Soccer Game--Jeff you'll enjoy this one....

Sunday we went to a soccer game in Garoua. It was the final (second game) of Africa's equivalent to the Champions League in Europe. Garoua has the best team in Cameroon, called Cotton Sport (supported by SODECOTON), and thus they made it to the championship for the Afrian Cup (I think). They were playing against Cairo/Egypt. The first game was in Cairo, and the way the championship works is that it there is an away and home game. So the first game in Cairo ended as 2-0 Cairo, meaning that for Garoua to win, they needed at least 3 more goals than Cairo. It was a big game. I felt so blessed to get to be there! So many different things from stadiums in the states. No lights, so all games have to be played in the day (heralding back to William and Mary football games pre 2005?). The seats were cement, soooo hot, so you bring along a thick book to sit on. And then something to shade you. I rested my bottle of water on next to me in the shade, but after 10 minutes, the heat of the cement warms it up to bathwater temperature. But even warm water is good, when you're thirsty. It was so crowded, the crowd 95% men at least, and we stood out a bit, not only because we were the only non-African looking ones in our section, but also because we were sporting bright yellow t shirts that MTN (phone company here) gave us, so that there'd be a patch of yellow in the stadium.
There was a little bit of waiting before the game started, and then many officials arrived, including the countries Prime Minister (second below Paul Biya); all the officials arrived in nice cars that sped around the track surrounding the field. Quite an entrance!
The game itself was very exciting and full of energy: I think Garoua went up 1-0 and then Cairo scored, and then Garoua again but finally a PK given to Cairo sealed the deal at 2-2 near the end of the second half. So Cairo took the cup. My favorite guy was a crazy Cameroonian who ran around with a wand of cotton like a baton, cheering and running up and down the stands. Michael also had a moment ofame. We wanted to start the wave, so we did it as a small section of trainees, but wanted to get the rest of the fans involved. So Mike got down and ran to the end of our section, shouting in broken French "Est-ce que vous etes Pretes? Ou nous pouvons." But the third attempt it made it all the around the stadium. It was amazing and all the Cameroonians in our section were way enthousiastic and loved Mike. He kept sitting down to take a rest and they would tell him to get up again and start the wave again. He ended up on national television too.
It was so interesting watching the players, imagining their lives, seeing the Egyptians and thinking about how they traveled across the continent to play here, how they're lives in Cairo are completely different, and how I wanted to go there so much last year (and still do!) to work. Lives are so different and transect in so many ways. It's something. But I was really happy to be there.
I happen to have started reading "How Soccer Explains the World: an unlikely theory of globalization," which is pretty fun too. It's nice to be in such a soccer-crazed country.