For those non soccer fans- Boca Jr. is the team where Maradona played at for some time and became famous at. Boca Jr. is also the most popular team here in Argentina.
And River plate is the famed rival of Boca Jr. and they basically hate each other. This match is like a Barcelona vs. Real Madrid game or a Yankees vs. Red Sox game for those Americans.
So needless to say, lucky me is probably going to the best soccer match of the year thanks to Sergio and his contacts. They had purchased the annual package but were not going to that game for some reason so Sergio jumped on the occasion and picked those tickets up.
My original plan was to go to the stadium early, and try to find someone selling tickets. But Later I found out that would have been impossible for this game because everyone wants to go and nobody is selling them.
There’s a special tourist packing with a company that has 15 seats reserved for tourists that are willing to pay $200+ dollars for one of these seats, a complete rip off as those ticket usually cost $10 dollars, even for that important match, but you have to stand in line days before the game to get them.
So off to the game we went.
All the fans were on the streets already and it was packed. Security was massive as well.
After some extensive walking through he maze of barriers and security and a quick pat down we arrived at the stadium.
It was right in the middle of the city and was awesome.
It was huge and vastly impressive.
The crowd was made up entirely of Baca Jr. Fans. But there was a small space for the River Plate.
And our seats couldn’t be better!
My last soccer game in Honduras showed me the crazy fanatics of soccer to an extreme level. This was on a higher different level of craziness but on a much more obedient level.
Boca Fans
Boca Fans
Thought this one was funny, it says, we never made friends
River fans
I’ve never been in such a crowd before, the atmosphere was indescribable.
Because of the design of the stadium, its creates an almost closed environment for the sounds and cheers of the crown to echo and multiply itself, it was fantastic! It’s just like you hear on TV.
On the opposite side to me, was the booths of the rich people. Here’s the booth that was given to Maradona, he was out of the country so he wasn’t there.
 |
| Maradons box is the empty one |
Also saw the captain of the 1990 Italy National team sitting right behind me. I obviously had no idea who he was until the guy next to me told me.
There was helicopter filming the match from above.
And there’s so much paper and trash that the fans throw on the field they actually need leaf blowers and rakes to clean it up.
Here's a roll of paper that people throw, its quite heavy and can be deadly
Here's a roll of paper that people throw, its quite heavy and can be deadly
The teams coming out. River plate
Boca
I’ve never felt or experienced such passion, love, and verbal demonstration by such loyal fans before.
The Argentinean love their Boca Jr. You could just feel the compassion from the fans and the respect and love they have for their soccer team. I guess it comes with this culture of Romantic tango, good beef, generous and kind people etc. One thing I’ve learned in life is that the way we do one thing, is the way we do everything. The way the Argentinean are passionate about their country, family and life in the same way they are passionate about soccer and everything else.
Love for the team and players
Love for the team and players
It was amazing to see a huge flag come out to cover an entire third of the stadium. It was massive!
I love how people can work together in large numbers to achieve something fantastic such as this.
There was a total of 3 of these flags that came out the entire match.
So the match was 0-0 close to half time, until the Boca Jr scored the first goal, which was probably the loudest, most frantic, joyful thing I’ve seen, and best of all I caught it on video.
The compassion and joy from the fans was immense!
The second goal came only 5 minutes later and was just as good as the first one.
To my luck I wasn’t hit the half time smoking festival like I was hit with the day before so my experience was clean and fantastic.
Had the most stale food ever.
It actually tasted like if someone had purposely stored it in a damp cold basement for many years and had brought it back up to the surface to sell that very day.
The score ended in 2-0 in an amazing match. The Fans were amazing, the game was exciting, and the experience was unforgettable. I definitely am glad the motorcycle wasn’t ready yet and was stuck here for this match, the best soccer game I’ve ever seen.
End of the match celebration and singing.
Finally get to pick up my motorcycle tomorrow, excited, sad I’m leaving, relieved etc. A soup of emotions.
We shall see if it’s truly ready to finish this journey. Until next time, Chau!
The Big yellow flag was actually Donated by Maradona a few years back. Also this game was important because by Boca Winning they would leave River going into the Promocion which if they lose they will go to division 2.. Every Boca's fan dream, including mine. I been on that stadium a few times in my life and when maradona shows up its a whole different experience.
ReplyDelete