LOS ANGELES. New day, new climate, new host city.
Or should I call it host airport?
It feels like I went here for a conference rather than a World Cup party.
At least it’s not new time zone, this time.
Although “Pacific Time” still feels like a new acquaintance as I didn’t have time to be that long in Seattle before I headed straight south – to LA.
Los Angeles. This super city of Hollywood, Venice Beach, Beverly Hills and all the other places the world is familiar with from a lifetime of American media consumption.
They also have a very large airport – which this year is hosting the football World Cup.
Because this is really a World Cup event that is centered around the airport and its surroundings.
Of course I’m not going to pin things down without actually seeing more central parts of Los Angeles. But I won’t have time to see central parts of Los Angeles. Because there is no reason to go anywhere else if you are here for the WC.
And my impression has also been confirmed by colleagues who actually managed to see other parts of LA. Where it is not stated that there are any traces of a football World Cup.
The state-of-the-art So-Fi Stadium is right next to the airport in Inglewood. And all Fifa’s media hotels are within walking distance of the airport. So this was actually the second time in my life I walked to my hotel directly from the baggage claim. The first time was in small Bodö in Northern Norway last winter.
Without even having visited the arena yet, I already have the feeling that it is Los Angeles Airport (LAX) that is the host rather than Los Angeles as a city.
Almost as if I was here for a hotel conference rather than a football match.
World Cup art outside the Uber parking lot at the Los Angeles airport. If I had taken a car instead of trudging ten minutes it would have cost about $30. Photo: Makoto
There is also a football match waiting for tomorrow (or yes, today if you are reading this in Sweden). Canada is to step out against the rabble South Africa in the first knock-out match in this tournament. With all due respect to “Bafana Bafana”, I had hoped to see South Korea and Son in Los Angeles, but this will probably be fun anyway.
In any case, it will be special. Because the host nation Canada will therefore play in Los Angeles.
With the Maple Leafs clattering it against Switzerland and “only” finishing second, they now also become the first ever host nation in a World Cup to actually play somewhere other than at home.
In a normal arrangement, one might think that Canada could get a home match even as the second in the group.
But no, Canada is going here. To LAX.
If anyone was still wondering whether the three nations have really split this WC evenly.
Odd WC screens
Until it kicks off tomorrow, I don’t really have much more to report. However, I have finally actually had time to watch some World Cup football in peace and quiet on one of the extremely many screens in the hotel restaurant. Which, surprisingly, is something that you don’t always have time for when you cover a World Cup on location.
There are many matches that clash with other commitments. Like transport to another match, press conferences and mixed zones, transport in general… Yes, you get the idea.
There, however, it can be said that the USA has done its best so that you can actually watch matches anyway.
Here are some odd places where I’ve seen World Cup soccer on screen during the group stage. Almost all in or on their way to Philadelphia:
American domestic flights have television screens where you can watch matches up in the air. A couple of minutes delay, yes. But still. Photo: Makoto Asahara
Laundry adventure
Before I leave for the night, I have one more story to share.
Because I really, really needed to pull a washing machine today. Because the clothes have started to run out.
Trying to do that at the motel in Arlington felt like it would ruin the clothes rather than help them. And in Seattle most recently, the stay was too short to be able to use the hotel’s laundry service.
So upon arrival in Los Angeles, I tried to use the hotel’s laundry machines, hidden in a nook behind an ice machine on the 15th floor.
That project provided three extra round trips on the elevator to the lobby.
In here was the washroom. Photo: Makoto Asahara
But in the end so!
The clothes are clean, life is playing and I don’t have to wear a baseball shirt with “Okamoto 7” on the back to Canada-South Africa tomorrow.
It’s playoff day!
