Late July 2014 I was back home (Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece), having spent the previous six months in South America. Soon, I… got in the mood to go somewhere I had never been to before. Ryanair... passed me the ball, the goal was practically empty, both the goalkeeper and the defenders of my rival team (a group of reasons for which I should not be making another trip at that point of time) were neutralized, so all I had to do was simply push the ball in. Thessaloniki – Charleroi – Vilnius – Charleroi – Thessaloniki, four flights, less than 100 euros (combined), Lithuania, Latvia, Belgium, three countries I had never been to before; couldn’t miss such an easy goal.
Flight times were convenient, so I could be in Vilnius same day, without spending a night in Belgium. The itinerary of that whole trip was decided based on which football and basketball games I could watch, where, when. I lost my “watching football in Lithuania”… virginity on September 23, in Kaunas, attending an U19(!) game between hosts Lithuania and Cyprus. It was held at S. Darius and S. Girėnas stadium, a short walk from the apartment where I got hosted my first couple of nights in the city. Ticket cost, 5 LTL, which, on that day, was a mere one euro and 45 cents. Main memory from that match? How much the Cypriot guys swore(!). The Lithuanians didn’t? No clue. Being Greek though, I could understand every single thing the Cypriots said during the game, with the stadium being practically empty.
Three days later, I just had to go to “Kauno futbolo mokyklą stadionas”, which is (well, at least was, as it has been more than four years since then), a simple green field practically next to the river, with a super simple – portable – stand of… maybe 100 seats. How many of those were used that day? If my memory serves me well, about 20. Judging by the other fans’ reactions, they were mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and grandparents of the girls. “Girls”? Exactly. Truth be written, back in 2014, I wasn’t that-that interested in women’s football (unlike now, 2019). Even so, I just had to go watch Gintra-Universitetas (if you’re a native Spanish speaker, behave, stop giggling like an idiot, grow up – something to do with the last two syllables of the name), whose numbers at that point of the season were… surreal. I don’t have the patience these days to go back and search for details, but trust me, looking at the table of the Lithuanian championship those days, Gintra-Universitetas looked like… coming from another planet, winning all games by… as many goals as they wanted. The one I watched them in, was against FM-Žara, a leisurely 0-5 walk in the park, looking infinitely superior to their opponents, despite the fact that, again, if my memory serves me well, FM-Žara were second in the table.
Before leaving Kaunas, where I was thrilled to watch local Žalgiris (basketball) host an international tournament at their impressive Arena, I went to Stumbras vs Lietava as well (2-1, no ticket), curious to see what low-key matches in Lithuania’s national competitions look like.
After making a brief stop in Panevėžys, mostly to watch another basketball game at their modern “Cido Arena”, I headed north, to Latvia. From October 3 to 13, I got to watch a total of six matches (plus, basketball and ice-hockey, because, come on, “when in Rome...” You can’t be in Latvia, have the chance to watch ice-hockey, and skip it), four between local teams, in Riga and Jurmala, and two for the Euro 2016 qualifiers, between Latvia (d’oh) and Iceland, as well as Turkey. The games between local clubs had no ticket, and the Euro qualifiers cost me 6 euros (not each; six euros total! Three and three).
I’m not going to write that my… sharp football eye foresaw how successful Iceland would end up being in France, in the finals, but I dare say that on that day, it looked obvious to me that they… had something going, they were anything but a joke. Ok, Latvia looked poor, but… it’s one of the eternal football questions, “were X poor simply because they… are poor, always, or were they poor in one specific game because their rivals made sure to make them look poor, by being far superior themselves”? See my point? Bottom line, I liked Iceland’s… seriousness that day, and started keeping an eye on them. Let me remind you, they won that game 0-3.
Three days later, Latvia hosted Turkey (same stadium, Skonto), and my main memories are two; first, there were several English fans behind the goalpost, guys who had watched England play in Estonia, if I’m not mistaken, a few days earlier. They seemed to dislike Turkey, whistling and cursing during their national anthem, which I don’t remember any Latvians do. Second, the cutest scene, after the match; family of four, Turks, leaving the stadium, dad and daughter in Fenerbahçe jerseys, mom and son in Galatasaray colors (it may have been the other way around, Galata for the former, Fener for the latter).
