Ahli - Zamalek

Ahli - Zamalek
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

We left for the soccer game around 1.5 hours before it was to begin; way too late. I knew it would be a good story when our bus arrived while Bryon was in the market buying water. Our philosophy was "leave any man behind if need by" and we did just that, though someone might have yelled his name. As our bus took off, so too did Bryon as he came sprinting out of the market after us. I hung out the door screaming and waving encouragements as Osama, our resident arabic speaker, coerced the bus driver to slow down. Bryon made it and all was well. We arrive to the stadium and are greeted by rows and rows of military and police and legions of red. We are on Ahli's side of the stadium. We walk to the other side but are unable to find an entrance. They are no longer admitting fans. The rest of our experience includes near riots, cops raising their batons, and me getting pinned between a horse and a rowdy crowd. We submitted our defeat and retreated to a cafe, where Ryan hooked us up with front row seats to the TV.