Hot August Night: Argentina v. Ivory Coast
Just returned from the barn-burner men’s Olympic soccer match between Argentina and Ivory Coast at Shanghai Stadium. The Argentines pulled it out at the end for a 2-1 win. All in all – a fantastic atmosphere in the stands. Great fans, great overall spirit, and, as far as I’m concerned, this was the Opening Ceremonies. I’ll have more to say, and more photos to share, in the morning. But, tonight, a deadline. So, this one will have to do …
Actually, I’m going to post one more. Half-way through the first match (the under-card between Australia and Serbia), somebody started the wave. And the wave was successful. And then the scoreboard flashed this:
I can’t say that I’ve spent a whole lot of time in soccer stadiums over the last few years. So, could someone please enlighten me: is the ‘Mexican Wave’ – as opposed to “The Wave” – a common term/thing? Or is it just a weird Fuwa thing? I’d really like to know.
[UPDATE: Shows what I know. Long-time Scrap friend, Humberto, comments (below) that the term Mexican Wave is quite common. This is news to me, but not - I'm afraid - to the rest of the world. A brief google search would have set me straight. I've been visiting stadiums, with waves, for most of my adult life. How could I have missed this? Is it - like soccer - something that just doesn't get much play in US stadiums? In my defense, the two US passport holders who joined me this evening were equally ignorant (sorry, M&A).]
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hey adam, hope all is well.
the wave is very common in soccer/football stadiums. I remember doing it at the ’86 world cup in mexico
Comment by humberto — August 7, 2008 @ 11:25 pm
I was there tonight and I wondered about that to. Humberto I think adam is asking whether it is normally called the mexican wave. Am I right?
Comment by Otelin — August 7, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
they call it that in europe, yes. I’ve heard it during many champion league’s matches. Rumor is that the first time it was done was during the aforementioned ’86 world cup although there is a guy from the States wanting to take credit for it too.
Comment by humberto — August 7, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
I guess this is proof that Americans shouldn’t write or comment on blogs about soccer! Yikes!
Comment by Otelin — August 8, 2008 @ 12:16 am
Humberto – Glad to see you here! And thanks for the clarification … I must admit, I have never, not once, heard The Wave referred to as a Mexican Wave. And I’ve been doing The Wave since … a while. I’ll leave it at that. Learn something new every day.
Comment by Adam — August 8, 2008 @ 12:52 am
Am I mistaken or is that a Neil Diamond reference in the post title?
Comment by Brother Love — August 8, 2008 @ 1:36 am
trust me adam, it isnt called the mexican wave in mexico, and of course it isnt called the mexican wave at twins games either. Heck, i think even the fifa game for the wii calls it the mexican wave. it is all due to those english commentators that dominate the football games on TV.
Comment by humberto — August 8, 2008 @ 1:46 am
They actually should have used the indefinite particle “a” instead of “the”. Blame those bad Chinese textbooks.
Comment by maxiewawa — August 8, 2008 @ 9:46 am
Maxie – You’re absolutely right, of course. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Thank you.
Comment by Adam — August 8, 2008 @ 10:27 am
Oh, I would say “the” is OK too.
You can say “there’s a Mexican Wave going round the stadium”, but it can also be “the” as in “doing the rhumba”.
Rhumba? Why was that the first example that came to mind? Well, whatever.
Comment by Tom — August 8, 2008 @ 1:56 pm