Offside Sound-Off: Tell Us About Your Most Memorable Game Experience
By: Laurie | February 8th, 2008
Metz, France. September, 2007. I’d been traveling in France alone. I had a free weekend before going home, so I took the high-speed train out to Metz, on the German border, and bought a ticket to the Metz-Lyon game the next day.
Metz is not a large town. The stadium is less than a mile from the main train station, so most people walked to the game. Thousands of people streaming in. Or in many cases hanging around outside till the last possible second, because the stadiums in France are alcohol-free.
When I looked around, I realized that as a female I was outnumbered by about 25-1. Grandfathers, fathers, sons, with just a few wives and daughters and girlfriends thrown in. I guess women in Metz don’t go to football games. As an American woman I felt like a zoo exhibit.
The stadium is well-maintained, but older. The seats in my section weren’t even seats. More like butt cups, with no backs, just enough plastic to keep you from encroaching on your neighbor. The people above me spoke French. To my left, German. To my right, it sounded like some Slavic language.
The game was between newly-promoted Metz and multiple-time league champions Lyon. Metz has had some good years, but this hasn’t been one of them, and this was already becoming clear by mid-September. Lyon dominated pretty much start to finish. I think everybody knew they would. But Metz never gave up, even after going down by multiple goals. And I was surrounded by people to whom this mattered. The team was founded in 1932, and generations of fans grew up loving and watching this team. You could feel it in the atmosphere.
Lyon won 5-1. I cheered for Lyon’s five goals. They’re one of my favorite teams, and they were the reason I’d gone to Metz. But I think I cheered louder for that one late, lone Metz goal, and for a scrappy team, loved by their fans, that never gave up.
It was a game, and an experience, that I’ll never forget.
Now it’s your turn. We at The Offside want to know: What was your most memorable game experience?
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Comments
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Wow sounds like a good time……Your a female soccer fan from America…..I think I just fell in love.
Posted from
United States
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Sorry, Truffle. Old and married here. But thanks for making me blush.
Posted from
United States -
October 2005… I lived in Montpellier, France, just between Toulouse and Marseille. My dad and I went to Marseille on Sunday afternoon to catch the feature match of the week that evening, which just happened to be Marseille-PSG. It blew my mind. Especially when Lorik Cana (who had just been transferred from PSG to Marseille a month before the match) scored ten minutes from time. It kicked ass.
Posted from
Canada -
Laurie, I know exactly what you mean by standing out. My sister and I, two 20 year-old red-heads in the middle of the Stadio Olimpico, surrounded by Roma fans, and cheering for Milan. Definitely not my smartest moment ever, but for sure my most memorable… especially when Gilardino scored an equalizer and I was the only person on our side of the stadium to cheer.
Posted from
Canada -
Woking 4-4 home draw against Dag & Redbridge, in early 2001, I think.
D&R were well above Woking in the Conference (they were playing promotion, Woking was playing relegation), and after half an hour, they were 2-0 up.
Woking pulled one up just after the break, but then by the 70th minute, D&R had scored two more. 4-1, gloom.
And then, in 15 minutes, Woking produced some fantastic football (all things relative, mind you), outplaying D&R, and scoring 3 goals, the last in extra time. 4-4.
It was only a conference draw, but it was the first time I went to the stadium, and it branded me with love of football of all kinds.
(P.S. A very, very close second would be Man U’s 99 treble-clinching CL final against Munich, but that’s not really an “experience”, since I was just on the other side of my telly, crying one minute, and then jumping around in joy as the tears dried on my face.)
Posted from
France -
I have a couple that leap out as particularly memorable:
Portland Timbers @ Vancouver Whitecaps (2005): Timbers never play well in Vancouver, but they were holding their own in this one. Edwin Miranda struck an extra time uber blast to equalize the game and the few dozen of us Timbers Army who had made the inter-national trip streamed out of the bleachers, dancing with glee…while Vancouver took the restart and immediately scored the winner. Heart. Break. Even with the outcome this was one of the best times I’ve ever had at a sporting event (including having anti-American slurs hurled at me by 9-year olds).
USA vs Italy (WC 2006): This was the first international match I have attended, and it was brilliant. From the street party in Kaiserslautern before the match, to the truly intimidating Azzuri supporters section (which unfortunately was right next to where we were sitting), to the great Frankenstadion, McBride’s bloody face, etc. It was a blast, very intense.
Posted from
United States -
Barca v. Espanyol, June 2007. This is (thus far) the only professional match I’ve ever been to, and I couldn’t have picked one much better. The Barcelona derby, in the Camp Nou, with FCB having a great chance to win the league. I was a stone’s throw away from Messi’s ‘Hand of God’ 2.0 goal and the crowd was absolutely electric for the entire match. The stadium would seemingly arbitrarily go nuts for lead changes in Madrid’s game - the second half was beyond intense! It could have ended better (2-2 draw, with Real still ahead by GD), but if there was ever any doubts that I was a footy fan, they were certainly squashed that night. Awesome!
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United States -
Sao Paulo 2 x 0 Flamengo - Quarter-Finals Copa Libertadores 93. 95 thousand fans helping Rai, Zetti, Muller and Cafu take Sao Paulo to the semifinals.
Flamengo 2 x 2 Gremio - Final of Copa do Brasil 97. 95 thousand flamengo fans quiet as they watched Gremio take the title.
Sao Paulo 1 (4) x (3)1 Estudiantes (ARG) - Quarter-final of Copa Libertadores 06. Rogerio Ceni saving the day.
Sao Paulo 1 x 2 Inter - final of Copa Libertadores 06. My saddest day in a stadium.
Posted from
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Kappa Sigma v. Lambda Chi, Intramural A Division Final, 2003. Being a KE, it was exhillirating when Sigma sub Liam O’Meara side-footed one in off a goalmouth scramble in extra time to give us the championship. This no doubt dwarfed the atmosphere I enjoyed during the WC2010 quarterfinal between Germany and Argentina.
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Copa Sudamericana, 2004, Quito, Ecuador
LDU-Quito hosting Robinho, Alex and Diego led Santos
Before the match Santos’ keeper strays too close to the Muerte Blanca (White Death) section of the LDU supporters and gets absolutley covered in fire extinguisher foam. Like Casper. The guy looked like a man shaped vanilla ice cream bar. Classic.
And oh yeah, Franklin Salas was off the hook and LDU stole it, then beat them in Brasil to advance. A Nice.
Posted from
Ireland -
This might date me a bit, but…
I had been playing soccer since I was five when, one day, my older brother brought me to watch an Olympic Quarterfinal match in Palo Alto, CA - 1984. I then realized that ‘big kids’ played the game too. Things have never been the same since.
btw - The ticket for 3rd row was $11.
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