Euro Cup, Nice, France, 2000, Leeza Arkhangelskaya

From MemoryArchive

Who: Leeza Arkhangelskaya
What: Euro Cup
When: 2000
Where: Nice, France

I was in Nice, France for the 2000 Euro Cup soccer match between Italy and France. I think that Nice was probably the most exciting place to be for this particular game, since it is located right next to Italy, and has a large Italian population. The game itself was not extremely exciting to me, but my French friends got me rallied up. Initially, the Italians held the lead, when France began to catch up. There was a particular incident where a French player badly injured the Italian goalie (I believe he had to sit out of the game). France ended up winning the match, and both nationalities took to the streets.

I was on the second floor, looking out on the calamities right under my nose. Crowds of French fans ran through the streets, some naked, waving flags and singing French anthems. Nearly all the streets were blocked with honking cars, drunken singing and pure chaos. My friends and I went out to experience this event first hand. I was only 15, and have never seen such an outpouring of both joy (from the French side) and anger (from the Italian side, who thought the game was played unfairly). I carried a video camera with me, and had multiple people yell, wave, and proclaim their love of France to me. I saw a couple of fight between Italians and French, some broken bar windows, and a few street blockades. Overall, an overwhelming experience for a 15 year old alone in a foreign country.

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External Links:

Official Website of the Football Association