KA-ZAKH-STAN

    Kazakhstan 1
    Ireland    2
Sports correspondent PBJ.

KA-ZAKH-STAN. FIFA. GOOOAL.

This was a world cup qualifying game between Kazakhstan (in blue), Ireland (in their alternative white strip) and FIFA (in their usual yellow colour). FIFA only had three players, two of whom stayed on the edge of the pitch the whole time, and the other did a lot of running but was very hands-off. If he had got the ball I don't know which goal he would have shot at.

Left: vaguely famous; Right: FIFA

Anyway Ireland looked strong at the beginning. Kazakhstan grew in confidence but were still the underdogs when they snuck in a header near the end of the first half. The crowd went predictably wild and chants became louder. Such as GOAL GOAL GOAL, and KA-ZAKH-STAN. My favourite was dum dum d-d-dum d-d-d-dum KZH-STAN. I even heard a bit of OLE, OLE-OLE-OLE.

The crowd switched ends at half time and all was a bit boring as the K-dogs defended their lead and the Greens got frustrated. FIFA continued to underwhelm. 

Cultural exchange. There was a good atmosphere. GOAL GOAL GOAL!

After a goal mouth scrap, the ball being shakily scouped away, the referee ordered a penalty to Ireland and gave a yellow card to a man in blue. There are no replays in real life, so it remains a mystery what happened - maybe a handball or a foul, but surely that would be a red card? Any way Robbie Keane cooly put it away to level the scores with a few minutes to go. Suddenly there was some dynamism and, tragically for the blues, Ireland put one away near the end. Kazakhstan were tired and desperate at the end, surely regretting their earlier time-wasting antics. 

Stadiums. I love stadiums. This is a nice one.

On the way out there was an impressive sea of busses to take all the fans back to the other side of town - where real people live - while I was lucky enough to take a short walk home.

FIFA!