My girlfriend is no good with surprises. She actively tries to ruin any sort of surprise, present, movie, anything. On birthdays and other holidays I try my best to not find out what’s coming my way, but, without fail, a week prior to said holiday, she’ll confess with no interrogation from me.
This year was finally different. She’s here with me in London and my birthday was two weeks ago. She did her due diligence in trying to spoil it, unnecessarily giving away where it’s shipping from. If it’s coming from England, it’s got something to do with soccer. We don’t need to call in Sherlock Holmes to solve that mystery. I stopped her from revealing more in the weeks leading up to my birthday, and finally, it was the eve of my birthday and I didn’t know what I was getting. But, when her face was turning red as she hadn’t exhaled the contents of the gift and steam was coming out of her ears, I felt it was best for her general health to give me the goods a few hours before my birthday. It’s a technicality, an asterisk, but we’ll give it to her. Count it.
She got us two tickets to Wembley Stadium to watch on as the English National Team played Lithuania in a qualifying game for the European Championships. Funnily enough, a week prior I was looking at that very game and even went as far as having a ticket for myself in the cart, waiting to check out. Better judgement took the wheel and decided with all the traveling I was doing, all the money I’m spending, I should be a mature adult and not frivolously spend this money. Alas, I didn’t and catastrophe avoided without evening knowing it.
So one way or another I ended up with a ticket to Wembley and I was extremely happy and grateful. I’d been there twice before for stadium tours, but it’s just different going there for a match. And it wasn’t just a meaningless friendly, this one counted. An underrated aspect of it all was the gap between opening the envelope and attending the game was a short six days after my birthday.
This stadium was opened in 2007, very modern, therefore it couldn’t have been easier to get to. First off, the underground stop was “Wembley Park.” Then, you walk up the stairs in the station, there are tons of signs pointing you to the one exit of the station reassuring you that yes, in fact, this IS where Wembley Stadium is, in case you were having doubts. Then, as you walk out of the station, you can see the stadium. Magnificent. Furthermore, not only can you see the stadium, but they have their white version of the yellow brick road that is straight as an arrow directly to the stadium. There’s just not plausible scenario in which you could get lost here.
Anyway, the train was packed and picking up more and more England fans the closer we got. As we’re disembarking the train at the Wembley Park stop, some harmless English faithful begin chanting: “England ‘till I die, England ‘till I die…God save the Queen, God save the Queen!” Personally, I love that stuff, the passion. Meanwhile, a mother with two kids would periodically turn around and beam a death stare in their direction. But, it’s to be expected to be loud at an England national team soccer game.
After conquering the half mile trek from the station to the stadium, we moseyed around to the opposite end of the stadium to find our seats. In a 90,000 seated stadium, it’s more likely to be in the nosebleeds than in the lower section, yet we found ourselves in the latter. Row 41 in the lowest section right at midfield; couldn’t ask for much better.
The game was an exciting 4-0 England drubbing of Lithuania. Lithuania had a decent following in the crowd and understood their grim David vs Goliath scenario. Unlike the biblical story, the David in this game didn’t prevail, but they still had fun with it. England dominated possession, holding the ball most of the game. When it was 3-0 and the result was long secured, Lithuania had a rare spell of possession, completing a few easy passes. The Lithuanian fans would all chant “ole!” in jest with every connected 10 yard pass.
It understandably took a while to get back to school on that Friday night from Wembley. Kicking April off with yet another successful birthday in the books, the month will be a hiatus from college as all of April is classified as “spring break” and May labelled “exams.” April holds trips to Germany, Italy, and Ireland. Absolutely couldn’t be more excited for what this month will reveal.
