That's one of the chants I heard about a thousand times this weekend when I went to my first Chilean soccer game. For the most part Chileans are timid people who can't show up on time for anything to save their lives...except when soccer is involved! Not only were the fans two hours early to the game, they were the rowdiest fans I have ever seen! If you think you've seen crazy fans at US sporting events, you haven't seen anything!
We found out on Saturday that a friend of mine and her roommate had plans to go to the game on Sunday. Her roommate is Chilean, and has been a fan of the team Colo-Colo for his whole life. I should explain Chilean soccer a little. There are three teams that represent Chile: Colo-Colo, U Chile and U Católica, and while two of the teams share names with universities they are not affiliated with them. U Católica is the team for the "cuicos" (the rich people) and they have the nicest stadium. U Chile is for the middle class, and they have the second nicest stadium. Colo-Colo is the team of the people, and they have the most fun stadium! They also consistently have the best record of the three.
As soon as we heard about the game between Colo-Colo and U Chile, the biggest game of the year, we knew we had to go so we went to buy the tickets. Our Chilean friend demanded that we buy the more expensive tickets as it can get downright dangerous to sit in the cheap seats. He wasn't kidding. The cheap seats are surrounded by twenty-feet tall chain link fences topped with barbed wire and surrounded by thirty police officers in full riot gear. During the game fights erupted everywhere, but luckily we were in the good seats. We also drove in his car as he assured us it would not be safe for us to take the metro and walk into the stadium. This sentiment was echoed by every single Chilean we told about the game. We would say "Vamos a Colo-Colo mañana!" and they're first response would always be "Tengan cuidado, gringas."
The game itself was incredibly exciting. The amount of skill and control the players had was incredible. I've never seen a live professional soccer game before and now I have the feeling that I'll never be able to get enough. It was fast, and brutal and totally awesome! The crowd, which included everyone from little kids to senior citizens, roared with "CONCHA TU MADRE!" (a very offensive Chilean expletive) every time the ref made a call, or someone missed a goal, or really any time anything happened at all. All the time the most dedicated fans were cheering and singing songs that everyone in the audience knew but us. They flipped off the other team constantly. It was so much fun.
In the end, our team won! The stadium went nuts and we got the heck out of there before it could get too insane. This was one of my absolute favorite experiences here so far. Anyone who has a chance to watch a live soccer game in Latin America should take it, it's beyond anything you will ever experience in the states. Sadly I have no pictures of the event, because I wasn't sure it would be wise to bring my camera, but the seats we sat in were perfectly safe so I'll definitely get some pictures of the madness next time. ¡VIVA CHILE!
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