Soccer = Football - Part II

As we all know that we North Americans call football 'soccer', and because of that, I unknowingly 'insulted' this English guy this one time. He insisted that I should call it for what it is, which is football and nothing else. While it's a habit hard to shake off at the moment, my solution is to speak Spanish whenever it comes to fútbol, no alternative there.

So, it was the Boca vs Independiente fútbol match that I was at. It was a fabulous game. I know Boca Junior is definitely one of the best but I don't know anything about Independiente. Not that I know a lot about fútbol but from what I've seen, their defense was really good. As quick and skillful as the Boca offense players were able to maneuver the ball with amazing footworks, they still had a hard time getting pass Independiente defense. Very impressive indeed. They didn't score their first goal until the second half and it was tied very soon after, and the score remained as 1-1 till the end.

A good fútbol match couldn't go by without any drama. During the game, 2 Independiente players got a red card, one after another probably 10 mins apart. Each time, there were so much intense commotions on the field that I thought 'oh shoot, fights were going to break out anytime now.' Especially at one point, 2 police came out from the corner, each had his helmet on and a big shield in hand, standing at the side lines waiting. The look of it really didn't seem positive but soon after, I found out that they were there to protect the foul Independiente player from getting stuff thrown at him when he was leaving the field passing the Boca fans. So much 'passion' in these people!

Going to a fútbol game in Argentina is definitely one of the must do's. Why? Because the atmosphere is absolutely amazing. They drummed and cheered from the very moment they were waiting on the stands till the very end. They would dance and sang from the top of their lungs songs that were written for the team. They all sang with so much heart in them that you felt the love, the passion, and then you became one of them too. The Boca fans call themselves the 'Jugador No. 12' because they are a significant part of the team: while the 11 players playing on the field (10 player + 1 goalie), they are the 12th 'player'. Get it?

I have to say though that it could be the chilly weather that people were a bit more subdued than the match I went to last year in the summer time. Nonetheless the electrifying energy was still there, only that last year's was 10 folds more. That sounds like I have to go back in the summer and hopefully by then I'd have gotten smart enough to not having to rely on the mafia-like guy to get me in.

Soccer = Football - Part I

I went to see Boca Junior play the second time in my life, and again I had to pay a bit more in order to get in since we, as in foreigners, still a bit confused with how to get tickets 'properly'. However, trying to get tickets at an apparently sold out game, which we've come to find out later on, was an experience on its own for sure.

Last year, my friend and I somehow got to buy a pair of season tickets off of this guy whose friend couldn't come. This year, it was way more interesting. After 3 friends and I were told by numerous working people that it was really sold out, we wandered among herds of football fan outside of the stadium trying to see what we could do. We then asked this man if he could tell us where we could get tickets, he said he could get us in and it'd cost us 100 pesos each for a seated spot. We really wanted to see the match and we also knew that that was a normal call-for price under such situation so we went for it hoping he'd really keep his words. After he pocketed all of our money, we got through the security gate and waited for this guy to get his friend's (let's call him Mr. F) attention, who was inside the ticketholder area. After 10 minutes of wondering if this was going to come through, he told us to go ahead and said that we were here with Mr. F.

Once we greeted Mr. F, we were told to wait there. Now imagine this Mr. F as a big tall middle-aged man, dark tanned skin, in a business attire, sunglasses on his head, carrying a shoulder bag, cellphone in hand and most of all, while we were waiting, he was either talking on the phone or greeting a lot of well-dressed middle-aged men in sight...mmm...a tag mafia-feel to me...note to self, do NOT piss him off. So we stayed put and waited patiently but our doubts were also growing bigger by the minute. Around 15 minutes later, finally he said 'follow me.' Yay!

He showed us to this old man at the turnstile and we were shuffled through the turnstile but get this: he told 2 of us to squeeze through one turn together while the man beeped once on his card. Aha!! Now we know how this whole 'operation' works. They probably made more than double the actual cost but anyway, we were happy that we were in!!