So we might have pulled off the most cliché manly thing last night. The three of us had been planning on going to this International Friendly game between Morocco and France. But of course none of us could make up our minds because of not wanting to put three tickets on one credit card or we all had doubts with the strike. But we finally decided to just try and see if we could pull it off the day of. So we met at Pizza Hut for our dinner and finished with 2 hours to spare before our match. We had no tickets, no map, and no idea what trains or buses were running to still get us the rest of the way up north. That’s when you have to tap into the male GPS to get you where you want to go. We first hopped on the metro to find out that Chatelet had so many people they were being herded into the tunnels and pushed into the trains. So we decided to take a small line perpendicular to where we were supposed to go in order to see if there were more possibilities. We ended up at Saint –Lazare where we took a line that was less crowded as far north as we could. By this point we had about an hour left and still had a while north to go. We followed the masses of Moroccans onto a bus that took us half the distance before it got caught in traffic. We jumped ship and had to run the rest of the way because we only had about 30 minutes to still find tickets.
Our first stop was the information desks that told us that the place was sold out. I didn’t think they were telling the truth because this game was only an international friendly. Although it had many parallels with Gold Cup games in Chicago with Mexican green filling the entire stadium. Here is was Moroccan red. Once we heard it was sold out, we immediately started to fun around the stadium trying to attract people scalping tickets. Nobody had three tickets so the first guy we found had 2 which I told Jonas and Fed to take because I would find another one. I found out later that the guy had more but whatever they got two for 50 euros and went inside. I walked around the stadium about ten times before finding this one guy who wanted 50 euros for a 10 Euro ticket. For some reason in France when it gets closer to game time, the prices go up…I said no and walked away, using some of the tactics I learned in Turkey. He came up to me and said 40, now as I was walking around I put thirty in my pocket as to say that was all I had when asked. At first he didn’t want to take it until another guy came up and said it was ok. I mean I still paid three times the price, but it paid off in the end. My ticket put me in the nose bleeder seats that were right in little Morocco. People were dancing to drums and screaming profusely. I closed up my jacket not only because it was freezing cold but because of my French jersey. Morocco scored in the first ten minutes of the game which saw the entire stadium erupt considering there were very few French fans. But then again everyone in the stadium were French, so it was a pretty friendly match with people clapping for both teams when they played well. It didn’t take long France to equalize with their second team before half time.
Now Fed and Jonas were sitting 4 rows from the pitch, which for some reason there were a lot of empty seats. I guess that’s always the case with the more expensive tickets and the crowd this game is trying to draw. Jonas met me outside the concession stand to give me Fed’s ticket s that I could go sit with them. We all ended up moving higher in the section so that we could see more of the game. Now we had to move several times because people came back from getting drinks but we eventually settled in very good seats. We ended up seeing a lot of action up close including Morocco’s equalizer because France when up earlier 2-1. When France scored to take the lead, the number of security guards suddenly tripled because of what had happened when France played its last international friendly with a former African colony. The game with Algeria I think in the 90s was stopped by a riot, so the French officials waned to be adequately prepared. It was funny because when more brutes started to line up people were shouting, “We are not Algerians!!!” And it was for these reasons that I was glad that the friendly ended up in a tie and nobody got injured for the upcoming crucial match against the Ukraine. Unfortunately for England, they lost their best striker in a friendly against one of the worst teams in Europe, Austria. Now my soccer game total in Europe is currently at 5, but if you like the sport and hate watching it on TV, then I guess it’s the time to go to games. I wasn’t planning on this one with Morocco because I knew the stars wouldn’t play, but I wanted to experience Stade de France. Also I ended up seeing three Arsenal players play: Diarra, Gallas, and Flamini. So yeah all of this toil and trouble made a hell of a story and good memory beating the strike. (Pictures courtesy: Federico Munoz)
Our first stop was the information desks that told us that the place was sold out. I didn’t think they were telling the truth because this game was only an international friendly. Although it had many parallels with Gold Cup games in Chicago with Mexican green filling the entire stadium. Here is was Moroccan red. Once we heard it was sold out, we immediately started to fun around the stadium trying to attract people scalping tickets. Nobody had three tickets so the first guy we found had 2 which I told Jonas and Fed to take because I would find another one. I found out later that the guy had more but whatever they got two for 50 euros and went inside. I walked around the stadium about ten times before finding this one guy who wanted 50 euros for a 10 Euro ticket. For some reason in France when it gets closer to game time, the prices go up…I said no and walked away, using some of the tactics I learned in Turkey. He came up to me and said 40, now as I was walking around I put thirty in my pocket as to say that was all I had when asked. At first he didn’t want to take it until another guy came up and said it was ok. I mean I still paid three times the price, but it paid off in the end. My ticket put me in the nose bleeder seats that were right in little Morocco. People were dancing to drums and screaming profusely. I closed up my jacket not only because it was freezing cold but because of my French jersey. Morocco scored in the first ten minutes of the game which saw the entire stadium erupt considering there were very few French fans. But then again everyone in the stadium were French, so it was a pretty friendly match with people clapping for both teams when they played well. It didn’t take long France to equalize with their second team before half time.
Now Fed and Jonas were sitting 4 rows from the pitch, which for some reason there were a lot of empty seats. I guess that’s always the case with the more expensive tickets and the crowd this game is trying to draw. Jonas met me outside the concession stand to give me Fed’s ticket s that I could go sit with them. We all ended up moving higher in the section so that we could see more of the game. Now we had to move several times because people came back from getting drinks but we eventually settled in very good seats. We ended up seeing a lot of action up close including Morocco’s equalizer because France when up earlier 2-1. When France scored to take the lead, the number of security guards suddenly tripled because of what had happened when France played its last international friendly with a former African colony. The game with Algeria I think in the 90s was stopped by a riot, so the French officials waned to be adequately prepared. It was funny because when more brutes started to line up people were shouting, “We are not Algerians!!!” And it was for these reasons that I was glad that the friendly ended up in a tie and nobody got injured for the upcoming crucial match against the Ukraine. Unfortunately for England, they lost their best striker in a friendly against one of the worst teams in Europe, Austria. Now my soccer game total in Europe is currently at 5, but if you like the sport and hate watching it on TV, then I guess it’s the time to go to games. I wasn’t planning on this one with Morocco because I knew the stars wouldn’t play, but I wanted to experience Stade de France. Also I ended up seeing three Arsenal players play: Diarra, Gallas, and Flamini. So yeah all of this toil and trouble made a hell of a story and good memory beating the strike. (Pictures courtesy: Federico Munoz)
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