The second official tournament of the year, the Clausura, is well under way here in Argentina. Most Argentina football teams are about 6 games in on their 19 game season and the madness is in full swing. Last night I ventured out to Racing for my first game of the season with my Italian buddy, Marco. He is a die-hard Racing fanatic so I couldn’t help but to get in the spirit of things. The Racing Club is known for having one of the most loyal and rowdy fan basis despite the lack of success from the team itself.
I was cautious at first because it was a night game (9pm start) and the stadium wasn’t located in the best of areas outside Capital Federal. However, once within about a mile radius of Racing you could feel the electricity begin to mount and any fear I had immediately turned to excitement.
The most amazing thing to me is that there is another Argentine Football stadium literally 2 blocks away from Racing’s Gancha (field). The other stadium is home to hated Racing rival Independiente. Their stadium was like a gigantic dark open box while Racing’s is round and closed in. That doesn’t really mean much but it’s cool to see. Can you imagine the Cubs and Sox stadium 2 blocks away?
After some street meat and a flat coca-cola we made our way threw the crowd and into the stadium. We actually got in for free because Marco’s uncle had extra passes. Although the cards had pictures of his aunt and uncle on them we just slid the cards face down on the scanner and it worked! Jackpot!
The stadium was incredible. the circular enclosure had a moat and barbed wire fence around the field. It looked more like a battle field than a soccer pitch. It would be cool if they made it into a lazy river so people could float around on inner tubes during the game like the one at the MGM Grand in Vegas. Good times!
The crowd (and team) performed as advertised. The crowd let off bottle rockets, smoke flares and waved giant flags. While the Racing team missed passes, turned the ball over and failed on point blank chances.
Despite my fanatical obligation to Velez Sarsfield (who is #1 right now) I had to get into the cheers and madness of the home team. Really for my own safety.
From what Marco said, in true Racing fashion they led most of the game and managed to throw it away on a last minute goal by Huracán to tie and eventually end the game 1 to 1. Devastated and tired everyone waited for Huracán fans to stop cheering and file out so they could do the same, uneventfully.
A second round of street meat was in order after the game to pick up Marco’s spirit… choripan always does the trick!
Argentina Football – Futbol News
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VAMOS VELEZ!!!!
One Response
Hi Gareth!
A big fan of soccer is here. I am not from Europe. I belongs to Russia. My favorite team is Portugal. But i can never deny the passion of Argentina for soccer. These people are really crazy for that.