Football Watching, Serbian Style

After a night of football watching (inlcuding Navy's woulda-coulda-shoulda beat Ohio State), Wes and I recklessly decided to stay up and listen to the Vandy game by Internet feed. To be sure, this was hardly Florida Vandy was playing; it was Werstern Carolina. Nevertheless, the results were not discouraging for these long-suffering Vandy fans. 45-0. 33 first downs to 4. 620 yards to 115. Not to say that Vandy can beat LSU this week, but it sure can handle the Western Carolinas in a way it could not before. Wesley was able to stay up until about 3 a.m., some time in the 3rd quarter, before crashing.

With a weekend of college football under our belt, it was time to turn to a different kind of football. As in soccer. Serbia appears to have one of the strongest national teams in the world at present, as it works its way through the long process of playing the qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup final (to be held in South Africa). Coming into Wednesday night's game with France, Serbia stood atop its six team group, with the always to-notch French in second place. Serbia had 6 wins and 1 loss. France stood in second place in the group, with 4 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws.

On Wednesday, a crucial qualfying match was played between the two teams, at 55,000 seat Red Star Stadium in Belgrade. Google "Red Star Belgrade" sometime; you'll discover an amazing and oft-sordid history that is beyond the scope of this post. In any event, I was fortunate enough to obtain two tickets to the match, which was packed. As for TV, the match turned out to be the highest-rated event in the recorded history of Serbian television. The match was, Erin and I thought, fascinating. Serbia struck first on a penalty kick in the 13th minute, and France answered in the 31st minute. The rest of the game was scoreless. The 1-1 draw was less than satisfying for either team, but it almost ensures Serbia's appearance in the World Cup finals next summer. Having now attended a big-time World Cup match, in Europe, I feel like I have rounded out my sporting experience. It would take a while to describe how it differs from attending, say, major league baseball or college football games. Some things are similar, but much is different.

Go Serbia!