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| Players warm up 45 mins. before game |
The water coming off the stadium rooftop should've hit us on the head, but for some reason, we weren't getting wet. Why? I realized the
wind had been, for a few moments, "pulling" the spray away from us, causing other spectators nearby to scramble to the nearby wall for cover. That situation didn't continue long, though. As soon as the wind died down, the rain came down on us too...but that lull had given us just enough time to don our raincoats and pull the hoods up over our heads. Then, almost as suddenly as the rain had started, it stopped. And we watched the rest of the game dry.
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| We got to hold up blue placards |
Oh--Raymond, my 10th-grader, had been given tickets to a Japan vs. N. Korea soccer game. They had been given to students who had come into Saitama due to the March 11 earthquake. Free tickets were available for one other person to go along too; and Raymond had invited me. It would've cost $65 otherwise so was the chance of a lifetime! But the stadium had coverings for only reserved seats; the roof ended at the place where complimentary seats were located; those of us seated there were completely exposed to the elements.
But seeing the Asian Qualification match live is a treat I doubt I would have dared dream. I suppose to a God Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, procuring two tickets to a soccer game is a piece of cake.
I cannot end the post without reporting this: less than two minutes before the end of the game, Japan scored the game's only goal!
