UEFA Women's Cup

I made it into the game yesterday. Getting there was a little bit of an adventure (as always!). I'd looked up the stadium location at StadtPlanDienst, so I new the general area it was in. I figured if I went to this area, it would be OBVIOUS where the stadium was, so I didn't both remembering the stadium name or street address.

Since the UEFA website was saying that the Frankfurt Womens Soccer Club was expecting a sold out audience, I left my house at noon (for the 14:30 start) so I could be early for buying a leftover ticket. Good thing I gave myself two and half hours to get there, because it took me and hour to find the place! I got off at the correct stop for the bus, and then went across the street into a big park there. While there are spots there for pickup soccer games, um, no stadiums. Wait, there's something over there on the other side of the park, maybe that's the entrance. Walk over there....no....that's the Homeless Shelter buildings and a cafe that must cater exclusively to Homeless people. Hmm....what to do. I KNOW I'm very close in the area. I could ask one of the clients at the cafe, but I'd rather not do that. Ah hah! Call Stefan, my co-worker. :) He knows where EVERYTHING is. Yep, he knew, or rather his boyfriend did. They weren't quite sure where I was, but could give me directions from my starting point. I'd gone in completely the opposite direction. So I retraced my steps to my starting point and started over. Of course by this point there was a stream of cars all heading in the same direction, so that was a helpful confirmation that I was now headed in the correct direction.

Once at the stadium, a guy standing right in from on the gate offered to sell me his standing ticket (you had the option of a seat or a standing place) for three Euro less than the Stadium price. Okay. I got in for 5Euro instead of 8Euro.

They had wand security just past the gate so I had to empty my pockets (my two little hair clips in one pocket and my phone in the other set the wand off) and show the contents of my purse. Pretty easy. Then up the stairs to the standing places and done! Since I got there an hour early, I had my pick of spots. However after sitting there for five minutes I started wandering around and found where the food stands were. A bratwurst and cola later, I also found where the free sit-apon things were being given out, snagged one, and made my way back to my side of the stadium. Another thirty minutes later, the play began.

But first, this second rate "pop star", whose done back up for Mariah Carey, Micheal Jackson, and sung in many many theatre productions, and is a native of Frankfurt, will sing two themed (strong women) appriopriate pop songs! Woo hoo! :)

The play was pretty exciting. Frankfurt had a good offense (or Sweden had a bad offense), kept the play mostly on the half containing their goal, but they just couldn't complete a single play. Corner kicks either got head butted out by Sweden or just went way past the goal. Or one Frankfurt player would get caught up in play and wouldn't pass to another player outside that didn't have three opposing players on her. Or passes would be ineptly handled. One particular player, number 19, kept getting offsides called on her, and kept choking when trying to score a goal. The play ended with a score 0-5. Ouch. For some reason I haven't figured it out yet, Frankfurt had to win by four (9-5) in order to win the UEFA Women's Cup. The woman next to me explained it as a total of goals - since the first game against Sweden was 0-3, Frankfurt was down by three already. I tried asking if Frankfurt had scored at least one goal in the first game, would that game have been the only game and made this game moot? However, she didn't understand and just re-explained that Frankfurt had to win by four in order to win. Okay.

All in all an exciting adventerous day. I'm glad I went. Pictures from the game to follow.

Posted by Jinglelady at June 6, 2004 08:05 AM | German Life