Chinese Crowd Turns on Argentina
The first game of the soccer doubleheader last night was very disappointing, as the US got a red card 90 seconds in and lost 2-1 down a man the whole game. Nigeria’s band–75 dancing cheering and music-playing African imports–was a lot of fun, so hopefully I’ll get to seem them again at the quarters on Saturday.
The second game was pure China. At the start of the game the fans were extremely pro-Argentina. The star of the team, Lionel Messi, did not start, probably since Argentina had already qualified to move on. However, the crowd began chanting his name partway through the first half. When his face was shown on the scoreboard the place went nuts, and when he began to warm up in the second half thousands of flashes went off as people tried to get pictures.
And then the first Argentine sub came. It was not Messi. The crowd booed loudly. Then the second sub came. It was not Messi. And the crowd completely turned on the Argentines. Every time the South Americans touched the ball, there was hissing and booing, and whenever the Serbs got it the place went nuts. It was so fierce and so unexpected I was wondering if people were going to storm the field. But the ridiculous part is that the crowd wanted to cheer to the Argentines, but were denied the chance.
Anyway, there was not a riot, but it was a great moment in Olympics history nonetheless.
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stuart responds:
Posted: August 14th, 2008 at 5:55 pm →
The crowd cheered when one of the American female gymnasts fell of the beam yesterday - not very sporting!
Chinese fans, especially the football crowd, are a volatile bunch when they don’t get what they want. Don’t China play Japan in the next round of the girls’ footy? Could be a riot there.
forit responds:
Posted: August 14th, 2008 at 11:26 pm →
They ‘cheered’ when the chinese female gymnast fell off too. They also ‘cheered’ when the German male gymnast fell off. And they all got big cheers after their event.
I think you might have missed the cheers for encouragement and don’t-give-up for something else, Stuart.