On Saturday, I made the 5 or so hour journey to Blantyre to watch the World Cup Qualifying match between Malawi and the Ivory Coast. Sadly, Malawi had already been knocked out of a qualifying position. In fact I think that the last game, which took place in the Ivory Coast, ended with a 5-0 win for the Ivory Coast. However, the Malawians that I met on the way to the stadium were all very upbeat and many stopped to ask me if I was supporting the Flames (team Malawi) or the Ivorians (that could be my own name for them). Of course, I always expressed my support for the Flames.The first half was pretty exciting. The Flames showed extremely good defense and the ball was in the Ivorian end as many times as it was in the Flames end. We were all pretty impressed with Team Malawi. As we headed into half-time our area of the stands was feeling pretty good. In fact, there were a good number of Malawians around us predicting a win for Malawi. However, those who knew football let the rest of us know that Drogba the Ivorian star player hadn't been played yet. (Drogba is apparently a star striker for Chelsea). So, we awaited the second half with much anticipation.
The second half started... and still no Dro
gba (I can only speculate that perhaps Chelsea wanted their star player played as little as possible). The play was intense for the first few minutes. And then... Malawi scored. The crowd went absolutely wild and we were all on feet cheering. There was much flag waving, yelling, and spraying of water (it was very hot so being sprayed with water was quite nice). So, now the crowd is elated and play resumes, and without much fanfare Drogba is sent onto the field. Sadly, within minutes Drogba has scored. There is no cheering, but the crowd still seems pretty happy to have seen their team score. The minutes tick away and each team holds its own. Final Score: Malawi 1, Ivory Coast 1. Happily, every Malawi that I talked to after the game was very happy with the result. And me, I had a fantastic weekend.
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