Euro 2012 Day 9

An American soccer player in Poznan

Euro continues. All of the teams have played twice. We now have both matches happening at the same time, 8:45 PM. This scheduling seemed fan-unfriendly, but a friend (actually, it was Kasia) pointed out, that it’s to keep things aboveboard. I guess a team might not play all out if they knew they were going to the next round no matter what; this way, they don’t know the outcome of the other match

One of the fun things about writing this blog is getting to know a lot of new people. I’ve written about having coffee with Chris, Misiu, Lizzie, and Rosie of Kielbasa Stories when we were in Wroclaw. Kasia from Houston (originally from Poznan) will often comment on my posts, frequently answering my questions about something I’ve seen. We first got together when I was in Houston a few months ago. This week, I got to meet her husband and her son (that’s him in the photo above, sporting the checkerboard pattern from the Croatian flag for the Croatia – Italy match).

with Kasia at the Museum Cafe

I read in the New Poland Express (Polish news in English) that someone was so disgusted by the Russian goal in Poland’s recent match that he threw his television out of his third floor apartment window. He didn’t get to see Poland tie it up because he was on his way to jail. One minute left and Poland is losing to the Czechs 1 – 0 . I wonder what will happen tonight.

I was interviewed by a TV crew in the fan zone a couple of days ago. They asked all the usual questions, where do I live, where am I from, why did I want to volunteer for the Euro. Then they wanted to know if I had any funny stories from the fan zone. I was really at a loss to come up with anything. It’s been interesting to watch from behind the scenes, so VERY many people in Poznan (and the other host cities) have worked long and hard to make sure everything goes well this month. They even had one of the universities do a study to determine the best location for the fan zone. One of the most surprising things for me has been on my morning bike rides around Malta Lake; I’m amazed by the dedicated fans that are sleeping in pup tents and in their cars just to be here and be part of this experience.

We met an Irish guy at The Dubiner the other day, who reminded us that it had been 10 years since Ireland had qualified for one of the big tournaments such as the Euro Cup or World Cup. He and his buddies had been saying for ages that the next time Ireland got in they were going. They were just thrilled to be here.