Travel Review 1

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Travel Review 1

First Impressions Of Canada 2015

by Jeremy Ruane

The first few days of Canada 2015 have certainly been demanding ones for me, with a routine very swiftly being set - airport, flight, taxi, hotel, ground, matches, reports, hotel, taxi, airport …

But when you're anticipating attending around half the matches over the course of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals, such a routine is to be expected early on in the competition, with group action taking place virtually every day.

There'll be plenty of time to do the tourist things in a country I've never visited before later on in the piece, but for now, a recap of my first few days in the world's second biggest nation is long overdue.

Friday night's flight to Vancouver on Air NZ was smooth, with at least fifteen Football Ferns fans on board, bound for Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium the following afternoon, in my case, via the subway, three stops away from my hotel, Coast Edmonton Plaza.

We won't mention the hour-long trip to same from the airport, the equivalent of the trip to Dunedin from Momona Airport. At least there's some scenery to look at along the way in the South Island!

I digress. The opening ceremony went without a hitch, from my observation. A lot of work had gone into making that event alone a success, and I strongly suspect a fair few choreography sessions took place prior to the big day to ensure things went off without a hitch.

The biggest crowd ever to attend a women's sports event in Canada - 53,058 - was treated to an opening day double-header which had its moments. The dramatic finish, courtesy an injury time penalty in the host nation's clash with China, naturally delighted the natives, and got the tournament off to a desirable start, even if the game itself was more akin to watching your average men's match.

China set out their stall for a point, and were within ninety seconds of securing same. Canada, meanwhile, were fairly toothless and one-dimensional in attack, while their defensive trio didn't exactly enamour me, particularly with regard to accurate distribution - there are goals waiting to be scored against them here, methinks, hopefully in their next match.

As for the cherubs' display against Holland, 'twas definitely a match from which we deserved some reward. That Erin Nayler touched the ball twice in the second spell says so much about our dominance, but that old chestnut returned to haunt us.

I raised the point with Tony Readings in the post-match press conference that we haven't scored in our last four internationals, and having a private chat afterwards, he concurred with the merits of my question.

Hopefully the cherubs will provide answers aplenty against Canada on Thursday local time - God knows we need to, as it's a game we simply can't afford to get nothing from, following our first-up defeat. I have supreme faith in their ability to deliver, and silence the host nation's fans in the process. GO YOU GOOD FERNS!!

Next day, Sunday, it was off to Ottawa, where my flight landed just after Norway's clash with Thailand had kicked off. A cab straight to the ground meant I was able to catch the second half from the comfort of the Media Centre, which offered a nice overview of an impressive venue.

There are some drawbacks with Lansdowne Stadium, however, not the least of which is the location of said Media Centre in relation to the Media Tribune. This is found on the other side of the ground, eight floors above the playing surface, and it's from here that the reporting media watch the action.

It offers a great view of the match, particularly with the aid of the TV screens next to us - without them, we'd need binoculars to identify the players, who look quite tiny from on high as they run around so far below us.

Spare a thought, at this point, for the volunteers who have to run to and from the Media Centre with various documents we media folk require receipt of before and during a match. If they weren't fit beforehand, they certainly will be after making a few of these trips, believe me! It's a right royal hike along the concourse and up and down numerous flights of stairs, the elevators having been commandeered for the use of the VIPs.

Ivory Coast were lambs to the slaughter against the Germans, and it was no surprise to see them cop a tanking - talk about David and Goliath! The crowd, to their credit, urged on the underdogs at every opportunity - an Ivorian goal would have been akin to them winning the World Cup. Alas, 'twas not to be, although the referee didn't exactly enter into the spirit of the occasion in this regard, something the fans made known to her at every opportunity.

After filing my report from up in the Gods, my next stop was not my hotel, even though I was still lugging my bags around with me. My very helpful Moroccan cab driver dropped me off at the Notre Dame Basilica for 7.30pm Mass, and picked me up an hour later to take me to my home for the night.

The Residence Inn Ottawa Airport is a Marriott hotel, and is very tastefully appointed indeed, as one would expect for a $494-a-night fee - that's Canadian currency, of course. I certainly wasn't complaining, given FIFA's media hotel deal means we get to stay at this one for just $CAN 157 a night … result!

If it's Monday, it must be Winnipeg, the venue of this World Cup's "Group Of Death". The FIFA folk on site happily admitted to me they would prefer to see all four teams from this group go through to the last sixteen, because of their footballing qualities - yes, even our West Island friends.

No prizes for guessing who I would prefer to see heading home from this group after the opening phase of the competition - a little bit of payback for all those occasions we've ended up on the wrong side of the scoreline in our trans-tasman tussles.

Sweden and Nigeria served up a barnstorming encounter, one of the great World Cup matches. And with Liverpool striker Asisat Oshoala scoring, that made my day! Afterwards, Team

A full house at Commonwealth Stadium

Half of Winnipeg Stadium ...

The view from the SMC in Ottawa. The stand in the distance houses the Media Tribune ...

... from where the players look a tad tiny!

