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Game day France v USA. We are at the stadium to a very lengthy queue for Gate 1 which we ignored and went to Gate 2 and was in the stadium in no time. The Japanese are real sticklers to structure and would rather join a queue 400 plus metre long because that’s their stated ticket entrance gate rather than look for a shorter queue at another gate. My American friends were not at all hopeful and simply wanted a good performance from their team. That they certainly got from a spirited USA team that at one point gave us hope of yet another upset. Go USA! I chanted with them. They just weren’t clinical enough to take advantage of their pressure points and France ran away with a bonus point victory in the dying minutes of the match.
Another superb stadium, weather was perfect with a cool breeze. The food selection on offer was excellent and tasted damn good and with all the delightful Asian spread on offer trust Christopher Chris Meredith and Ted Bentz to plumb for hog dogs..a reminder of back home USA! But just wish the stadium bars would stop running out of Strongbow cider before the first half is over and expand the choice of alcoholic beverages available.
We just couldn’t resist a final night of ramen at the Yatai where I bumped into France rugby star, Thomas Castaignede enjoying same! There a group of Japanese next to us and the lady sat next to me welcomed me to Japan and apologised for being so so hammered! It was only 8pm. Her male friend was even more hammered, squeezing my guns & declaring his love for me! We went on a bar crawl, for research purposes of course, when we are back here again for the Quarter-Finals. We went across the river which was where I bought the most expensive glass of water for Miko. We should have known better as some upscale bars do have a cover charge for the seat. The barman hadn’t pre warned us and one round of drink later we asked for the bill and noticed Y1000 seat charge per person had been added! That’s approx £8 plus cost of water! Nice bar though.. but that was a sly move.
Next stop Tokyo for England v Argentina!