Ah But Parades Were Rained On – Alan’s World Cup Blog #10

First order of the day was to check out the pretty magnifico breakfast at our hotel, the Gamma Monterrey. There were some unremarkable things, like fresh fruit, unless you’re American and have only ever expected waffles, syrup and mediocre filter coffee at a hotel breakfast.

And quite a few different types and bread and pastries, all of which looked very fresh. At one stage a waiter even came around to our table and offered us a kind of jam roll that was fresh out of the oven.

The green juice was excellent, and to be honest it’s pretty brave for a hotel to be offering a mystery frog juice (I detected cucumber, spinach and pineapple at least) as well as the classics like orange.

The Mexican stuff was fascinating. I was delighted by the chilaquiles which are a kind of heavy tortilla chip over which you ladle either a green tomatillo sauce or a red tomato salsa. Then you top it with red onion, lemon and chopped cilantro. Crazies can also ruin it with sour cream and grated cheese. It feels simple and wholesome; the tomatillo salsa is divinely salty and sour, and just warm enough chili-wise to be interesting but not overpowering.

Chilaquiles in salsa verde.

Miguel hoeing into the fruit.

Yay, cooked breakfast!

A row of tureens held casserole-type food and Mexican-style scrambled eggs, although there was also a doughty chef at a cooking station who prepared omelettes and fresh tacos to order. Most of the casseroles had meat in them so stuff that, but I managed to cobble together a decent plate of stir-fried potato, elotes (corn kernels), nopales (cactus leaves), radish slices, lettuce and a few more corn chips.

To walk off the Big Breakfast we headed out to explore the downtown area of Monterrey. There were plenty of pleasant streets including a pedestrian mall, and we also passed through the expansive Macroplaza in front of the state legislature.

Highlight of the morning was the walk along the Paseo de Santa Lucia, a canal that connect the Macroplaza area with a major urban park called Fundidora. There are beautiful paved and tree-lined walkways on either side plus occasional special features such as fountains, mosaics and art installations.

The heat however was still abysmal and by the time we were back at the hotel just before kick-off in the Australia-USA game I was just about done for.

Diego was taken by this ‘mobile restaurant’ that was serving breakfast tacos.

A fountain in the heart of Monterrey.

Beware the water feature amphitheatre, that’s where the ‘ooligans ‘ang out.

I guess I’ve avoided talking about the football till now because frankly it was a disappointing Socceroos’ performance, particularly for anyone who got up in the wee hours to watch it. Coach Tony Popovic – a hero five days ago for a tactical masterclass against Turkey – later admitted he got his starting line-up wrong. Too right champ: this is the World Cup, you can’t spot a decent team a 2-0 lead and then try to reel it them in in just half the game. Dismal highlights here.

While it’s not the result we (Australians all let us regroup) it was a mostly honourable defeat after a better second half, and we know what to do with honourable defeats. All is not lost and a draw or better against Paraguay in another five days’ time will see Australia progress to the next stage. Even a loss, as long as it’s narrow, might be enough.

Australia’s fortunate position is largely thanks to Turkey who lost 1-0 to Paraguay (highlights here) despite having a large number of chances. They are now inevitably heading home after their clash with the USA in the final group game. USA for their part are now guaranteed top spot so the fixture is effectively meaningless for both teams.

Turkiye: expectation V reality. Artist unknown.

In the other games Scotland fell 1-0 to Morocco (highlights here) while Brazil cruised past Haiti 3-0 (highlights here). That’s the Haitians headed for the departure lounge as well regardless of what they can achieve in their third and final group game next week.

Saturday fixtures are Netherlands v Sweden, Germany v Ivory Coast, Ecuador v Curacao and Tunisia v Japan. The last one is the match we are going to in Monterrey, with the very late kick-off of 10:00pm designed to provide a fighting chance that the match won’t be played in blistering heat. Afternoon rain today brought cooler conditions and the forecast for game time is a reasonable 26C.

Unfortunately the rain inundated the Fan-Fest and the venue had to be closed. News was slow to travel and we only found out when we turned up at the locked gates and found the entire area dark. After the USA’s win over Australia, it felt like another parade had been rained on. Sad (and damp) face.

We had to head back to the centre of town and make our own fun in an impromptu game of keepy-uppy in the streets of the Barrio Antiguo, the Old Quarter.

Meanwhile Japanese fans jazzed up their pre-game routine with Pennywise the psychotic clown. The world of World Cup fandom is fruity stuff indeed!

Enjoy the football and have fun!

Alan Whykes is a Tasmania-based writer and an ex- too many things to list.

This blog is the start of a new section called Tas At Large which showcases stories of Tasmanian diaspora let loose upon the world. 

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