Uruguay is BIG on their football culture. The first World Cup was held here in Montevideo in 1930 and they built their Estadio Centenario (Centennial Stadium) to hold nearly 100,000 people! I'm writing about this because I went there last night to watch the semi-final match of the Copa Libertadores (Liberator's Cup).
My friend's favourite team - "Nacional" - were up against Argentina's "Estudiantes" and despite having won this much-sought-after cup 3 times, this was the first time Nacional had reached the semi's in 21 years - it was BIG! The weirdest thing about this match? There wasn't a single Estudiantes fan in the whole stadium...and the stadium had almost 60,000 people there!! The whole place was full to support Nacional! The energy was incredible.
There is an infamous rivalry between Montevideo's teams, especially between Nacional and Peñarol. The rivalry between these 2 clubs is deep, partly political (though not SO much anymore) and stretches back over 100 years! I joked that I would turn up wearing a Peñarol shirt (obviously only joking) and he told me I would simply be killed. He wasn't lying - even though they were playing a different team most of the chants mentioned Peñarol in some way...my favourite of which translates in to "suck my balls Peñarol" - it has a great rhyming rhythm in Spanish ;)
I had been looking forward to seeing one of these games - and what a way to see it, Nacional's first semi-final in 21years! However even with only Nacional fans there I could still feel this tingling worry in the back of my head - I mean, there were riot police all over even though there weren't any fans from the opposing team to fight with! I can imagine that a Nacional v Peñarol match may be a bit too much for some.
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Have you been to the World Cup museum at the Estadio Centenario? It's actually pretty interesting, with a great black-and-white, silent film about the 1930 World Cup.
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't, but in the first week I arrived my Spanish school did a tour there and everyone said it was worth a look...I doubted it seeing as I'm not a HUGE football fan.
ReplyDeleteThe atmosphere at this game was incredible! I wonder if I'm cut out for a Boca match in Argentina!
I was always afraid to go to a game at the stadium. Everyone warned me about the need to wear neutral colors, or risk sitting with hinchas of one team while (gasp!) wearing the colors of the team's rival. It sounded scary.
ReplyDeletewell I guess I lucked out so...I got to see a Copa Libertadores semi-final, Nacioanl's first in 21 years...but for some reason no tickets were assigned to Estudiantes so there was a much much lower risk of fights breaking out.
ReplyDeleteI've heard brass knuckles, nerves of steel and a damn convincing Rio Platenese accent are necessary to attend otherwise...still have to make it to a Boca game though ;)