Football more than just a game

Hi, first of all, a big shoutout to Andres, Nacho, and Lobo who organized everything - this fulfilled a little dream (and a nice country point) for me. We met at Cuartito, a well-known pizzeria near Teatro Colon, and had loads of cheese with pizza (somewhere under the cheese) and delicious empanadas and Quilmes until it overflowed 🍕🌮🍺. Then, we were shown the most important chants, gestures, and curses to get ready for the game.

Then we took the bus to the stadium, or should I say to the stadiums, because in Avellaneda, the stadiums of CA Independiente and Racing are only about 200m apart. It's like if FC Magdeburg played their home games at Cockerwiese and both teams used Acki and Lennéstraße. Apart from that, the Diablo Rojo use the Presidente Peron Stadium extensively as a urinal. Two Americans were discussing why something like this would happen and why a team wouldn't just move somewhere else - they just don't understand. Here, it's just like that. You are born into your club, your city, or here, your neighborhood, and that's it - it doesn't change anymore. These are not 'customers,' they are fanatics. If the club leaves, you tear their hearts out.

We went to the stadium area after a short pre-check and random ID check, and then we had to go through it all again at the stadium. Once inside, surprisingly clean bathrooms (better than in Karlsruhe) and an unfinished, partly crumbling concrete structure with steep stairs and missing roof awaited us. No food stalls, no alcohol. People watch the game, occasionally take a selfie or play on their phones. Right in front of the fence, the kids cling on, playing football in the circulating area - it's all a bit like in the old days. The atmosphere could have been a bit better, but when the three stands sang together, it got loud. However, it was usually only brief, and most of the time it was about Puta, Hijo de Puta, and so on.

As for the game itself, it's always true that if you don't score goals, you'll end up looking stupid. CAI should have been leading by 4 or 5 goals at half time, hitting the crossbar, doing bicycle kicks, solo runs, and so on.

In the second half, a few Roman flares from the East stand, nothing major, but the game doesn't start until the last flare has disappeared. Boca now only plays for time but ends up scoring a counter-attack. At CAI, things go really well until they get to the opponents' goal, and then they fail miserably - they had a chance for 10! goals. After the Boca goal, there was the usual South American rolling around, protesting, seeing red, and wasting time with all sorts of things. Absolutely destructive game from Boca, not for connoisseurs of the beautiful game. The chants became quieter, and then it was over. You can't and shouldn't lose a game like this, but that's football. Those were already 2 phrases.

Andres told a few stories of his away tour without tickets - we all know that - he went to Rio for the final of the Copa Sudamericana (UEFA Cup) and said that he's going to have a bad week now and won't be able to sleep tonight. Well, everyone here is completely crazy about football, there are about 10 TV channels + news channels everywhere, all with all kinds of news, talk shows, etc.

I uploaded a few pictures, unfortunately, videos don't work.