This one is going to be short and sweet. I am going to highlight the best view of Auckland. It cannot be beaten.
I am, of course, talking about Maungawhau. Or, as it is more commonly known, Mount Eden. You might think I would have included the view from the top of the Sky Tower, but nope. That view is not for the faint of heart. This view is for all.
It is an easily accessible park. You can get there by bus, train (with a little walk), or car. Since we had a car, we, duh, went by car. This was our last real stop before we went to the airport. It allowed us to reflect on our time and take in the beauty of Auckland and, as a whole, New Zealand.
Leading up to this trip, I was taking virtual walks on treadmills. One of the walks goes through downtown Auckland and, eventually, up to Mount Eden. Needless to say, I was ready. I came to find out, pleasantly, I might add, that the paths have been updated at Mount Eden to help preserve the grounds and make it more accessible for all.
You can see the updated walkways sitting just above the greenery.
The view from the top is spectacular. As you can see, the Auckland skyline dominates the vista. Having jumped off the Sky Tower hours earlier, to see it with the rest of the city was stunning.
Eden Park is in the middle.
Opposite the city is the “quieter” side of the Mount. I use quotations because, given the day or night, Eden Park can be quite raucous. Either way, it is another gorgeous view of a different part of Auckland.
The duality of the beautiful cityscape and the surrounding environs.
This was the perfect way to end our journey through New Zealand.
The entire point of this trip to New Zealand was to see some world class soccer (or football, depending on where you’re from). I think it’s time for me to revisit the second match we saw while in Auckland.
I’ll quickly recap the first game day experience (or you can click here) and then we’ll get going. We saw Japan vs Sweden play each other. Sweden jumped out to an early lead and built on it. Japan tried to come back and very nearly did. Ultimately the Japanese fell short even though they looked to be the class of the tournament. Sweden prevailed and set up a date against Spain.
Seeing Sweden beat not only the USA but also my second adopted team, Japan, made me want to see them lose even more. Funnily enough, we discovered that Sweden was also staying in our hotel. Did I walk around in my Spain jersey the day of the game hoping that one of the players might catch a glimpse? Maybe. I may be a little bit petty.
After the bao bun blunder of the first game, we decided to eat before we headed to the stadium. If you’re wondering what happened with the bao buns, I encourage you to read my previous post linked above.
It was a very easy trip to make, again, thanks to Auckland Transport. We decided to arrive earlier this time around because we wanted to see what sort of merchandise we could get and to see if we could get our faces painted.
It was a “No” to both.
We had seen most of the merchandise at the Fan Zone in downtown Auckland, so the items at the stadium were the same. The face painting stations were already full and had decent lines, so that was a nonstarter as well. Zero for two.
Eden Park was a welcoming and pretty as ever though.
The staff as we entered the stadium were excited and pleasant. The people working the concessions were equally as happy. Maybe they were excited because it was the final game to be played in New Zealand and after this, they’d be able to relax? Who can say?
Speaking of the final game, yes, this was in fact the World Cup Semifinal. This game would decide who would make it to the World Cup Final in Sydney. The loser would play in the third place game in Brisbane (my favorite Australian city).
Yes, that is a Spain jersey circa the 2008 Euro’s.
Having seen the Swedes beat our beloved USA we knew we would be supporting whoever would be going up against them. It was Japan the first time (which didn’t work out) and now our affection and support moved to the Iberian Peninsula and Spain.
Pregame introductions and anthems
I mentioned in the first New Zealand post that I had been to a couple of World Cups before this one. I had been to 2014 in Brazil and I was at the 1999 Final at the Rose Bowl. I hadn’t realized until this game that I had been to three group stage matches, a quarterfinal, a semifinal, and a World Cup Final. This leaves only the Round of 16 for me to see and I would have been to each round of a FIFA World Cup. *Makes note for 2026*
The first half was incredibly tense. Both teams had decent chances but lacked that final touch to get the ball over the line. Both teams looked reticent to concede the first goal and held shape defensively.
Then the second half started.
It was fast-paced. The teams were chasing each other up and down the pitch. Chances were had. Goalies made fantastic saves. Then, when it looked like we would be heading to a scoreless draw and extra time, Salma Paralluelo took a clean crack at goal after a deflection and sent the ball into the back of the net and the stadium ERUPTED.
Reaction after the first goal
Sweden would not go down without a fight, naturally. They struck back in the 88th minute and leveled the score at 1-1. The crowd was less enthused about Sweden scoring. It was a pro-Spain crowd that night. But then, a funny thing happened, Spain got a corner in the 89th minute. The ball was quickly put back in play and Olga Carmona took one touch to settle the ball and then fired it in. The ball careened off the bottom of the top post and into the back of the goal. I’m getting goosebumps remembering the goal. The moment. The goal. The crowd. They were all incredible.
Postgame scenes on the pitch
Spain would hold off Sweden and move on to the final. I am not going to lie, I enjoyed seeing the Swedish players heartbroken. There’s some schadenfreude involved because of how they knocked out my USA. Also, the couple sitting in front of us, wearing Minnesota Vikings(???) gear were exceptionally annoying cheering for Sweden and seeing them sad made me happy.
Spain would defeat England 1-0 to become just the 5th country to hoist the trophy since its inception in 1991. Watching Spain celebrate winning the entire tournament gave me another fun fact about myself: At each World Cup I have been to, I have seen the winner play. In 1999, it was the Final and I saw Brandi Chastain seal the deal against China at the Rose Bowl. In 2014, it was seeing Germany defeat my USA 1-0 in Recife. I think that’s pretty cool.
After the game was over, we slowly made our way through the crowd back to the train and then to our hotel. Like after the Sweden-Japan game, the Sky Tower was lit up in the colors of the winning team.
Auckland Sky Tower in Spanish Red and Yellow
The next morning, we woke up and looked out of our hotel window and saw something we didn’t expect to see: the Swedish team bus. We saw them wandering around the car park, as a team, and into the lobby of the hotel. They were getting ready to fly to Brisbane for the 3rd Place match. That’s something about a semifinal they tend to forget: the loser still has another match to play. It’s not the game they wanted to be in but they have it nonetheless.
Sweden would rebound after their loss to Spain. They beat Australia 2-0 to claim 3rd place for the FOURTH time! They now hold the record for most 3rd place finishes at a Women’s World Cup. They are nothing if not consistent. I used to say that about the US Women but this tournament really humbled them and us fans.
Having said all of that, it was an incredible semifinal with the top two ranked teams (according to FIFA) in the world. It was a fantastic game to witness live and I was excited to share another moment with my partner that we will remember forever.
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.
Eden Park, Auckland
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).
Pre-game walkout and anthems
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!
An early corner for Japan
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.
Japan denied from The Spot
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.
Tazuni, the official mascot for the tournament
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.
John Kidde Writes 