Romania 2-2 Belarus
Oct. 8th, 2011 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeI have never been to an international football match and discovering that Romania were due to play a crucial Euro 2012 Group D qualifier in Bucharest last night, I asked my friend Radu whether he could get tickets. He duly did and so we were going to the match.
Marius, his wife and I arrived outside the newly reconstructed national football stadium half an hour before kick-off. The stadium has just been rebuilt as it's scheduled to host the 2012 Europa League final. It's an impressive structure, akin to the Colosseum in Rome, and the atmosphere heading into the stadium was euphoric. We met up with Radu and his girlfriend on a street corner next to the stadium and he distributed the tickets. We then made our way towards the terraces as we chatted about the fans' expectations ahead of the game.
Bosnia, Romania's main rivals in Group D, were already 3-0 up by the time the game kicked off. This meant that Romania had no chance of qualifying for Euro 2012 unless Luxembourg staged an unlikely comeback. The majority of fans weren't aware of this though and they were fully there to support their team. It was a little odd being a non-Romanian speaker going into the ground. I was frisked, as we all were, and I tried not to speak lest I outed myself as a foreigner. In the end it didn't matter. We picked up some free Romanian flags they were distributing at the turnstiles and made our way to our seats, right at the top of the stadium.
As you enter the arena itself, it is hard not to be inspired. The ground resembled Barcelona's Nou Camp in style, with red, yellow and blue seats layered so as to create the Romanian flag. There was a giant Jumbotron right above the field suspended by cables. This displayed the score and showed some highlights from the game too. The flags of the teams were displayed as rugby balls on the screen for some reason. I wasn't too sure what this was about in all honesty.
The national anthems were another surreal moment for me. A lot of people booed the Belorussian national anthem, which was sad to hear. Then everyone sang the Romanian national anthem with such energy and gusto, it was difficult not to feel patriotic. Not knowing the words to the Romanian national anthem, I just tapped the rhythm on my thigh. I am not sure what that achieved but it seemed like the right thing to do. And by the way, the Romanian national anthem is a proper national anthem as it is uplifting and rouses the spirits, unlike the dirge we have. Sorry, but as songs go, God Save The Queen is dreadful.
The stadium was about half-full - around 29,000 in attendence. Our tickets cost 80 lei, roughly £16, and these were for the best seats in the house. The game started how you would expect, with the Romanians trying to attack and the Belorussians sitting back. They were clearly there for the point and it came as no surprise when Adrian Mutu opened the scoring for the hosts around the 20 minute mark. It was a beautiful free-flowing move and a perfectly worthy goal. The crowd went mental and, just like with the national anthem, there was much flag waving. It was the first goal scored at the new stadium and it was an honour to see it.
Radu and Marius left three minutes before half time to get refreshments and Romania's defence must have done the same. One long ball from the Belorussian goalkeeper saw Cosmin Moti make a catastrophic error in the Romanian defence. The ball fell to Sergei Kornilenko and he made no mistake in his one-on-one situation, burying the ball beyond the Romanian keeper. This unsettled the Romanian backline and the goalie fumbled a cross shortly afterwards. Thankfully for the Romanians, an open goal was missed and the half ended 1-1.
I spent a lot of the half speaking to Radu about football tactics. He knows an awful lot about the game and the people below us quickly sussed I was English. They kept looking at me with suspicion but they were generally cool, which was, erm, cool.
The second half started with beer and crisps in hand. Belarus had increased in confidence due to their late flurry in the first half but it was that man Mutu who struck for the Romanians to put them 2-1 ahead. However, like when they were 1-0 up, they were content to defend their lead rather than go for the killer punch. This always leaves you exposed and a dubious penalty towards the end of the half saw Stanislav Dragun convert and Romania dumped out of Euro 2012. There was much booing at half time, probably harsh booing too, but apparently the lack of a killer touch and a creative outlet had cost the Romanians during this campaign. At least now they seem to be on the right track.
