THE BRAZILIANS ARE IN TOWN

I went to the Olympic Football at St James Park, Newcastle this afternoon. Brazil played New Zealand. It must have felt like a home game for Brazil as there were so many Brazilian supporters. They were very noisy - this group of fans played the drums all the way through the game. Not sure how they managed to get those large drums past security as drums were definitely on the restricted list. ( Not sure what they guy dressed as a penguin had in mind when he decided on his outfit for the day ).

There was a great atmosphere and the Brazil team played well. The final score was Brazil 3 - New Zealand 0 . So Brazil won their group and will return to St James Park on Saturday to play Honduras in a Quarter Final. I have a ticket for that match - so more Brazilian excitement can be expected.

The security at the match wasn't as tight as I had thought. I took a bag which was searched and placed inside a large clear plastic bag which was sealed and then I was allowed inside the ground. I had arrived early so there were no queues. You couldn't take drinks in but if you took an empty plastic bottle you could get free water inside the ground - so I did that. A packet of crisps would have cost £1.50 so I didn't bother. You could take photos as long as you didn't have a large telephoto lens or a tripod. I was sitting quite high up but it was OK. Good view of the pitch and undercover which would have been good if it had rained - but it stayed fine until around 5pm when it started raining as I was doing a bit of shopping in town.