As I mentioned in an earlier post, my partner and I went to New Zealand because of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Being from the United States, that meant that we were going with the intention to support our four-time World Cup champion USA.
We felt confident enough that we could skip the group stage and see some knockout round matches featuring our home nation. Never in the history of the competition had the USA failed to reach a semifinal at a World Cup.
Until 2023.
The IKEA-loving Swedes knocked them out of the tournament but it did not knock us out of our trip. Our plans remained the same: go, see the country, and watch some world-class soccer.
Now, with the USA knocked out and sent home I needed to choose a different country to support. Luckily for me, I have a system: Every country I visit I buy a sport jersey. Rugby or soccer or whatever. But, it’s mostly a growing collection of soccer jerseys. When we left for Auckland I had a few jerseys to choose from: Japan, Spain, and Australia. Now, logistically I would not be able to wear the Australia jersey because they were playing across the Tasman Sea in, you guessed it, Australia. Still, I brought it anyway because I had to wear something on other days!
That left me with Japan and Spain.
It worked out beautifully that I could wear my Japan jersey to the Quarterfinal and then, should Spain advance, I would wear my Spain jersey (more on that game in a future post).
Attending an event at Eden Park is relatively simple thanks to Auckland Transport. The train takes you within steps of the ground courtesy of the Kingsland station stop. During the tournament, the fees associated with using the train were waived for all fans attending a match. We simply had to show our ticket for the match to a Transport worker and that was the same as a valid fare purchased. Lovely!
I love trains. I love public transport. While this train moved slowly at times I was very appreciative of it. Coming from a car-dominated country, I always appreciate a train when I can.
Eden Park is a gorgeous stadium. It’s primarily a rugby stadium for the super successful All Blacks (you can even see that in the black-grey color scheme they chose for the seats). I was told that it was updated for this tournament and walking around it, I can say that there was not a bad view of the pitch from any level. The only thing that bothered me was the urinal trough. I need a barrier between the dude next to me! Other than that, great stadium!
It was a truly great atmosphere in the stadium that night. There were pockets of blue & yellow Viking-clad fans speckled throughout the park but, for the most part, the audience was pro-Japan. I could spot a fair few of my fellow USA fans throughout the stadium. They, like us, thought that it would be the USA taking on the Japanese that night. Still, I was happy to be there.
One thing I’ll note about the grounds is that the food was standard gameday food. In that it was mostly fried. We tried a pork bao bun type sandwich thing but it was more like a Sloppy Joe and nothing to write home about…except I’m…now writing…about it…smdh.
Now, you’ll look below and see a bird-looking thing. That’s Tazuni, the official mascot of the tournament. Nearly everything has a mascot these days and I love it. I love mascots. I have a soft spot for them because I was one back in my college days.
For my junior and senior years at Santa Clara University I was Bucky the Bronco. It’s not easy to don some fur and a giant head and prance around an arena. Tazuni gets my admiration and respect for bringing joy to a lot of people on that and every night.
After the final whistle blew the Japanese players dropped to the pitch in despair and the Swedish players jumped in jubilation. The world of sports is cruel at times. It can give you everything and take it away just as easily. I felt for the Japanese players. They left it all out on the field that night. They had looked to be the best team in the tournament leading up to this match. But all it takes is one off night.
As we left and made our way through the neighborhood surrounding the stadium we could hear the faint echoes of music coming from ahead of us. We turned a corner to make way to the train and there was a house with an amp on their front steps blasting ABBA. Now, you might expect “Dancing Queen” or “Take A Chance On Me” to be played at this time but no.
“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” was playing for some strange reason and you know what? We loved it! It was weird and gave us something to smile and laugh about on our journey back to downtown Auckland.
As we made our way back to our hotel I took a fleeting moment to recognize the Sky Tower. I noticed that it was lit up in Swedish blue & yellow. A fun and simple tip of the cap to the victors that evening.
Thanks for visiting and I will see you later!
John Kidde Writes 