The Battle of Riga

The tour continues. We spent a couple of pleasant days walking around Riga, sampling the local bars and trying out some local restaurants. Think the custom of padlocks on the bridges for newly weds is really cool, but I can't see it working on the M3.

The Sky lounge bar at the Albert hotel is a great place to relax with a pint, overlooking Riga town and at 2pds a pint not overly expensive.

Things were going swimmingly, until the Latvian "Robocop" Eleven decided, early on, to take the game to the opposition (is that the right expression?). They indulged in some agressive play involving hard tackling, elbowing and some fancy footwork. Referring decisions had the GAWA, locals and visitors somewhat perplexed, annoyed and a little bit miffed. Heinous off the ball infractions such as staggering to an offside position, singing and er... walking on the grass involved numerous red cards.

Protest were, of course, ignored but names (and videos) were taken and are now with the adjudicators (Mark Sidebottom, et al). Still the Vorspiel ended promptly with both sides playing for time and settling for an inconclusive result.

Now onto the football. Well, what can I say, even a non footballing nut like me can see that the lads were not firing on all cylinders. Not for a lack of support from the GAWA who did all their usual numbers, massively dominating the home fans whose only contribution seemed to be LAT-VEE- YAH, LAT-VEE-YAH. A most disappointing result all round.

Still, on with the tour, and after parting with Al (Just call me Al) I am now in Berlin to rest for a couple of days before pushing onto Reykjavik.

Green White Army, Green White Army......