With the Bosnians hammering the Luxembourgers, the result was irrelevant anyway, but there was much unhappiness on leaving the stands. No violence though, just frustration. We saw the mounted police clip-clop off after the game in an almost camp parody whilst we waited for a taxi to take us the five miles back to the centre of Bucharest.
We decided to descend on a bar after the game and ended up staying out until past 3am. Downtown Bucharest is currently undergoing renovation and it has quite a relaxed and bohemian feel. The major bars are in a square kilometer of narrow streets. Most of the bars have seating areas which sprawl on to the pavements, with only a narrow path for pedestrian access. It's a situation we couldn't get away with in the UK, partly down to weather but largely down to the attitudes surrounding alcohol. I saw not one person drunk last night. Not one person was loud and rowdy. Not one person was sick and not one person was violent. Sadly, at 3am, you would never get the scenes I saw last night in Britain. Food was served until late, you could smoke and we spent the night chatting and chilling. At one point, the Heartbeat theme was played in the bar, which was a rather surreal moment. As was the poster for an advertising company in the toilets which urged us (in a slightly kinky fashion) to 'Give Piss a Chance'. Apparently urinal advertising in Romania is a big deal. I must use that line on anyone who is unsure about watersports in future.
At around three o'clock we noticed it was getting quite late, particularly because the quartet had an hour drive ahead of them. So we took a taxi to the Press building, where we picked up the car and they drove me to my hotel before heading home. However, we did have an encounter with the stray dogs. There are stray dogs everywhere in this city, loads of them, and it's heartbreaking to see. There were a few about late last night in the parkland in front of the Press Building. Upon spying us, they started to bark loudly to get our attention. We were the only ones about at this time and clambered into the car quickly before starting to drive off. However, the dogs thought this was a game and they started running with the car. For the next mile. Down every street we turned they were still there bounding along, having fun. I am glad we could give them a bit of fun really as it's so sad to see so many of these dogs without homes. They appear to be tagged but have nowhere to go. It is one of those things which is quite common throughout Eastern Europe.
Marius, his wife and I arrived outside the newly reconstructed national football stadium half an hour before kick-off. The stadium has just been rebuilt as it's scheduled to host the 2012 Europa League final. It's an impressive structure, akin to the Colosseum in Rome, and the atmosphere heading into the stadium was euphoric. We met up with Radu and his girlfriend on a street corner next to the stadium and he distributed the tickets. We then made our way towards the terraces as we chatted about the fans' expectations ahead of the game.
Bosnia, Romania's main rivals in Group D, were already 3-0 up by the time the game kicked off. This meant that Romania had no chance of qualifying for Euro 2012 unless Luxembourg staged an unlikely comeback. The majority of fans weren't aware of this though and they were fully there to support their team. It was a little odd being a non-Romanian speaker going into the ground. I was frisked, as we all were, and I tried not to speak lest I outed myself as a foreigner. In the end it didn't matter. We picked up some free Romanian flags they were distributing at the turnstiles and made our way to our seats, right at the top of the stadium.
As you enter the arena itself, it is hard not to be inspired. The ground resembled Barcelona's Nou Camp in style, with red, yellow and blue seats layered so as to create the Romanian flag. There was a giant Jumbotron right above the field suspended by cables. This displayed the score and showed some highlights from the game too. The flags of the teams were displayed as rugby balls on the screen for some reason. I wasn't too sure what this was about in all honesty.
The national anthems were another surreal moment for me. A lot of people booed the Belorussian national anthem, which was sad to hear. Then everyone sang the Romanian national anthem with such energy and gusto, it was difficult not to feel patriotic. Not knowing the words to the Romanian national anthem, I just tapped the rhythm on my thigh. I am not sure what that achieved but it seemed like the right thing to do. And by the way, the Romanian national anthem is a proper national anthem as it is uplifting and rouses the spirits, unlike the dirge we have. Sorry, but as songs go, God Save The Queen is dreadful.
