Finland v Azerbaijan

Last weekend, Emma and I went to the southern part of Azerbaijan for a World Cup Qualifying soccer game. The game was supposedly held in Lankaran, instead of Baku, because Finland's Football Association had donated the stadium's turf. Either way, the game was testosterific and the weekend swell.

Our friends Jon and Hiba posing on the beach. Lankaran is located on the Caspian so we took a walk down by the shore. Jon and I even took a little swim.

Everybody should feel better seeing this picture. It shows that no matter where we go, I am still the palest person in the world.

While Jon and I were swimming, the girls meet a nice Finnish journalist by the name of Tommi. He was covering the soccer game for Finland's version of the New York Times. He was super cool so we invited him over for dinner.

Dinner with all those attending the game.

Most of the crew at the game. The stadium probably held about 10,000 fans, 99.99% of which were Azeri men. Tommi actually commented in his article that he could name all of the non-Finnish women in attendance. He then listed them off. Emma is now super popular in Finland.

Here's a fun game. Play find a female...

It's a trick, there are no women in this picture!

Azerbaijan actually scored the first goal and so I quickly took a photo to show how the scoreboard read. The feeling inside the stadium was electric. Really, it was awesome.

An Azeri Glee club tried to scare the "Nothern" visitors with this sign.... grrrrr.

A shot of the field.

Azeri fans with signs that when presented created a stadium wide Azeri flag.

There were soldiers placed every 10 feet or so around the field. It was odd for those of us who live in Azerbaijan. I can't imagine what the Finnish players must have thought. In Azerbaijan young men must serve for a year and a half when they turn 18. Lankaran houses the largest military base in Azerbaijan, so I can only assume attendance was mandatory for the men. Not a bad assignment.

The trip was awesome even though Finland ended up winning 2-1. Oh well, fun was had by all!