The stars aligned against me, scuttling whatever chances I had to attend the Beijing Guoan match last night. They were playing Wuhan Three Towns (yes, that Wuhan), last season's champions.

Suffice it to say, I was a bit overconfident in my chances, though. Folks here seemed more than surprised I had an interest in attending a local club match. They gave the impression that tickets were easy to come by and that locals didn’t care too much about the team. I was told it would be easy.

Combined with that New York Times piece back in the spring, I was under the impression that things weren’t going well for the soccer community in China. All that investment, however many years ago, hasn’t done much to elevate the game’s status. And it seems they’ve been beaten to the punch by some of the Gulf Arab states in their own pursuit of footballing relevancy.

But if I had paid a little bit more attention, maybe things would have been different. A few things have happened among all the others that at least should have caused me to hesitate when taking the advice of some locals who said tickets would be easy to buy.

The most glaring one is that the local club opened their newly rebuilt stadium just in time for the beginning of the season. Beijing Guoan spent the previous three seasons at a temporary ground in the west of the city. And this new stadium, built on the grounds of the old one, was purpose-built for the beautiful game. As anyone would imagine, the buzz around the new ground led to a sellout for the opening match back in April and that sentiment has continued ever since.

Then came the Messi-bump. Last month, he was in town with La Albiceleste. They were playing a friendly against Australia during June’s international window. The full squad came and played to a sold-out crowd at Beijing Worker’s Stadium. Messi and his teammates dazzled. The world champs whetting the appetite among the faithful and hopeful converts.

And last, covid. The country only recently came out of its own lockdown (January 8th). And folks are ready to rub shoulders with others, get out and about, and go to public events again. If I had taken our experience at the shopping mall near us as any indication, I wouldn’t have waited.

The bottom line is Beijingers are consuming football. And it’s going to mean acting fast if I want to grab tickets next time around. Which, as it stands, is next Saturday.