The stadium was about half-full - around 29,000 in attendence. Our tickets cost 80 lei, roughly £16, and these were for the best seats in the house. The game started how you would expect, with the Romanians trying to attack and the Belorussians sitting back. They were clearly there for the point and it came as no surprise when Adrian Mutu opened the scoring for the hosts around the 20 minute mark. It was a beautiful free-flowing move and a perfectly worthy goal. The crowd went mental and, just like with the national anthem, there was much flag waving. It was the first goal scored at the new stadium and it was an honour to see it.
Radu and Marius left three minutes before half time to get refreshments and Romania's defence must have done the same. One long ball from the Belorussian goalkeeper saw Cosmin Moti make a catastrophic error in the Romanian defence. The ball fell to Sergei Kornilenko and he made no mistake in his one-on-one situation, burying the ball beyond the Romanian keeper. This unsettled the Romanian backline and the goalie fumbled a cross shortly afterwards. Thankfully for the Romanians, an open goal was missed and the half ended 1-1.
I spent a lot of the half speaking to Radu about football tactics. He knows an awful lot about the game and the people below us quickly sussed I was English. They kept looking at me with suspicion but they were generally cool, which was, erm, cool.
The second half started with beer and crisps in hand. Belarus had increased in confidence due to their late flurry in the first half but it was that man Mutu who struck for the Romanians to put them 2-1 ahead. However, like when they were 1-0 up, they were content to defend their lead rather than go for the killer punch. This always leaves you exposed and a dubious penalty towards the end of the half saw Stanislav Dragun convert and Romania dumped out of Euro 2012. There was much booing at half time, probably harsh booing too, but apparently the lack of a killer touch and a creative outlet had cost the Romanians during this campaign. At least now they seem to be on the right track.
With the Bosnians hammering the Luxembourgers, the result was irrelevant anyway, but there was much unhappiness on leaving the stands. No violence though, just frustration. We saw the mounted police clip-clop off after the game in an almost camp parody whilst we waited for a taxi to take us the five miles back to the centre of Bucharest.
We decided to descend on a bar after the game and ended up staying out until past 3am. Downtown Bucharest is currently undergoing renovation and it has quite a relaxed and bohemian feel. The major bars are in a square kilometer of narrow streets. Most of the bars have seating areas which sprawl on to the pavements, with only a narrow path for pedestrian access. It's a situation we couldn't get away with in the UK, partly down to weather but largely down to the attitudes surrounding alcohol. I saw not one person drunk last night. Not one person was loud and rowdy. Not one person was sick and not one person was violent. Sadly, at 3am, you would never get the scenes I saw last night in Britain. Food was served until late, you could smoke and we spent the night chatting and chilling. At one point, the Heartbeat theme was played in the bar, which was a rather surreal moment. As was the poster for an advertising company in the toilets which urged us (in a slightly kinky fashion) to 'Give Piss a Chance'. Apparently urinal advertising in Romania is a big deal. I must use that line on anyone who is unsure about watersports in future.
At around three o'clock we noticed it was getting quite late, particularly because the quartet had an hour drive ahead of them. So we took a taxi to the Press building, where we picked up the car and they drove me to my hotel before heading home. However, we did have an encounter with the stray dogs. There are stray dogs everywhere in this city, loads of them, and it's heartbreaking to see. There were a few about late last night in the parkland in front of the Press Building. Upon spying us, they started to bark loudly to get our attention. We were the only ones about at this time and clambered into the car quickly before starting to drive off. However, the dogs thought this was a game and they started running with the car. For the next mile. Down every street we turned they were still there bounding along, having fun. I am glad we could give them a bit of fun really as it's so sad to see so many of these dogs without homes. They appear to be tagged but have nowhere to go. It is one of those things which is quite common throughout Eastern Europe.
