matter because in the 48th minute Stuart Holden's shot slipped past the Japanese goalkeeper and trickeled oh so delicately across the goal line. Later in the match I saw that one Japanese fan had hung a Cerezo Osaka banner (in honor of Shinji Kagawa who started for Japan) and an arrow of homesickness pierced my heart, but only for a moment. There was a delicous moment after the match when I was walking up Nanjing Road and saw a guy in a red striped jersey. "CHIVAS CABRON??" The guy kept talking on his cel but walked through a red light into traffic to escape my attention. Good times.

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