ABU DHABI // Christian Zchlegel wanted more noise with his football as he watched his native Switzerland play Chile last night. Unfortunately for 32-year-old Mr Zchlegel it was not until Chilean forward Mark Gonzalez scored the winner in the 75th minute that the 200 people watching at the Emirates Palace hotel's football lounge started to really raise the volume.
"The atmosphere has been kind of lifted - by the Chileans," shrugged Mr Zchlegel, an electrical engineer who was watching the match with his friends in red T-shirts. He then tried, not for the first time, to start a chant of "Hop Suisse!" among the 140 Swiss nationals in attendance at the event organised by the Swiss and Chilean embassies. "At least the children are joining us," he said as a group of a dozen children sitting on bean bags in front of one of the 21 screens in the lounge started to sing, competing with the rowdy celebrations of about 30 Chileans.
Not everyone felt the atmosphere was lacking, but Susanne Baumgartner, the executive director of the Swiss Business Council, said she had been unsure of how loud expressions of jubilation could be. "You think of it as very formal. I asked beforehand, 'Can we cheer?'," she said. "They told me, 'Of course it's OK, it is the football lounge'." The hotel's "football lounge" had been decked with 21 televisions arranged so that no matter which table or couch fans chose, they had a TV nearby.
Ms Baumgartner said she thought watching the game at the landmark hotel added to the experience. "For people to be in Emirates Palace and watch the game, I think it is something to tell your people back home," she said. Although they were winners on the pitch, with about 180 Chileans living in the country against 1,000 Swiss, the South American viewers were outnumbered by Swiss expatriates at the hotel.
Bastian Veyre, 25, was perhaps slightly out of place among the crowd. Mr Veyre, from Saint-Étienne, France, watched the match with his friend, Milton Vicentelo, a Chilean, but was not sure what side to choose. "We are working on the same project in Al Raha Beach but I am with VSL, it is a French-Swiss company, so that is why it is kind of complicated," Mr Veyre said prior to kick off. "Last time he was supporting Mexico so I think I will support Switzerland. Also, one of Switzerland's players, [Gelson] Fernandes, plays for my club, Saint-Étienne."
However, with Chile a man up at the start of the second half, some gentle persuasion from Mr Vicentelo, a project manager for Chilean company Rene Lagos, coerced Mr Veyre into supporting his friend's country. He backed the winning team on this occasion as Chile came out on top 1-0, much to the delight of Paolo Valdes, 40, an Etihad pilot boisterously chanting: "Chi Chi Chi, Le Le Le, Viva Chile."
mchung@thenational.ae
