There is nothing quite like being in Argentina and Brazil during the World Cup. We were in Buenos Aires when Argentina beat Mexico and an outsider would have thought that Argentina had just won the whole tournament. The streets were absolutely empty while the game was on, and while there were stores open good luck trying to find someone to ring up a purchase. We found a coffee shop that had locked their doors so that the staff could watch the game, but they were nice enough to let in a couple of Americans to serve us coffee. Then when the game ended people poured out into the streets waving Argentina flags and wearing sky blue and white everywhere they could. The main square in Buenos Aires was packed with fans. Keep in mind this was after a Round of 16 game, there were still 3 more rounds to go. Afterwards the Argentina TV news was full of reports about the game, taking precedence over murders, shootouts, and politics. It was all futbol all the time.
A few days later we pulled into a gift shop on the Brazil side of Iquazu Falls while the Brazil-Netherlands game was going on. In this case the store doors were still open but again it was difficult to find anyone to help with the purchases because the entire staff was watching the game and they were all nervous wrecks because Brazil was behind 2-1 late in the game. Every once in a while there would be a loud gasp every time Brazil came close to scoring, and then when the game ended there was an eerie silence as the realization of Brazil's loss began to set in. Our Argentine tour guides, however, had to try very hard to hold in their happiness until we were safely away from the gift shop. Later on at the airport they had the news on and there were a lot of pictures of people in green and gold face paint crying and weeping. There were also plenty of scenes of Brazilian defender Felipe Melo stomping on a Netherlands defender and blocking the Brazilian goalie on Holland's game winning goal. It's a good thing Melo plays his club ball in Italy after the reaction in Brazil. Not surprisingly, the coach for Brazil, Dunga, announced his resignation shortly after the loss.
The next day we were taking a boat cruise around Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro while the Argentina-Germany game was being played. Our tour guide was a nervous wreck since there was no TV or radio on the boat. However, just as we were pulling into a harbor for lunch we could hear firecrackers and gun shots going off, and since this was around the time the game was scheduled to end our tour guide got very nervous. Sure enough, the Brazilians were celebrating the fact that Argentina lost 4-0. A Brazilian tour guide joined us when we arrived in Rio and was on the boat at the time, and when she heard the result she got a big grin on her face and was high fiving our bus driver and random people on the street. The Brazilian papers the next day had a field day with Argentina coach Diego Maradona, though considering how much of a legend Maradona is in Argentina it'll be interesting to see if he is shown the door like Dunga was.
In my last post I discussed an article that claimed that Americans will never love soccer as much as Brazilians do. While I stand by my position that there is nothing wrong with that, I can attest that the Brazilians, and for that matter the Argentines, do love futbol more than Americans ever will, and thank goodness for that. It made for a lively trip, even though there were no burning cars. I guess they were saving that for when they won like the Spanish are doing in Madrid right now.
I can also attest to my sister's position that American soccer star Landon Donovan does look a lot like actor John Saxon.
If it weren't for the shirts I would have a hard time figuring out which one plays soccer and which one guest starred on Colombo.
