Craig's First World Cup Qualifier

On the Sunday night immediately after their return from the weekend away, Craig went to see the 2014 World Cup qualifier between Taiwan and Malaysia. They arrived well into the second half and the score was already 2-2. Craig thought it was "too noisy" and said so several times.

Craig didn't watch the football at all. He spent most of his time curled up into a ball on his seat with his hands held firmly over his ears.

It was very apparent to Craig's Dad that the people sitting nearby had no idea about how world cup qualification works. Taiwan had already lost to Malaysia 2-1 in Kuala Lumpur a few days earlier. So, although Taiwan won the game on Sunday night 3-2, it was Taiwan that was knocked out of the world cup.

Many people in the crowd around us had no clue. The ground announcer only said that Taiwan had won tonight's game. Craig's Dad even heard one North American accented voice behind him explain to a large group of people that if Taiwan won by one goal there would be penalties to decide who went through to the next round of qualification. It was all a bit silly.

However, it was a massive crowd by Taiwan football standards, by far the biggest Craig's Dad had ever seen in all his 19 years in Taiwan. Just a shame their team didn't get one more goal.