Brazil Day 17 - Flipflops, Coke and Colombia

Never have so many football matches been shot by so many photographers in flipflops. I bought a pair of executive flipflops before coming out here and I've had them on pretty much all the time apart from the Sao Paulo game which was a bit chilly. Reminds me a bit of being in Saudi Arabia where flipflops were the order of the day all year round.It's my duty to report on the burgeoning secondary market in match-specific Coke cups. With every purchase of a bottle of the black fizzy stuff in the stadium media centre, you get a Coke cup. They are all specific to the match on that particular day, though they were printed some time back and as a result today's cup doesn't have the team names on it, just the date and location and the words "oitava de final" which means "eighth final" or last 16 in our terminology.I can't be bothered to accumulate more tat, but there is cadre of collectors building up who must be trying to get the whole set - a pretty massive challenge. As a result there is always a ready and willing member of the media happy to take my unwanted cup.In other news, the already flimsy photographers' lockers are showing further signs of distress. They are made from thin metal sheeting which has the approximate rigidity and strength of sheets of A4 paper. I always ask for an even numbered locker as they are on the bottom of the stack of two, the floors of the top ones usually having collapsed. As it is, today's locker is in a bad way, and that's before I put my stuff in there.And as I'm obviously killing time before the start of today's Colombia v Uruguay match, below is a picture of my workspace for today. I usually try and get a double spot if I can so I can keep my Peli case next to me. It's early at the moment, 11:00 for a 17:00 kick off so not too busy. I'm 8th in the Group 3 position queue for this one - hopefully there will be a spare corner slot for me but I suspect that, being a Latin American derby, the prime spots will go very fast.Oh, other good news. I got a print in today's Sun from last night's Uruguay press conference. It's the shot on the right of the Uruguay boss. Only a small shot, but they all count especially when I was surrounded by Getty, AFP, AP, Reuters etc.Pre-match there was plenty of colour about so I set about taking pictures of Uruguay fans pretending to eat babies and the like. The Colombia fans were fantastic - noisy, happy, generally crazy. An excellent bunch.Being in group 3 I managed to get a slot at the far corner on the right side. The seating is so tight that you've barely got room to breathe, especially as one photographer took it upon himself to squash all the seats right together so he wasn't blocked by the corner flag. He really should have checked that beforehand.I've discovered that the cleaning folks clean the gents toilets on the way to & from the pitch exactly when we are all going out there, and exactly when we are all coming back. This is extremely annoying, especially when we could be out there for 4 hours or more if it goes to penalties, and I'm generally drinking a couple of litres of water during a game. They did the same for the last 2 games here at the Maracana as well so it's a consistent annoyance.While we were waiting for the game to start, the Brazil v Chile game was shown on the big screens in the stadium, and the fans had been let in early to watch it. The game went to penalties, with Brazil squeaking through. I decided to shoot the reactions of the Brazil supporters as they watched with pained intensity as the penalties were taken, and there were some great reactions when the winning one went in.Sitting pitchside, the sun had gone off my spot by the time things started to get going, but it was still very hot and sticky. Add into the mix the hot air being blown from the fans in the LED advertising boards 6 inches in front and it becomes pretty uncomfortable pretty quickly. Due to the aforementioned photographer moving all the seats up, I now had one of the 45 degree supports for the LED ad boards in front of me which is a massive pain as it means I haven't got anywhere to put my feet. I had chosen my seat because there wasn't one of these in the way. I managed to squeeze my legs under my chair, and had my Peli case in front with my laptop on so I could edit and send pics OK, but it was massively uncomfortable.Add in the fact that between wandering off to shoot the team lineups and returning to my seat, every seat had moved forward about two feet by its owner, so it really was tight in there. I didn't want to do without my laptop as that would have left me unable to edit and send anything (the Focus Images global editing suite being otherwise engaged today). I need to figure out some sort of support for the laptop so I can still use it and have space for my knees.I got Rodriguez's first goal, but only just as he was through a crowd of players. The celebration went the wrong way. Then Colombia scored in the second half at the other end and that cele unusually went away from the managers' side giving the guys shooting in that corner a good morale boost. Colombia were really superb - a force to be reckoned with in this world cup I think. They now take on Brazil in the quarter final which should be a fantastic match.After unfolding myself from my seat I finished most of my edit pitchside and then wandered back past the still being cleaned toilets to do the last of it. 98 shots sent out in total, including the pre-match stuff and stock. Hopefully a quiet night is forthcoming after a cold beer or two and some dinner.