France vs. Ireland

not the most exciting storefront in the Guillotiere, but I didn't have my camera with me on the right day

A post-game nutella crepe for consolation from the crepe man in Vieux Lyon

Pre-gaming with some pastries (Tarte Praline)

Over one week ago now, there were two World Cup qualifier matches in the same day: Ireland vs. France and Algeria vs. Egypt. During the week there were riots in Marseille, so even though there weren't any riots in Lyon, the atmosphere was lively. The day of, green jerseys and flags for Algeria covered the Guillotiere. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera with me that day, which was a big mistake. There's a store called "Romance" that sells eastern wedding dresses and some random western formals, which usually has sequened, glittery fabrics covering the display windows. During the days before the game, it was nothing but Algeria paraphernalia: flags, scarves, banners, everything. Even Romance was taken over by pre-game hype.

Tom, myself, and some others went to Johnny's Kitchen, an Irish pub in Vieux Lyon, to watch the France vs. Ireland game. Our thinking with Johnny's Kitchen was that since it's a popular Irish pub, there would be lots of Ireland supporters. Not so much: our group was the only one for Ireland. Everyone's probably read the stories about the hand ball by now, which was really blatant. It was a great tense game, but it should've ended differently. A watered-down version is that France hadn't been playing well, Ireland had, they tied, went into overtime, then Thierry Henry made the winning goal for France by cheating with a handball. All of the France supporters in the bar cheared when he made the goal, but afterwards the reaction of the city as a whole was very telling. Algerians were riding around the city everywhere waving big flags on motorcycles, out of cars, yelling and cheering. There were police cars all over the Guillotiere for crowd control and even around Bellecour. We could hear cheering from our window up above the centre-ville all night, all from Algerians. There were no French people cheering. We didn't see a single flag for France, only Algeria. In the heart of the city, the police were there for the Algerians. It was not a dignified win for France and the city showed it. It's been a little bit of a controversy since then, but the results aren't changing and France is going to the World Cup. Tom still isn't over it, but I have to say I'm thrilled to be living in a city and country that gets so heated by the World Cup. Sorry Coach, but I still think soccer/World Cup is so much more fun than football/SuperBowl. :)