Our Trip to Wembly Stadium For a Little Football

Kristen was lucky enough to score two tickets to last night's international friendly match between England and Ghana.  Despite it being a friendly, you would have thought it was the world cup final for many of the 80,000+ people who packed Wembly stadium.

We had great seats and were shielded from the crazies for the most part.  I will say that the Ghana fans came out in force, and controlled the category of "obsessive cheering".  Literally, anytime a player from Ghana found open space and successfully passed the ball, their fans would go nuts.

As expected, England controlled the first half (despite not fielding a number of their top players), ending the first 45 minutes up 1-0, but they really should have had more.  The second half was a bit more even, with Ghana stealing a stoppage time goal to earn a draw, and perhaps England's respect (literally, when Ghana scored to tie it, I thought the stadium was going to crumble...I mean, I'm pretty sure I hugged a random old woman just because I felt like I needed to join in).

Anyways, it was a great atmosphere and a very entertaining game.  Despite my Red Sox obsession, I can honestly say there is no parallel in the US....these fans are completely nuts, and I love it.

Here are some pics and videos form last night....

Walking up to the stadium off the Tube......

Ghana fans pregame.....

A bit of a closer look at the stadium....



Inside view from our seats before the game.....

Flag ceremony...

 

There was a huge security presence....especially on the Ghana side...



Video of right after Ghana scored in stoppage time to tie it, clearly the guys right in front of us were not Ghana fans....