Saturday, June 2nd, 2012
Admittedly, I am not a soccer fan. At all. But I would feel
a little ashamed of myself knowing that I was in Argentina and didn’t catch one
single match, so the Argentina v. Ecuador game was the perfect opportunity. For
one thing, it was WAY cheaper than I thought it would be, ~$50, and nobody was
stabbed after the game in the typical soccer rivalry violence.
We set out for River Stadium knowing basically how to get
there, but then we realized it would be impossible to get lost because there
were hundreds of people walking to the stadium decked out in Argentina’s flag
and colors. I’ve never really been a sports fan or had “school spirit”, but it
was pretty cool to see so many people rooting for their team (and therefore
their country). Not to mention, I love the Argentine flag, and it was
everywhere. You’d think it was 9 de Julio (Arg. Independence day).
We finally got there (after much ado over which entrance we
needed) and while it was horribly windy and cold, with seats made of concrete
(that probably haven’t been cleaned since they were made) we were excited,
especially as we watched more and more fans pour in. Because it wasn’t a very
important game, there was only one section for Ecuador, which they filled in
nicely, even coordinating their thunderstick colors to match their flag.
As we waited for the match to start, I realized that the
soccer field looked gigantic, but tiny at the same time. When I watch soccer on
TV (which is practically never) the fields always look so huge. Like it would
take you 10 minutes to run the whole field. But all those aisles up, and it
looked like the pee-wee fields I used to play soccer in when I was 9. Then when
the players filed onto the field, it seemed immense again as they looked like
little specks against the vast greenness. I couldn’t even get a non-blurred
photo of the game because the zoom was that close up.
It didn’t take long before I really started getting into the
game, but obviously my slight interest was nothing compared to the passion of
the people around me. I had a family sitting next to and behind me, and the 10
and 14 year old boys were screaming things that would have gotten my mouth
rinsed with soap for things as simple and harmless as failed passes. LA CONCHA
DE TU MADREEEEEEE!!!!!! QUE PUTOOOOO! Or just getting mad when anyone on the
Argentine team had the ball and didn’t immediately pass it to Messi.
And while I’m about as versed in soccer as I am in molecular
biology (which is to say I am not), I was well aware of the god-like status
Lionel Messi possesses in the soccer world. Normally he plays for FC Barcelona,
but being that he is Argentine, he plays for the national team when
appropriate. Normally I am never drawn to athletes because I think they’re
over-glorified, over-paid and over-idolized and while I’ll admit they’re
talented, I have never liked watching sports so on me, their talent is lost.
But Messi…alright I understand the hype because that guy was a one man soccer
show. I’m not even really sure he needed any of the other players. His skills
are incredible. He could maneuver a ball through just about any situation, at
full speed. No wonder the whole world is obsessed with him.
Being that Messi is unstoppable, Ecuador put up their best
fight but were unable to score any goals and we won. The crowd went craaaazy. But
being that Ecuador is just Ecuador, the crowd was fairly calm. Had this been a
Boca/River game (aka the 2 clubs in BA) there probably would have been gunshots
and butterfly knives. Who knows. Though we did have to wait until all the
Ecuador fans had cleared the stadium to ensure their safety. Which seemed less
safe, as the more we waited, the more people seemed to curse the slow
Ecuadorians. And despite how offensive and racist porteños can get, they’re in
my top 3 things to listen to when they get like that. Sometimes you’d swear
they’re speaking Italian/bird/sign language all at once. Nope. Solamente el
castellano porteño. It’s a souvenir I wish I could bring with me, because
listening to English just sucks now that I’ve heard Argentine Spanish…that's going to be hard to cope with when I get back to the US...but for now DALE ARGENTINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
No comments:
Post a Comment