Rwanda 3 - Mauritania 0

Soccer matches on foreign soil are really fun to be a part of. Because we Americans live in the only land on earth where the sight of raucous fans cheering for men playing football with their feet is a novelty, not only do we get to enjoy the game, we get to tell ourselves that we're having a true "cultural experience."

The handful of futbol matches I attended when I was in Spain, and the many more I watched at a bar over Cruzcampo and olives, still rank as some of the fondest memories I have from my semester there. Since being here in Rwanda, I've made a point of watching as much football as I can. I watched one European match with some friends at a hotel bar (boring game, sleepy atmosphere), another match at a dark, spartan "bar" called VIP where I was one of just a handful of mzungus staring at a the game as it was projected on a wall (great game, even better atmosphere), and I caught the European Champions League final with a Rwandan friend at another bar where the game was projected onto a screen that was propped up in the middle of the crowd. Jean Paul and I sat behind the screen, so we watched a mirror image of the game that was actually being played. It wasn't until I saw a replay two days later that I realized Ronaldo's incredible goal-scoring header had come from a pass from the teammate on his right, not his left. The two teams vying for the championship, Chelsea and Manchester United, are English, but both have huge fan bases here in Rwanda, so there was plenty of euphoria and hand wringing going on as the teams traded goals, squandered their opportunities in overtime, and eventually settled the score with penalty kicks. (Man U brought home the hardware)

Last weekend the Rwandan national team, known here as the Amavubi Stars, played their first qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup, which will be hosted by South Africa. We went over to the stadium in Nyamirambo to check it out. Of course, the ticket buying process lacks any semblance of order. Imagine if the scalpers we know just had stacks of tickets in their hands and the only way to be sure you got into the game was to mob around the ticket seller, shove money in front of his face, and hope he takes it from you and not the guy next to you before the tickets run out. And you thought hitting refresh on the TicketMaster website was annoying. The stands were full, so some people took seating matters into their own hands. Though Rwanda's team isn't supposed to make it to the World Cup, they looked good in their opening match against Mauritania. They scored a beautiful goal early, then again on a penalty kick, and a third time late in the game. The celebrations in the stands were especially fun to watch (again, totally normal to everyone but Americans). We'll see if the team can keep it up this Saturday against Ethiopia.