Futbol

Last Sunday was the Brazil-Ecuador World Cup qualifier. As you would expect, Ecuador was playing as an underdog. This fact was tempered a little by the altitude here in Quito, which should give the Ecuadorian players an advantage over their lowland rivals.

Anyway, we met some friends in "Gringolandia" (aka La Mariscál) and headed to the stadium at around 11:00. This despite the fact that the game did not start until 4:00. The stadium, as we had been warned, was already quite crowded and got even more so as the day wore on. We were fortunate enough to find seats, near the beer, the stairs and the goal: good seats... or so we thought. As the stadium filled, fans began sitting on the stairs, which soon completely filled with people. This situation caused anyone wanting to go up or down the stadium to walk, more or less, through and around those people, which meant that we had people pushing by us, stepping on our seats and tripping over our feet, whenever there was a pause in the action. Annoying, to say the least.

Otherwise, things went well. Despite a little rain before the showdown, the weather was generally good. When the game started, I learned a lot of new vocabulary quickly. For instance, I now know the words "puta," "puto," "hijo de puta," "cabrón," etc. This vernacular was used to describe both the referees and the Brazilian players. For instance when the Brazilians were introduced at the beginning of the match, the MC would pause after each name to give the crowd time to yell something profane and insulting.

The game was quite exciting, with the Ecuadorians clearly outplaying the Brazilians. The biggest problem that Ecuador had was finishing. Ultimately, they controlled the ball nearly the entire game, had more than 20 shots on goal, but scored only one point. Brazil, on the other hand, controlled the ball little, took only a few shots but was able to tie Ecuador. Still, a tie felt like a win and the crowd was generally happy, as their World Cup dreams, though bruised, remained alive going into the game with Paraguay, the top-ranked team in South American.

For the Paraguay game on Wednesday, we met up with friends near the stadium at 2:30. Despite the fact that it was a weekday, the stadium was packed again, and we were not able to find seats together. I eventually found a seat near the middle of the pitch and waited in the sun for the game to begin. The crowd was a little more excited than on Sunday. Bolivia (a generally horrible team) had just beaten Argentina (a generally outstanding team) 6 to 1. Together with their recent non-loss to Brazil, this was taken as a sign that Ecuador would win the day. Chants of "Si se puede!" (Yes we can!) and "Ecuador, Ecuador, este tarde tenemos que ganar!" (Ecuador, Ecuador, this afternoon we have to win!) rang out, filling the bleachers.

Again, when the opposing players were introduced, they were, one by one, slandered by the entire crowd. As soon as the game began, the referee transformed into an equally viable target for insult. After the first half, during which there was nearly a fight between the two teams, the score was still 0 to 0. Paraguay was playing much better football than Brazil had, and the tension in the crowd was palpable. As the second half wore on, things were not looking good for Ecuador: Ecuador could not finish and they needed a win, whereas Paraguay did not. Then Ecuador scored. The crowed went absolutely wild: the cheering drowned out the cry of "Gooooooooooooooool!" from the stadium speakers and beer rained down on us from above like showers from heaven. The dynamic of the game had changed completely. There was little time left for Paraguay to do anything and it looked like Ecuador would win indeed. The end of regulation came and went and the score was still 1 to 0. Then the impossible: Paraguay scored in the final second of the game, tying Ecuador and crushing their hopes of ever making it to South Africa in 2010. This time, a tie definitely felt like a loss.

We left the stadium, and walked through the streets of Quito in a daze, cold in our beer soaked clothes under the fading sun of the day´s end. Eventually, we found our way home, only to be punished by endless replays of that fateful, final kick. Despite our disappointment with the score, we had had a wonderful time at the games, learned a lot of useful Spanish, and made some new friends.

I don't have any photos of the games, as I was nervous about taking my camera with me. Eve and Mary took some and I will try to post a link to these shortly, so you can all see what it was like.