Israel has not been to the World Cup in 40 years, so it's a bit of a big deal here. As much as I don't enjoy soccer -- scoring chances are severely limited and the fake injuries are borderline disgraceful when compared to how playing through real pain is a badge of honor in hockey -- it tends to be a cultural event in most countries, so I go to check out the locals.
After parking on a nearby sidewalk, we walked a quarter-mile or so to the stadium and took our seats. The crowd was decent, but not quite as boisterous as I had expected. They had their chants, but they were even more repetitive than ours. At least they took the initiative rather than rely on prompting from the organ player as we do in the States. In general, the Israelis were frustrated with some of their players, and with the outcome (they really needed the win to increase their chances of getting into the tournament). It did bring out a chuckle when we'd hear the Israelis say, "ma zeh?" (what's this?) after particularly bad plays.
I give them credit for the following only because English isn't their native language. Otherwise, it's pretty weak.
This being soccer, most of us were lulled to sleep pretty early. Here's the video footage purportedly taken at the game.
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