Nigeria's fans were in fine form

As were their Korean counterparts

The leaning tower at the Olympic Stadium

The spirited Costa Ricans

Brazil broke a couple of records ...

The view from up in the Gods at the Olympic Stadium

GO YOU GOOD FERNS!

USA didn't play well, but did enough to overcome the Matildas, who deserved their equaliser, and earned their fair share of plaudits from the match.

Things could have been a great deal different had they faced an ordinary goalkeeper in this encounter. Hope Solo may have her personal shortcomings - haven't we all? - but when it comes to doing the business twixt the sticks in women's football, she is numero uno with bells on, and has been for a number of years now.

Winnipeg Stadium is a superb facility, a proper, fully enclosed football ground, with the crowd right on top of the pitch. Needless to say, with many of those present having made their way there from south of the border, the atmosphere was superb.

We may well criticise their loud, proud and in-your-face style, certainly compared with our more conservative approach - those feeble "All Whites (clap clap clap)" chants, anyone? - but the American fans certainly don't do shy when it comes to supporting their team. And their team feeds off it and thrives on it, make no mistake.

Winnipeg itself is in the prairies, and it's a lengthy trip out to the venue from the heart of town, so it's just as well plenty of public transport has been provided - an excellent service too, I might add.

If only the same could be said for the efficiency of their airport's Customs team. Back home, as you know, we can turn up at their airport with as little as twenty minutes to go and be able to board an Air NZ flight for domestic travel. You try that here in Canada, and you'll get nowhere fast!

The recommended check-in time for domestic travel here is ninety minutes prior to departure. The ticketing process is straight-forward enough, as is the boarding process, but you can spend anything up to 45 minutes proceeding through Customs.

They do exactly the same things here as they do at NZ airports - no laptops in bags, nothing in your pockets … the difference is the sheer volume of people they have to process. There are literally hundreds of people heading for any number of destinations in the queue to pass through security at any time - and local flights here depart as late as 11.30pm.

Which reminds me, the hours of daylight here are a bit off the wall as well. Take Edmonton as one example - sunrise 5.07am, sunset 9.58pm. In effect, no matter where you are, it's generally only dark here for around six hours a day at most during summer, which it certainly is with temperatures in the mid-twenties every day so far.

I digress. I consider a queue to be an indication of inefficiency, and to that end, Canada's airports are rife with it. If there are so many passengers requiring processing, why are the security processing facilities so limited, in terms of x-ray machines and staff in operation at any one time? Without question the one outstanding downside of my Canadian experience to date.

From the tidy The Fort Garry hotel in Winnipeg, it was off to Montreal, and one of the iconic venues in NZ's sporting history, the Olympic Stadium where John Walker won 1500m gold at the 1976 Olympic Games - a place any NZ sports fan should visit. The entire facility is stunning, particularly the leaning tower, up the outside of which you can go in a lift as part of the Parc Olympique tour.

Having your hotel ten minutes' walk from the ground is a big plus, too, although it means the cab ride from the airport to Hotel Universel Montreal isn't exactly cheap. That said, you do get change from a $50 note, something which can't be said for the equivalent journey from Jean Batten International!

With Brazil in this group, I expected to encounter fans aplenty and almost as many media from that football-mad country. The reality stunned everyone - the lowest attendance at any of the locations on the opening match-days, with just 10,137 fans in attendance. Officially.

The reality was a lot less. A LOT less. For the opening match, between two Women's World Cup Finals debutants in Spain and Costa Rica, if there were a thousand fans under the closed roof come kick-off time, you'd have been lucky.

It was hugely disappointing, not that the teams let it affect them. Spain should have won, no question, but I was delighted for the Costa Ricans, many of whom were familiar to me from the Junior Ferns' 3-0 victory over them at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals. What they lack in skill they more than make up for in spirit, a spirit epitomised by the performances of goalkeeper Dinnia Diaz and fullback Diana Saenz - they were outstanding.

Brazil's clash with Korea Republic ultimately went with the formbook, but the Asian side - and their terrific support crew, who did so much to provide some atmosphere inside this 60,000-plus capacity stadium - deserved at least one goal for their efforts throughout proceedings.

Twas not to be, however, Formiga and Marta scoring the goals which saw Brazil prevail and two aspects of Women's World Cup history rewritten - the oldest scorer and the most prolific markswoman in Cup Finals history being the sections requiring amending.

So to Wednesday, the first rest day of the tournament, and a welcome break from all the early morning wake-up calls to ensure those ninety-minute check-in deadlines were met without fail.

I had a wee wander around the area near the hotel before heading to the airport for two flights, to Edmonton via Toronto. All went well until on board the plane, with our 6pm departure ultimately delayed until 7.40pm, due to the knock-on effect of a storm passing through Toronto.

Air Canada, one of Air NZ's Star Alliance partners, pulled out all the stops for the likes of myself who were continuing on to other destinations, Copenhagen and Milan among them for some of the passengers. As I'm typing this, I'm on the last flight of the day to Edmonton, three hours late than originally planned, and hopeful that sitting somewhere in the hold below is my luggage.

It's now Matchday Two, and a massive game for our champions. GO YOU GOOD FERNS!

2015