Futball: The original name for the sport, "soccer".

For all you futball lovers out there: be jealous.

Tuesday night we had tickets to go to the England vs. Ghana game at the Wembley Stadium. Yes, Wembley. I was so incredibly excited. It was one of those excitements that only grew as we got closer to the stadium until finally I rounded the corner and looked down on the field. It literally took my breath away! The screaming fans only added to the atmosphere. I had forgotten how much I LOVE soccer! Ahem… futball.

The game wasn’t anything special. Oh wait.. except for the professional players, massively cool stadium and crazy fans part. England scored in the first half and held it at 1-0 for ALMOST the entire game. This is where the moral comes in.

I really don’t like leaving early for games. I think it stems from BYU football.. but when the game isn’t going so good and half the stadium gets up to leave in the third quarter, it just gets under my skin. So when everyone (meaning the Americans from OUR program) got up and started leaving when there were 10 minutes left I was appalled! Okay, not really. But there was no way I was leaving with them. In the end there were 6/44 that stayed.

In the last minute of the game Ghana scored. You would have thought Ghana had won the world cup! The entire Ghana section went INSANE!! It was so fun. Anway, back to the moral. The 6 of us were SO excited. The game was going to go into overtime and.. well that’s just exciting. We also may have taken pleasure in the fact that everyone who left would miss it. But we’re evil like that. So we freak out with Ghana.. which confuses everyone around us because we’d been cheering for England the entire time..  and wait for the exciting overtime.

Guess what?? No overtime. The game ended 1-1.

Moral of the story: Never leave a game early. You never know when the underdog will come back, tie the game up, and then shatter your excitement by leaving the score tied.

Side moral: Being cool and staying until the end of the game earns you an added reward of increased traffic and crowds.

Being in the Wembley Stadium was probably one of my favorite single things I’ve done this whole trip. THAT is how amazing it was. Why can’t America get with the program and realize how AWESOME soccer is??

Oh, and I’ve decided I’m going to Brazil in 2014 for the World Cup. Anyone is welcome to join me!