Sunday, May 31, 2015

Day 7 & 8: Superclásico

As promised, I am gonna write about Superclásico (exxciteddddd!) which is the local derby match between River Plate and Boca Juniors! To make it easy to understand, imagine Manchester United v Manchester City with a greater intensity. Plus, ticket to this match is near to impossible to get especially if the match play at la Bombonera/ and mahal. 

Argentina is a football nation. Like really really really one! And this match is super massive, the whole city stop breathing at  this moment. Either you are schoolboy, janitor, professional, bartender or nobody, you need to have local football team to support. A must. Most of the time Argentines inherited it from their family but you need to be bold to suddenly change your color. Macam-macam story aku dapat; gaduh dengan atuk dia sebab tukar support Boca Juniors dari San Lorenzo (team Pope Francis!), main teka dari list sokaba sebab abang dia insist kena ada team nak support etc. Interesting. 

Back to Superclásico, if you are tourist and your football knowledge is so-so by default team kau dekat BA ialah Boca Juniors, CABJ (wrote about this team banyak on my FB/ gonna skip). Supporter diorang assume 80% of BA population support team ni, diorang reside kat la Boca- fans lain tak suka diorang sebab:
1) Kecoh, suka buat bising. Angkuh dan liar la tu 
2) Arrogant, adat lah bila banyak menang championships 

I just like la Boca sebab dapat tukar peso at the best rate, 1 USD=11.5 ARS whereby biasanya dalam 8.5-9 normal rate. Mana nak dapat weh! Read on blue dollar market. Nak beli souvenir pun kat sini la senang dan boleh bargain #TravelTips

River Plate, CARP pun formed in la Boca (thus the rivalry)- named after rio de plata or sungai plata in English- until they were moved to Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti or simply known as El Monumental. Team besar, pride pun besar so tak boleh nak share venue. Boca Juniors ni kerek sikit, dulu diorang ejek River gallinas- ayam. After transformation nickname diorang lebih hip- Los Millonarios, the millionaires sebab one time diorang beli players broke transfer record at that time. Macam Real Madrid biasa buat. Sekarang, JDT tiru.

Famous players used to play for Boca Juniors-of course-Maradona, Veron, Riquelme, Tevez, Cambiasso. While for River, Ortega, Pablo Aimar (tak ingat/ malas Google). No Messi. He's from Rosario, moved to Barcelona sebelum akil baliqh and graduated from La Masia. 

Enough of introduction. So.. During my trip these two teams scheduled to meet thrice within 12 days. 1 league game (at Bombonera) and 2 for Copa Libertadores  (home/ away). Luckily I managed to get a ticket for the match at El Monumental on 7th May (baru touchdown dari Calafate terus rush). Oh by the way, stadium ni adalah venue di mana Argentina lifted the World Cup for the first time in 1978, next 8 years its Maradona turns.

Arrangement untuk tengok game ni very the last minute; confirmed just 2 days before the match! Thanks to the Internet and effective communication by agent (before they get my money!) Walking to the stadium with the fans sambil sorak and nyanyi pun dah excited. Security screening even before you get into the stadium, few layers- still flare terlepas gak-sebab ni semua (balloons, colored papers etc) arranged by football mafia kat sana, lupa dah apa diorang panggil.

Before the match, the whole stadium exploded in excitement. By the way, only home fans are allowed to go to the stadium in Argentina. They sing, chant, insult Boca players semua lah. Aku yang tak paham sangat pun boleh follow. 
Vamos vamos River Plate!

During the match: to be honest I just wanted to see goals-tak kisah la from which side pun- ended up the match finished with 1-0 to River with one of their player red carded. Penalty kick. Record the moment tapi tak boleh upload sini. Sobs. Game memang intense. Hard tackle at every opportunities. Lain dari EPL. Very skillful. 

After the match: balik hotel dah midnight tapi sempat makan meggi kari letup dengan telur. Nyums

Ok la that's it. Nak tengok Guardians of the Galaxy. Eh. Thanks for reading! 






2 comments:

Teeny said...

You're welcome. I enjoyed you posts. All of them :)

xitane said...

Muchas gracias :)