The Battle of the English and Bulgarians

We all love watching amazing performances.  Ones that keep us on the edges of our seats, guessing as to what will happen next, anxiously waiting for the plot to unravel, feeling as if there is nothing else in the world at that moment because it is being played out so brilliantly.  Frankly theatre doesn’t cut it for me.  We all know what happens at the end of Romeo and Juliette – they both die.  It’s nothing new.  In fact it’s all very old and takes place like a million years ago, a period of time I was not remotely close to and don’t care about.  Maybe you do, and that’s perfectly okay I just find it boring.  I did witness an amazing performance though.  It was one that kept me on the edge of my seat wanting more and more and one that had a brilliant ending that no one watching it could have ever known. 

On the 3^rd of September on a beautiful Friday night I ventured to the “Venue of Legends” as it is known, its real name however is Wembley Stadium.  It is the most beautiful amazing theatre I have ever seen and I will argue the most amazing one that exists in London, if not the world.  What did I go see?  The battle of the English and Bulgarians.  I am of course talking about a footie match.  A Euro 2012 qualifier to be exact.  Now I have been to football matches before in the past but never one of this magnitude in such a majestic stadium with more then 73,000 other people.  The excitement of watching football as compared to drama is that you never know what you’re going to get.  There is no script it is all just improvised.  Before the match began there was a great deal of clear tension around the fans.  England had preformed shoddily during the World Cup and fans where nervous not knowing if they could turn this around and pull of a victory or if the trend of humiliating defeats would continue.  All the tension was released when only after three minutes Jermain Defoe fired a beautiful volley into the net giving England the early lead.  But anything was still possible and Bulgaria were not going to give up so easily.  After all during the World Cup England managed to put away an early goal also against the USA but that game had a devastation conclusion of the English.  The Bulgarians had several dangerous attacks and goal scoring opportunities that England goalkeeper, Joe Hart, was bravely able to contain.  After 45 minutes of play the match could still be anyone’s to capture at only one to nil in England’s favor.  When the second half began England were desperate to increase their lead.  Wayne Rooney, England’s star striker, sent in an amazing chip from distance that silenced the stadium as the ball flew in slow motion towards the goal.  Everyone in the stadium was on the each of their seats watching the ball through the air in what felt like eternity but in actuality was only a fraction of a second.  As it curled down ready to fall into the top right corner of the goal the Bulgarian keeper got his fingers to it and tipped it over the bar.  Sighs and moans erupted from the silence of the English fans as the Bulgarians cheered their keepers epic save.  The plot got even juicier after a tackle left Dawson, who was shinning in defense, on the ground in pain.  His knee had buckled and he had to be substituted out of the match.  This only increased England’s desire to play harder.  Only five minutes following the substitution Defoe netted his second of the match in the 61^st minute.  Wembley erupted with cheers and celebrations from the England fans.  The game seemed over and both sets of supporters could feel it.  Following the goal a fight even broke out between Bulgarian and English supporters, adding to the action packed match.  As some started slowly exiting the stadium the game took another turn with Rooney’s perfect pass to Adam Johnson, who had just come off the bench, resulted in another goal increasing the margin to 3-0.  While the fans were celebrating the game was still being played.  Rooney again found Defoe who was thirsty for a hat trick and he got one.  Defoe who put off having surgery on his groin so he could play for his country ended the night as the hero of the show.  Shortly after the fourth goal the referee blew his whistle bringing the match to an end.

It was a performance that I will not forget filled with excitement and suspense, and one that Bulgarian fans will try their hardest to forget.  

Saam Talebi

stalebi@ucdavis.edu