As for the four games between local clubs, my main memory has to do with myself acting like a ball boy (more like a… ball uncle, as I was almost 39 by then), returning the ball to the players on various occasions. We (the attendants) were always super few, and there was hardly anything keeping you from stepping on the – artificial – grass. Another fun memory is from the Metta/LU vs Daugava Rīga game; at halftime, someone crossed the field (from the locker rooms side to the side were the few fans were sitting/standing), carrying a couple of huge pizzas and cokes, which were… split between a group of fans. I think, I think (I’m writing these lines without going back to the notes I kept those days), the club had a mini draw, and it was the winner who got to share the pizzas with his friends. On a side note, I remember hearing the coach of Daugava and most of his players speak to each other in Russian. Generally, those 10 days in Riga, I was left with the impression that most players of the local clubs were Russian speakers first and foremost. Not a massive surprise, as I already knew that Latvia is… “mixed”, ethnically, was and remained (after becoming an independent country).
Before leaving the Baltic countries, I watched Trakai take on Sūduva back in Lithuania, Vilnius. Priceless memory? The “ticket office”, at least for those of us who wanted to sit opposite the main stand, was… literally, the back of a car. That’s where I bought my 11 LTL ticket (something less than 3.20 euros back then). As a football fan, I felt Lithuania left a lot, and I mean a llllot to be desired, but thankfully I’m a basketball fan as well, and the games I watched in Kaunas, Panevėžys, Vilnius and Trakai, left the sports fan in me feeling that my “sports-watching” mission in the country had – overall – been fulfilled.
Belgium is the country I spent less time in, mostly because of the cost involved. I did get hosted by a lovely couple in Liège, and by friends of a friend in Brussels, but even so, Belgium was… harsh to my budget. For example, I paid 25 euros to watch Standard vs Sevilla (Europa League), which, I suppose, looks perfectly normal if you’re from… England, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, but for me, 25 euros for a match ticket is a lot. I get it, it was in Belgium, Europa League, against Sevilla, I’m not claiming that 25 euros was “insane”, I’m just pointing out that for me, 25 euros to watch any game is a lot. To this day, early January 2019, that ticket remains the second most expensive I’ve paid to watch football, and by now I’ve watched 446 matches (outside Greece). I should mention though that a good number of those matches were attended carrying a media accreditation (Euro 2012, 2014 World Cup, 2015 AFC Asian Cup, Euro 2016, and many other matches, for which even the cheapest tickets would have cost me serious money).
In all fairness, Cercle Brugge vs Standard Liège cost me only 15 euros (no complaints).
Three countries, five weeks, 12 matches, plus visits to stadia I couldn’t watch games at, plus basketball, plus ice-hockey, plus some cool new acquaintances along the way. Plus (yes, there is more), awesome news from the AFC on October 26 (I remember the day, even more than four years later, because that’s Saint Demetrios – of Thessaloniki – day, my name day). I was in Brussels, getting ready to visit Antwerp – I think – on a day trip, when I noticed that I had heard from the AFC, who were about to have their Asian Cup in something over two months, in Australia. I had applied for media accreditation, and they had approved it. That’s actually why I’m… reviving this blog, more than four whole years(!) since my last post here. The 2019 AFC Asian Cup is about to start, the idea was to share my memories from the 2015 edition, but before that, I had to… fill in the “gap”, between South America 2014, and Australasia 2015. Obviously, if I were to pay for an expensive plane ticket to fly to Australia, I wouldn’t just make it “to Australia and back, after three-four weeks”. I made it a five-month trip, going to a total of 49 games in nine countries. Greeeedyyyy…
156 – 167
156 Lithuania U19-Cyprus U19 1-0, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2014, September 23
157 FM-Žara (W)-Gintra-Universitetas (W) 0-5, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2014 September 26
158 Stumbras-Lietava 2-1, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2014, September 28
159 Metta/LU-Daugava Rīga 1-2, Riga, Latvia, 2014, October 3
160 Spartaks-Ventspils 1-2, Jurmala, Latvia, 2014, October 4
161 Gulbene-Ventspils 0-4, Riga, Latvia, 2014, October 7
162 Latvia-Iceland 0-3, Riga, Latvia, 2014, October 10
163 SFK United-Tukums 0-5, Riga, Latvia, 2014, October 11
164 Latvia-Turkey 1-1, Riga, Latvia, 2014, October 13
165 Trakai-Sūduva 1-3, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2014, October 16
166 Standard Liège-Sevilla 0-0, Liege, Belgium, 2014, October 22
167 Cercle Brugge-Standard Liège 0-1, Brugge, Belgium, 2014, October 29
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