There are 2 days of matches, 2 per day. First would be Everton v.s. Stoke city and then, Arsenal v.s. Singapore. Second day would be the finals.
Bf is a huge fan of the Arsenal team and he's very much excited that they are coming to Singapore.
However, he says that it wouldn't be nice watching them compete against SG cos the disparity in standard is too huge. lol.. so he strongly discouraged me to buy the tickets. Or rather, he did not want to spend on the tickets cos they are not exactly cheap.
And so i didn't.. until probably 3 weeks before the match.
I was thinking, Arsenal play with SG on the first day, SG team sure lose one. So, we surely would not see Arsenal play with SG in the finals...which means the finals would be nicer to watch?
And in my extremely limited soccer knowledge, i think Everton would end up playing with Arsenal. Everton i got hear before one, so standard should be there ba, haha.
And there was this strong urge to just go ahead and buy the tickets, since it's not every time the Premier league football club will come play on our tiny island. Most probably it's one of those Sg50's collaborations.
and yes, it's true haa
"Said EPL chief executive Richard Scudamore: "We know Singaporeans love their football and that they are huge fans of the Barclays Premier League. Our aim is to put on a tournament worthy of the Singapore's 50th birthday celebrations and for that we have three teams who epitomise the best of our League."
simi sai also Sg50
But i know bf gonna stop me from purchasing the tickets if he knew beforehand, so i bought it without his knowledge and gave him a surprise 2 days before the match.... on facebook, haha
:)
And he was so very happy! haha..
it was a pity that i didn't purchase the tix when they were first launched in May though, or else would have gotten really better seats.
The day of the Finals, we reached very early! Like 4plus, haha...
Most people wearing Arsenal jerseys, but i'm not. Don't wanna waste money on something that i wouldn't wear out after that, haha... Maybe if we visit Arsenal in London next time, i would buy? :D
Tickets are "No re-entry", so once you are in the stadium, you can't go out and come back in again.
But the stadium is so nice that we really do not mind staying inside for hours. In fact, time past so fast that i wished the matches were longer! By the time we left, it was 10+pm but it felt so short!
Look at the spectacular stadium! So proud of Singapore's new Sports hub!!!!
and the seats are installed with some cooling technology. The seat i was sitting on was blowing cool air, and i even felt cold at some point! Totally unexpected, cos i thought the stadium would be very hot especially that it was open air and of cos, thanks to our Singapore's scorching weather.
took many selfies :D
The first match was Singapore v.s. Stoke. The stadium was around 30% full... cos people reckon it would be boring. However, i was still damn excited haha..
Singapore lost to Stoke 0-2.
After the first match, we came out to the sides to take photos.
Super nice! Look, the stadium is almost 100% full now cos the second match is starting, people mostly in red... to be specific, in Arsenal jerseys. haha
Woohooooo...
85% of the spectators are Arsenal fans, haha.. cos when they screened the names of the players, there was super loud cheering, haha.. Özil was sam's favourite!
Didn't take photos of the match, cos we were totally engaged! I was quite surprised i enjoyed myself so much! Cheering at every goal and every saved ball, haha..
Arsenal v.s. Everton 3:1
Very soon, it was over and needless to say, Arsenal was the BAT2015 Winner!
:D
Overall, it was money well-spent cos we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!
I was so glad we managed to catch them live in Singapore!
Till we meet again, Arsenal! ;)