Saturday game day but we had the a run of free time to 7pm due to the late kick-off.
Uncontroversially we decided to take it easy rather than flog ourselves in the heat. Our main excursion was to the Mirador del Obispo, a hilltop lookout with 360 views from a wide plaza under a giant Mexican flag.
For better worse the haze in the air meant that visibility wasn’t particularly good and some of the surrounding mountains couldn’t even be seen. Exhibit A below.
Is there anybody out there? The city centre is the tall bit to the right of the image.
Leading up to the Huge Flag there was a series other flags that depicted the evolution of the Mexican flag over time. A nice idea and well executed to be honest, even if heraldry dork-outs aren’t even your thing.
And then there was one.
During the day we chilled and enjoyed the other games. Netherlands v Sweden was a supremely entertaining battle nowhere near as lopsided as the final 5-1 scoreline. Don’t miss the highlights.
Germany came from behind to defeat Ivory Coast 2-1 and that also effectively seals their place at the top of the group. Highlights here. Ecuador v Curacao was another game where the plucky islanders put themselves about, and this time they came up with a draw and their first ever point from a World Cup game. Highlights here. It was enough to spark a boisterous celebration with the king.
Meanwhile as game time neared the atmosphere on the streets ramped up. Here are the Tunisians finding some voice in the Old Quarter of Monterrey.
Pre-game routines allow for all kinds of optimism. Enjoy it while you can.
Our tour included transport to and from the stadium so the driver picked us up at the hotel. About half an hour early. The gist was this:
“Get your *&^%$#es down now. There’s going to be *&^%$#! gay march and it’ll block the streets and we won’t be able to get the *&^%$# out of downtown.”
So off we scooted. The drop-off was more difficult however with no designated drop-off point near the stadium. In the end the driver just pulled over in a more or less convenient spot and shoved us out the door before some ominous-looking People In Uniforms could swoop
The pre-game venues were various old barns in what looked like some kind of showgrounds. There were various pop-ups offering music, drinks and Mexican street food amid a haze of grill smoke. We spent a lazy few hours there as the crowd was building.
Somewhat surprisingly for me the ticket check was before security. This is the reverse of that it is for, err, Hobart Hurricanes matches for example. The tickets themselves are interesting, a lightly-animated digital ticket that has to be displayed live on a mobile phone screen. Printouts and screenshots are not acceptable, the instructions thundered. They did at least function as planned and we were through.
A long walkway headed to the promised turf; there was something of a thar-she-blows moment as our first actual World Cup stadium hove into view.
We made it!
Inside the pie-tin it was bedlam, with long queues for junk food hampering the movement of just about everyone else who was looking to get around the concourse and locate the right staircase up to their level or just move laterally. Eventually some kind of mediated order emerges from the chaos: the flags are spread across, the anthems are sung, the fans find their seats and their voice.
And you know what? After months of planning – the World Cup plot hatched in about September last year – and anticipation and travel and hurdles to overcome, it was all worth it. Every damn bit.
We witnessed a fantastic performance from Japan who whipped the tried-hard-but-not-at-the-races Tunisians 4-0 (highlights here). Japan can now challenge for top place in the group while the Tunisians will be heading home to north Africa after their final group game Sweden, who would probably need a draw to progress to the elimination round.
Even up in the treetops the goal celebrations were pretty full-on.
Overall I was impressed with the security and smoothness of the operations. I realise this is not game 1 so presumably any teething problems have been ironed out and the whole shebang of security, event staff and volunteers all know what they are doing. And as usual the vibe was happy happy fan fan and I didn’t witness any agro anywhere. Well done the 51 thousand of us who went to the ball and behaved.
Early Sunday on three hours sleep we are heading to the airport and then taking a short hop to Guadalajara where we’ll have six nights, two more games, and hopefully a few more bags of laughs.
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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