most of you are probably totally unaware of, though information on it
is abundant and easily accessable. It is a war of nations and die hard
patriotism. It is a war that leaves winners extaticly wild and losers
sufferingly ashamed. It has been going on for three years but it will
all end next year... and then it will start all over again with the
same fury and passion. It is the war to win a spot in the 2010 World
Cup in South Africa.
Latin America is currently pulsing with World Cup fever. Weekly games
are viewed by millions of anxious fans watching to see how each result
will affect the standings of their own team in the complicated web of
points and rankings that have literally been 3 years in the making. We
are now in the final stretch of games- obviously also the most
critical stretch since 3 of South America's 5 qualifying teams have
already been guarenteed a spot (Brazil, Paraguay and Chile). The last
spot will be determined in the next few weeks, but one spot was
determined this week in a bitter and historic battle between team
Argentina and team Uruguay. And guess who scored a ticket to the big
face off Wednesday night? Yep, yours truly!!
The stadium where the game was held is in an enormous park in the
middle of downtown Montevideo. It was built in 1930 for the very first
world cup game ever- coincidentally played between Argentina and
Uruguay! It hasn't changed much since it was built, except for the
addition of a sound system about 30 years ago and a new big screen
that was added just last year. It was packed with fans wearing shades
of blue and waving the striped blue and white Uruguayan flag. There
was also a small section holding about 5,000 drum banging, flag waving
argentine fans who proceeded to cheer and sing throughout the entire
length of the game... In an attempt to avoid violence between the
opposing sides, the argentine section was seperated off at the end of
the stadium by several rows of empty seats, metal fences, and riot
police...
The game itself was exciting and high energy for the first 20 minutes
or so. Then it just got slow and both sets of fans anxiously awaited a
goal that didn't come until 75 minutes into the game. I quite enjoyed
listening to all the swearing, singing, insults being hurled at the
refs and in the general direction of the argentine fans, and standard
sports game commentary from the surrounding crowd ('oh go home and
suck on your bottle you big baby!'; 'my god ref who paid you off
this time?! You forgot your head at home!'; 'NO! Pablo you dumbass,
juanito was wide open on the left!'). In all it was an entertaining
and enjoyable experience, though Uruguay lost 0-1 and eveyone filed
out rather dejectly from the stadium.
I left thinking how we really have no national team in any sport that
unites people from all over our country to cheer on team USA. Except
during the olympics I suppose... We also have such a wide variety of
high quality pro sports to follow that I would say we don't have one
single national sport- unlike here where soccer is THE national past
time and is almost like a national religion. But what most impressed
me was the age and history of the stadium. In our obsession with
always having the most modern and advanced arenas, we have lost the
value in the history such a place carries. None of the pro stadiums or
arenas in Denver are more than 20 years old. You cannot take your
grandson to a game in the very same stadium where you first saw your
team play 50+ years ago. There is something amazing about sitting in
the stands where millions have sat before you, watching teams repeat
rituals and cary on rivalries that they have fought out on the same
turf for decades... I will leave you now with these thoughts as this
entry has gotten way too long and I probably lost many of you about
four paragraphs ago when I said World Cup. Hope all is well in the
land of plenty!
-cate
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