I took the bus from Rosario to Santa Fe (150 km or 2.5 hours), slept great in the bus, and arrived around 10.30 AM. Took city bus number 16 to the Universidad Tecnologica Nacional (UTN) where the ticket collection office was located.
again this was nowhere near the stadium and a bit far from the city center to walk. The Copa America organizing committee really wanted the fans to experience different parts of the city.
well at least there was NO line.
I got my ticket in no time. I will be in row 1 at the Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López. This stadium has a nickanme I really like, El Cementerio de Los Elefantes (the graveyard of the elephants). This came about because the local team Club Atlético Colón beat many big clubs here.
When I got back to the city center, everywhere I could see Argentine flags, street vendors, and people wearing Argentine football shirts.
even one fountain had blue water.
on the major pedestrian street San Martin, many people were out walking and shopping and many political parties had their booths with the local election a few weeks away. Some politician gave out Copa America schedule with his picture on it. Other hired these girls to give out free face paintings of Argentine flag.
I got one on my left cheek and as I walked further down San Martin, I came across these friendly Uruguay fans. They were tickled at my request for foto. Then one girl pulled out her yellow paint jar and converted my Argentina flag to one of Uruguay.
One of the boys said that I looked like Alvaro Recoba (a former Uruguay player of Inter Milan) whose nickname is el Chino because he has an Asian face. Then the all danced and sang around me '´Celeste Celeste´and ´Recoba Recoba´. I like Uruguay.
I think the Argentine defense (Zanetti, Burdisso and Milito) is too slow for Forlan and Suarez. The Argentine coach Batista had replaced the whole defense that Maradona used last year in South Africa but they still looked vulnerable. And their only victory so far in the tournament was against the Under-23 Costa Rica team.
I wonder if the President Cristina Kirchner will be in the stadium tonight. She is up for reelection in the Fall and politicians like to associate themselves with sports teams.
Bu if Argentine loses tonight, may be the politicians will distant themselves from football.
will Messi and companies be the elephants tonight?
off to El Cementerio de Los Elefantes
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