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skin by: Jane
Friday, July 07, 2006 @ 1:24 AM
World Cup Fever
I am no soccer fan by any means, no doubt. I didn't even know what 'off-side' was till that day.
But how could anyone miss the highly anticipated matches last Sunday between England & Portugal, Brazil & France? I didn't.
We drove down to Raffles Place in hopes of finding a nice cosy pub to enjoy the games.
England vs Portugal
Since we were late, attempts to find pubs with both huge screens & seats proved futile and we finally settled for The Penny Black at Boat Quay.
Not that it had any seats of course. That's not mentioning the fact that we had a hard time even finding a good spot (outside the pub) to stand.
The pub was overflowing with England & Portugal supporters. Mostly England as I soon found out.
I loved the tension in the atmosphere there as all the ardent supporters watched the matches with great intensity on their faces.
I also loved it when the supporters started belting out cheers or got worked up & were shouting (some vulgarities) at the top of their lungs when someone misses a good opportunity to score.
To me, that's what makes a football match exciting to watch. I think I would've fallen asleep if I was watching it alone at home.
Yes, I was definitely enjoying the game as well as the people-watch even though my legs ached from the standing.
At half-time, I got myself a Hooch & he, a Heineken, from 7-eleven. The Hooch didn't taste like what I remember from secondary school days (I tried it once before in Sec 2).
When a waiter walked past the table, he considered telling me to remove my drink but was stopped by another waitress who said just let it pass.
That should be the way, no? I mean isn't it really dampening to tell someone off when everyone's spirits are so high? Hmmm.
And I don't see a point of getting a drink at the pub since there were no seats anyway.
Then, two caucasian men rooting for Portugal came out. One of them held a Portugal flag high up and was singing very loudly a cheer but got no response from the crowd outside.
The people sitting outside, I came to a conclusion, were probably England fans, or sitting on the fence or very unlikely, very shy Portugal fans.
He finally gave up and went back in to the comfort of his other Portugal comrades when the match started again.
The game was a long one which ended in a penalty shoot-out and it's really a surprise we managed to stand through the whole duration, with the harsh conditions we were in.
Most of the people at The Penny Black left in disappointment after the match while a few of the caucasian Portugal supporters partied & cheered loudly, half-naked, outside.
The locals won't ever do that, I don't think.
Brazil vs France
By the time this match started, Raffles place was mostly cleared. We'd stayed on to catch it.
We found ourselves a pub (The EQ pub), also at Raffles, with a nice large screen that could be seen clearly even from outside.
We then happily parked the car right outside & watched the whole match in the comfort of the car and each others' arms. Wooo!
Kudos to the boss of the pub who not only did not reprimand us for free-riding (we didn't buy any drink), and even smiled at us. I think I''ll go back to have a drink there another day. :)
He has a nice, big heart. And I do not say that merely because of how he treated us.
There was an Indian man who was sitting on the floor watching, also apparently intending to free-ride. The boss not only invited him to take a seat, but also offered him a beverage!
I was really impressed. How many such rare species can we find these days? I wonder. I won't even bother if I were him.
Like many, we were disappointed that Brazil didn't live up to expectations that day.