(Hamilton) It’s cold in Hamilton, like in Montreal. Restaurants and bars are closed until Monday in Ontario, as in Quebec. We wondered how we were going to manage to live enough anecdotes to tell them in a postcard…
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
Luckily, we only had to get out of our hotel room. And the surprise was great: the American team had taken up residence in the same establishment as us!
The members of Canada’s rival team were easily recognizable by their type of clothing athleisure featuring the USA team logo.
We’re waiting for our take-out meal near the lobby on Saturday morning. We decide to go and start a discussion with one of the staff members of the team. With the masks, we cannot identify it.
After basic greetings, albeit a bit embarrassed, he is asked what he thinks of Hamilton so far. ” It’s good. There are a lot of weird unknowns (weirdos) this way. »
We suspect that he is not referring to the new kind of pastor who was preaching with a loudspeaker at the corner of the street the night before. He probably wanted to tell this tiresome reporter to leave him alone.
Message received. Either way, there’s a way to make yourself more useful, and less intrusive, by walking around town and around Tim Hortons Field.
As the media do not have access to the stadium for team training, we stand around, with an unobstructed view of the field. To get there, you drive through the narrow, snow-covered streets of the Stipley district. We admit to falling under the spell of these pretty brown brick houses, adorned with flags bearing the effigy of the Tiger-Cats and Forge FC. We like a little less Christmas decorations that resist January.
PHOTO JEAN-FRANÇOIS TEOTONIO, THE PRESS
The streets of the Stipley neighborhood directly overlook Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field.
The Americans train first. A group of three men, their car with a Massachusetts plate, joins us in front of the stadium fence. These friendly southern neighbors are among the lucky ones who managed to buy back their tickets for this match, after the announcement that it would be played with a 50% reduced capacity. “It’s a beautiful stadium! “, they note.
We leave the area to go get dinner. We eat in the car, restrictions require. When we return, the bus carrying the Canadians is emptying. We see Samuel Piette, Maxime Crépeau, the captain, Atiba Hutchinson, and Richie Laryea, in particular. They are greeted by supporters who were waiting for them.
We prepare to observe their training, but we are told that neither the fans nor the media can, not even from the outside… and even less with our smartphone in hand. It was worth trying.
Anyway, the cold was beginning to overcome our good intentions.