Beijing Guo'an Vs. FC Barcelona 北京国安队 Vs. 巴塞罗那队

Ever since I know, I had the passion for the real game, for football. Whether it was driven by hanging out with my friends as a kid, or just influenced by my father, the passion is still active and very often hard to describe to people who don't understand the phenomenon.

Like every other kid, I dream of being able to watch my favourite team play and win against another top European football team. I also dream of being able to go to Camp Nou or Santiago Bernabeu in Barcelona, Madrid and watch live what I believe is the most amazing clash in the history of sports (FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid).

I still dream of that moment and I will have to wait a couple of years until try to make it happen. In the meantime, never would I've thought that by coming to China, at least I would be able to see FC Barcelona playing. Even though it was in Beijing, with a local Chinese team, the match drew large media interest and crowds of people to the stadium.

In China, football doesn't benefit of large audiences like basketball does; but for the Olympics, the government is trying to pre-organize a series of events for all kinds of sports in order to test its facilities, capabilities and get people' interest.

Most of the people came to the game to see Ronaldinho (小罗 or little Luo how Chinese people nicknamed him). His brand name in Asia worth more than then whole club put together. Is that the real message FC Barcelona wants to promote in Asia? Real Madrid did the same with Beckham and the story didn't have a happy ending. But, profit comes first, and even though announced as injured, little Luo played the second half, scoring the third goal.

Beijing tried to manage the game as good as they could. The result was unsatisfactory for a city that will manage the 2008 Olympics.

- the entrance to the game was only though one single gate

- security was poor, I was able to sneak in cans of beer

- bathroom was terrible and it became nightmare at half-time, how can you have transparent windows in the first place? - 5 minutes communist speech, communist pictures with the team delayed by 10 minutes the beginning of the game

- the scoreboard was powered by Microsoft Windows' Paint program (no licence)

- the sprinkler system started in the beginning by accident all over the field, pushing players and reporters away

- taxis and public transportation was insufficient once the game was over

Overall though, it was an event that marked 1 more year to go to until the Olympics.

Word of the day: 北京2008年奥林匹克运动会 (běijīng 2008 nián àolínpǐkè yùndònghuì) = Beijing 2008 Olympics