Montenegro v. Wales in Nikšić

A regular sound during camper van drives is Judah asking, 'Are we going to "X" place? When will we be in "Y"?' as he searches for soccer games we can attend. All this effort payed off on Monday when we saw a Nations League game in Montenegro.

The game was moved to Nikšić when the capital city's field failed inspection. This was great for us, as it was on our route! We left Tara River Canyon early in the day to avoid the coming rains, and get in line for same-day ticket sales.

Buying tickets was a real cultural experience. The "line" was 1.5 meters wide, meaning there was no defined order. We spent 3 hours slowly moving forward. We chatted with the Wales fans who needed one more ticket beyond the three they were able to purchase via their fan site. Sadly, in the end they were denied the sale as the sellers had cut off purchases for fans of the opposing team.

A local man shared his dismay at the state of the line, which he connected to the poor state of governance in the country. He partly loves living in Montenegro, where they "work to live, not live to work as you do in Western countries." He also is fed up with the rampant corruption and nepotism, even dropping out of his local football club because the starting line-up was determined by power and wealth, not skill.

In the end, it took shoulder maneuvers and stuffing our passports into the ticket window in order to get our ticket purchases. It was an overwhelming experience.

We then parked near the stadium, and the boys went to play on the nearby turf football field, in their bathing suits as the rains had begun. We then ate soup, put on our raincoats and headed to the field with the other fans. There was lots of national pride: singing and flags.

Our seats were in an non-covered area where the standing water was already 2 inches deep when the game started. The football game was very very wet! Most of the fans didn't have raincoats, but in the end it didn't matter as we were all soaked through. Wales scored two goals early in the game, Montenegro one in the second half, but by then we were already back in the van trying to get warm and dry.Leggi altro