Watching the match with Cissé

France’s Djibril Cissé and five-year consecutive Michelin starred chef Keisuke Matsushima made an appearance as special guests at the Time Out Café & Diner on Friday July 2 to catch the public viewing of the South African World Cup 2010’s Brazil vs Holland quarterfinal match.

Cissé commented, ‘I’m honoured to be playing in the first African World Cup, and also that such exciting games are happening in it.’ From kick off to the closing whistle of the match people all over were sunk deep into their sofas and glued to their screens as an exciting match unfolded on the pitch.

Just 10 minutes into the first half and Robinho was able to secure a goal for the Green and Yellow, while Holland’s Clockwork Orange struggled for the first 45 minutes owing to Brazilian midfielder Kaká’s clean technique. A sudden turnaround came in the 52nd minute, however, when Dutch powerhouse Wesley Sneijder whipped the ball in after a free-kick courtesy of Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo, matching the score evenly between the teams.

Cissé is no stranger to this type of World Cup caliber play, with this match bringing to mind shades of the final four of the 1998 French World Cup. In watching the action he observed, ‘In comparison with the Brazilians, right now the Dutch are really trying to use their heads and stay properly organized.’

Holland continued to pull ahead with Sneijder sinking another goal in the 68th minute. When the match was over and the smoke cleared Keisuke Matsushima and Cissé held a Q&A session. As Cissé was in Japan on his own – not as a representative of the French team – questions on the Gallic team were sidestepped with a diplomatic, ‘I think France will do well in the next World Cup.’ On how Japan’s Samurai Blue fared in the tournament he commented that, ‘Japan’s play this time was really strong and made a big impression.’ He added that he is thinking of playing in Japan for J. League sometime in the future.

Djibril is a huge Japanophile, from his fashion to his interest in culture; on the day of the viewing he spend the day from 10am until the evening shopping and enjoying himself in Harajuku (coverage coming soon).