FIFA Club World Cup

One of the perks to living in Abu Dhabi is that there seems to always be some sort of sporting event going on.  I'm not saying that they are all amazing events or anything, but it is amazing the amount and caliber of the events that Abu Dhabi is able to buy attract.  Two just in the last month were the FIFA Club World Cup and a World Tennis Championship featuring Nadal & Federer.

Zayed Sports City Stadium

You can see the Emirati contingent across the way

Naturally, Paul was pretty pumped and wanted to go to a few of the games.  Our friends N & M heard that they were giving out free tickets to some of the early games, so we tagged along to watch the Koreans play the local Al Jazeera team.  I actually had a lot of fun, I still don't think that I'd like watching soccer football on tv, but I really did have a good time at the games.

Paul & N

T, me, & M

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this kid sitting in front of us

 Paul bought us a couple of tickets for the championship game off of a coworker that could no longer make it.  We had seats with Paul's boss and his wife and had a good time enjoying the atmosphere with them.  The championship was expected to be between Brazil & Inter Milan, but Brazil got beat by the Congolese team in the quarter-finals.  While it probably made for a less interesting soccer match, the Congolese fans were quite the entertaining.

Congolese witch doctor and followers

The "Emiratis" that were sitting in front of us

Us with Paul's boss & wife

This is what Paul's beard starting looking like when he grew
it out a few months ago--a centaur.

While the security took all of the pens out of my purse...
somehow the Italian fans got through with flares???