Game on

After days of anticipation, as Fortaleza has been filling with fans - mostly Uruguayans - finally the big match has  arrived.  Like most of the days before, it is very, very hot and very, very muggy.  Fortaleza to its credit, has made it easy to get to the game. They have a fleet of buses that pick people up from the hotel district and take them to the stadium. 

(that is exactly what they call it, btw, the hotel district. There must be two Fortaleza's. the part where everybody lives, and the part where all the tourists come to stay. It seems like Fortaleza is very much a tourist town. My sense is that it's mostly European tourists seeking to escape their winters.  But that would mean they are coming down here in the summer and if the summer is any hotter than the winter it must be brutal here.  I don't think I would come to Brazil for a winter vacation.)

But back to the game...   the buses pick you up one block from where most of the hotels are located on the beach. We walked up to the corner and there was already a relatively large throng of Uruguayans.   I don't know why it was almost all Uruguayan, but it was. Where were the Ticos?  One bus after another pulled up empty and pulled off crammed to the gills. We were lucky we are one of the first ones on the bus and we got a seat, but then it filled with masses of Uruguayans who were absolutely thrilled and certain of victory. They have a song that they sing, and that they sang often enough that even with my limited Spanish I think I understood the jist of it. "This year is going to be like the first year - the year that Uruguay won.  We will be champions once again." They sang and sang and honked their horns.  It was a cacophony.  All the way to the stadium. 

At the stadium they dumped us off about a half mile from the front entrance. Not sure why they did that but they did and so we walked down the road that had been completely blocked off and was sweltering from having the sun beat down on the black asphalt and radiate back at you. It was quite an experience. Once we made the fan zone at the stadium it was pretty entertaining.  They had lots of diversions, photo opportunities, games that you could play, opportunities to watch the other game - although I must say on a screen that was way too small for the number of people who wanted to watch it.  We gave up  and decided to go in and check out the stadium some 90 minutes before kickoff. We went and found our seats. They were excellent, second deck but relatively low in the second deck and very close to the middle of the field. A great place to watch the game. But there was plenty of time and we were hungry so we decided to go out and see if we could get something to eat.

They  had concession stands like any stadium would, only there was one difference, half of these concession stands were still closed. We got in line for one that was open. The line was pretty long and not to be rude, but Brazilians don't work quickly in this kind of situation. So the line ended up being about 30 to 35 minutes long. Finally, we got to the front and it was our turn to order. There were lots of choices on the menu board: cheeseburgers, double cheeseburgers, hot dogs, many good options. By the time we got up there we were pretty hungry so we ordered 2 double cheeseburgers and a hotdog. No no no. No double cheeseburgers. No problem, make it a cheeseburger.  No no no - no cheeseburgers. Well, ok, hotdogs -  no no no - no hotdogs.  60 minutes before game time and all they had was cold sandwiches. It really was not very appetizing. We ordered them any and we ordered some beers, some Coke and some water because we were not going to stand in that line again at halftime. 

We went to our seats, which when we had first seen them were beautiful and in the shade, now they were in full sun and would stay full sun for the next hour. It was pretty hot. But the game started and it was a wonderful match. The Uruguayans got the first goal, and of course their fans, who outnumbered the Costa Rican by at least 3 to 1 were joyous and very loud. But as you may know from seeing the scores, that was all the joy that was to be for the Uruguayans that day. The next three goals were for Costa Rica and even though the Costa Ricans were not as numerous, the Brazilians who may have made up one third of the crowd joined the Costa Rican side. My sense is that the Brazilians and the Uruguayans do not get along all that well.   Part of the soccer rivalry may have something to do with the number of stars in their crest. If you look at World Cup history Uruguay has won two, but they have four stars on their crest.  They count championships before the World Cup started. Nobody else seems to count them. It bothers Brazil because it makes Brazil's five stars seem like something less of accomplishment than it really is. 

Anyway as the Ticos began to dominate the game, the Brazilians began to jump on the bandwagon. By the end of the game you would've thought the Costa Ricans outnumbered the Uruguayans 2-1. After the game they filed us out of the stadium the same way they had funneled us into the stadium. The same maze through barriers and metal detectors that made sense going in but was a little confusing going out. Back down the half mile stretch we walked to the buses and because everybody was now there at the same time it made getting on the bus something of a challenge. But again to Fortaleza's credit the buses just kept coming until finally the number of people who wanted on was manageable and so we hopped on the bus and we're delivered right back down to the beach and our hotel.  All in all  it was pretty slick and it was a good end to a great day.