Yesterday morning I rolled out of bed at 7am (after rolling into it just two hours earlier) to watch Everton attempt to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge for the first time in 17 years. It was an FA Cup fourth round replay.
The match was fantastic. We played really well, but went behind in extra time. Our long wait for a trophy (15 years and counting) looked like it would continue. Then, in the last minute of extra time Leighton Baines scored the perfect free kick to equalise.
I went beserk, jumping round the TV room and probably waking the whole hostel with my shouts. The match went to penalties. A nervy 10 minutes later and we had won. Cue fantastic scenes on TV as I watched the 6,000 Evertonians going mental, and me doing the same - thousands of miles away but there in spirit.
I love Everton.
I went back to bed for a couple of hours, before getting up for my second football match of the day. This time I would be there in person.
All week I had one date in my diary: Saturday night at el estadio in the city to watch Nacional (the biggest club in Medellin) play Club America de Cali (one of their biggest rivals).
I got the metro to the stadium, turning up in good time so I could soak up the atmosphere before the game and have a drink.
My first task was to buy a ticket. I went up to the stadium and asked a fan where the ticket office was. She explained that the match was sold out and that I should try the touts. I soon found one, paid about a tenner for an eight quid seat (I can't do pound signs on these foreign keyboards!) and went back to a food kiosk to have a beer.
I spent the next hour chatting, en español, to the barman and another fan. They were really patient with me as I slowly tongue-twisted my way through sentences. It's probably frustrating for them, and the conversation - if you can call it that - is on a very basic level, but I appreciated the opportunity to try out my newly-learned words.
Just before heading up to the ground with my new bezzie mate (who seemed to know just about every other Nacional fan outside the stadium) I noticed someone handing their belt over to the owner of the food kiosk. Realising that the searches going into the stadium would be on the strict side, I did the same and gave him a small tip for keeping it for me until afterwards.
We jumped the long queue (which is against my nature, but when in Medellin, do as they do) and I got a couple of snaps outside the ground with the guy who I'd been drinking with...
and a couple of others...
After the initial entry cordon there was another heavy search going into the stadium itself. That negotiated, I was in. Hurrah.
The stadium can probably hold 50,000ish but it was only about half full. Maybe they were selling tickets somewhere outside after all...
I took a pew (and there were many, many pews to choose from) near the 500-odd America fans in one corner of the stadium. As a neutral, it was fun to spend half the time watching the match, and the other half watching - and listening to - the 'banter' to my right. More on that later.
The kick-off time (6.20pm) meant we were treated to an incredible sky scene shortly after the match began:
Wowzers.
With breath duly taken away, I settled back to watch a really entertaining game. It had goals (3-1 to Nacional), ridiculous play acting (more rolls - on the ground after being fouled - than a bakery) and a sending off.
The singing, from both sets of supporters, was literally non-stop for 90 minutes. Fair play to the America fans who were watching their side getting thumped, were down to 10 men, but kept on singing.
Towards the end of the game, the two sets of fans to my right started chucking bottles of water, plus the occasional coin and lighter, at each other:
The police stood there and did nothing, which I thought was quite amusing. 'A few bottles and coins? Nah, this is nothing. Wait for the real trouble to start'.
But no real trouble did start. The America fans were bundled out of the ground by the police with about five minutes left. The Nacional fans leant over the back of the stadium and chucked stuff at them and spat on them. Welcome to Medellin.
A great evening's entertainment. I hope it's going to be a common theme over the next few months as I travel through South America watching games.
Below are a few more pics from the day, and I've finally upgraded to a Pro Account on Flickr so all my pics from India and South America are viewable here
Finally, as a little prompt, I actually went blog-mad today and did two posts. The other one is below this one, obviously.
The match was fantastic. We played really well, but went behind in extra time. Our long wait for a trophy (15 years and counting) looked like it would continue. Then, in the last minute of extra time Leighton Baines scored the perfect free kick to equalise.
I went beserk, jumping round the TV room and probably waking the whole hostel with my shouts. The match went to penalties. A nervy 10 minutes later and we had won. Cue fantastic scenes on TV as I watched the 6,000 Evertonians going mental, and me doing the same - thousands of miles away but there in spirit.
I love Everton.
I went back to bed for a couple of hours, before getting up for my second football match of the day. This time I would be there in person.
All week I had one date in my diary: Saturday night at el estadio in the city to watch Nacional (the biggest club in Medellin) play Club America de Cali (one of their biggest rivals).
I got the metro to the stadium, turning up in good time so I could soak up the atmosphere before the game and have a drink.
My first task was to buy a ticket. I went up to the stadium and asked a fan where the ticket office was. She explained that the match was sold out and that I should try the touts. I soon found one, paid about a tenner for an eight quid seat (I can't do pound signs on these foreign keyboards!) and went back to a food kiosk to have a beer.
I spent the next hour chatting, en español, to the barman and another fan. They were really patient with me as I slowly tongue-twisted my way through sentences. It's probably frustrating for them, and the conversation - if you can call it that - is on a very basic level, but I appreciated the opportunity to try out my newly-learned words.
Just before heading up to the ground with my new bezzie mate (who seemed to know just about every other Nacional fan outside the stadium) I noticed someone handing their belt over to the owner of the food kiosk. Realising that the searches going into the stadium would be on the strict side, I did the same and gave him a small tip for keeping it for me until afterwards.
We jumped the long queue (which is against my nature, but when in Medellin, do as they do) and I got a couple of snaps outside the ground with the guy who I'd been drinking with...
and a couple of others...
After the initial entry cordon there was another heavy search going into the stadium itself. That negotiated, I was in. Hurrah.
The stadium can probably hold 50,000ish but it was only about half full. Maybe they were selling tickets somewhere outside after all...
I took a pew (and there were many, many pews to choose from) near the 500-odd America fans in one corner of the stadium. As a neutral, it was fun to spend half the time watching the match, and the other half watching - and listening to - the 'banter' to my right. More on that later.
The kick-off time (6.20pm) meant we were treated to an incredible sky scene shortly after the match began:
With breath duly taken away, I settled back to watch a really entertaining game. It had goals (3-1 to Nacional), ridiculous play acting (more rolls - on the ground after being fouled - than a bakery) and a sending off.
Towards the end of the game, the two sets of fans to my right started chucking bottles of water, plus the occasional coin and lighter, at each other:
 |
| Bad pic, but you get the idea |
But no real trouble did start. The America fans were bundled out of the ground by the police with about five minutes left. The Nacional fans leant over the back of the stadium and chucked stuff at them and spat on them. Welcome to Medellin.
A great evening's entertainment. I hope it's going to be a common theme over the next few months as I travel through South America watching games.
Below are a few more pics from the day, and I've finally upgraded to a Pro Account on Flickr so all my pics from India and South America are viewable here
Finally, as a little prompt, I actually went blog-mad today and did two posts. The other one is below this one, obviously.
 | ||
| Robocops mobilising before the game |
 |
| Palm-lined walk up to the stadium |
 |
| Hmm, which seat to pick? |
