Brazil vs Japan / Adrian Longton

A pleasant couple of days in Cardiff city centre, as Olympics fever hit the Welsh capital – or at least the football; certainly a more family oriented, less threatening atmosphere than when Premiership teams come to town. On Friday I attended the Japan vs Brazil ladies quarter final at the Millennium Stadium – a plum tie, what with Japan being the world champions, and Brazil being… well Brazil. I secured my ticket the day before, for a bargain £20, and was delighted to get an excellent seat, just behind one of the goals. Plenty of women and children in attendance, and I’m sure the stewards don’t go round high-fiving the crown during rugby internationals as they did here, but I stand to be corrected. As for the match itself, predictably, Brazil dominated for long stretches, and were certainly the more impressive in terms of individual skilfulness, but without an effective end product. Japan defended astutely, with goalkeeper Fukumoto especially impressive, and both goals, by Ogimi (27 mins) and Ohno (73 mins), were  well worked team efforts.  Brazil 0, Japan 2. Attendance 28,500 plus. A thoroughly enjoyable game.

My latest literary project is:– “The True Story of my Alien Abductions: by Adrian Longton”; a novella, which constitutes my first attempt at science-fiction, featuring an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. Available as an e-book, from the Amazon Kindle store. Inexpensive, too.