Blog | Futból: Godoy vs Boca

October 01, 2008

Futból: Godoy vs Boca

written by Spencer Alexander on October 01, 2008 at 04:45PM in Traveling

This last weekend, a group of seven or eight gringos and I went out to a futból game here in Mendoza. It was quite the experience, and it’s definitely got me pumped up to see some more games.

The afternoon of the game, it was as though an enormous electromagnet was hovering above the soccer stadium, pulling each and every Argentine to the soccer stadium by that little piece of iron in the nose. The entire city of Mendoza was streaming to the soccer stadium, some carrying flags to support the local team of Godoy Cruz, and many carrying flags to support the travelers from Buenos Aires, the Boca Juniors; the Boca team hosts the best players from Argentina, and was ranked far above Godoy (4th in the nation out of 18, versus Godoy’s 17th place ranking).

When we arrived at the soccer stadium – after being subjected to a violating pat-down by the police – we found a crowd of over thirty thousand fans waiting for us! You should have heard them cheer when we walked through the iron gates that separated the tranquil outside world of Mendoza from the rowdy seismic eruption within.

Despite the level of Anarchy when we arrived, we came to realize that half of the fun hadn’t even started. As crazy as the current fans were, the game was currently like a college party full of high schoolers: the soccer hooligans had yet to arrive. You could see their area, some of the best seats in the house, completely empty, and you could hear far off drumbeats and cheering, but the actual hooligans were no where to be seen.

We had to wait another thirty minutes before their arrival, but it was worth it. Seeing the hooligans rush into the stadium — much like you would imagine inmates rushing out of a prison during a break-out – was quite the site. Accompanied by trombones, drums and other instruments, the arrival of the hooligans initiated a war between the Godoy and Boca sides. Luckily for the thousands of fans present, the two sides were still separated by two moats, dozens of riot police, much carefully placed barbed-wire, and large sections of razor sharp chained-link fencing; the most the two sides could do was scream chants, twirl flags, and hoot their horns.

I didn’t think the level of excitement at the soccer stadium could have gotten any higher, but I was proven wrong. Upon arrival of the two teams into the stadium, every single voice was cheering, every single hand was making a motion that to the untrained eye looked much like a salute to Hitler¹, and all of the tourists had their camera’s out. A flag on the Boca side, which was 80 meters long by 80 meters wide² (and other dimensions as well) , shot down to cover half of the popular section. Thousands of people thew up little shreds of paper that matched the color of their team, which gave – other than feelings of sadness for our environment and the cleanup crew – the impression of a stampede of blue and yellow.

Here is a video I took from the calm cheering section of the Boca side. To the left is the main Boca section, across the stadium is the family seating area (which is quite empty), and to the right is the Godoy section. If you would like to see a much better video taken from within the Boca cheering section at a different game, check out this crazy video.

I was already having the time of my life, and the game hadn’t even started yet! The enthusiasm of the crowd is something completely foreign to us in the United States; you wouldn’t even see this type of enthusiasm at the Superbowl, nor at the baseball world cup³ (even if the Cubs were playing!). The even more surprising fact was that the cheering continued throughout the entire game, peaking at goals, and dropping slightly for injuries.

At the end of the first period, the score was tied 1-1, but Godoy, much to my surprise, was outplaying Boca. Every attack seemed more forceful, every defender seemed quicker, and every player seemed to connect with the soccer ball on a spiritual level. Shortly into the second period, Godoy scored a second goal, and then a third goal, and finally, with five minutes left in regulation time, a fourth goal. Godoy, the black horse, won the match 4-1! Although I was sitting on the Boca cheering side and could show no emotion of happiness when Godoy scored, inside I was screaming and jumping with each and every score by the local team.

As the final whistle blew, neither team let up on the cheering. As we left the stadium, covering any Boca jerseys with jackets, I couldn’t stop repeating the Boca cheer. I still can’t stop repeating the Boca cheer.

Boca, mi buen amigo,
Esta campaña volveremo a estar contigo
Te alentaremo de corazon,
Esta es tu hincada que te quiere ver campeon,
no me importa, lo que digan,
Lo que digan los demas,
Yo te sigo, a todas partes,
Cada vez, te quiero mas.

Boca, my good friend,
this cheering field will return to you,
We will cheer from our hearts,
Your time has come, and you’re destined to be champions,
It doesn’t matter to me what they say,
what everyone else says,
I will follow you, wherever you go,
Each time, loving you more.