Oddly, when the Aussie travelling fans turned up to the stadium in a clutch of mini-buses, they were shepherded into the bowels of the stadium and then right onto the ground allowing us to observe, at arms length, the warm-up of the Aussie footballing lads...it wasnt until an Australian football official politely asked us to go back to the stands that this bizarre situation concluded...
This is the national stadium of Bahrain...
Mark Schwarzer, the Aussie goalkeeper warming up...
Michael Petkovic, back-up goalkeeper warming up to sit on the bench...
Marco Bresciano, Aussie mid-fielder also warming up...this practice shooting from this distance was actually very important...Bresciano scored the winning goal in the final seconds of the game from almost this exact spot!!!...
This is just after than final minute moment which caused delirium among the Aussie fans numbering about 200-300...that's me on the left hanging on to the fence (credit to esteemed GG Army member Mikey R for the photo)...
And the lads coming over to the faithful fans after the match...
So off it was back to a pub...which was also the pub of choice for the players and team management....
Tim Cahill of Everton FC (left) and me (right)...
Marco Bresciano of Palermo (left), VB stubbie (centre) and me (right)...
Jesus of Karlsruhe (alias Josh Kennedy, left) and me (right)...
Lucas Neill of West Ham decided to get up and karaoke with the Philipino band...
Dutch guy Pim Verbeek, manager of the Aussie team, and my brother, Michael...
The next hazy day a tour of the Manama streets was in order...
The newish World Trade Centre building of Bahrain...
with window cleaners who do work...
but wind turbines that dont work...
And, finally, the concluding stages of a sunset over the Manama metropolis...
More travels are planned...can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment