Friday, February 08, 2008

Racing FC Union Luxembourg – Royal Excelsior Virton (05-02-2008)

In an attempt to get the most of my remaining months in Europe, I have gotten even more obsessed with scoring new groundhop scalps. So, on a grey and rainy Tuesday, JB and I set off to Luxembourg for a friendly game. We leave early so that we have plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful capital of this small state. Unfortunately, Luxembourg in February is pretty much the same as Belgium in February: grey and rainy! So, rather than walking through the cozy streets of Luxembourg City, we hide in restaurants and cafes, where we read in a local paper that there is an alternative game, played half an hour earlier, from a team that has no functioning website (not uncommon in Luxembourg). After a short discussion, JB and I decide to take our chances, get back to our car, and set route to…

FC Progrès Niedercorn – FC Etzella Ettelbruck

Niederkorn is roughly 25 km southwest of Luxembourg City. This notwithstanding, it would take us a good hour to find their stadium, the Stade am Deich; which, between you and me, is nowhere near a dyke! After driving through the relatively small town for more than 20 minutes, we finally found someone who provided us with bizarre, but accurate directions. So, roughly two minutes before scheduled kick-off (at 19:30), we drive onto the parking lot of the stadium, when I realize two things: (1) the game is canceled (the lack of flood lights and the fact that the first team is at the practice field give this away); (2) I have been here before, roughly two years earlier, and guess what, the game was canceled then too (because of snow, however). Down but not out, we directly set course back to where we came from.

Racing FC Union Luxembourg – Royal Excelsior Virton (05-02-2008)

As the Stade Josy Barthel is very easy to find, and we had passed it on the way into the city earlier, we actually were back in time for kick-off of our original game (at 20:00). And guess what… that game was canceled too! So, in the end we had driven over 400 km to see not one game… not, but two games… not! Let’s hope we are more successful this Saturday!

1 comment:

pst said...

This must be, in a paradoxical way, the ultimate groundhop-experience: driving 400 kms. to then miss two lower divison Luxemburg games! We, once again, bow to the master.