Copa America Day 7 - The Joy of Travels

If you are a player at Copa America, you travel in your own plane. Like in the photo above in San Juan airport. That was the private plane for the Mexico team.

If you are an important political figure in Argentina, you also travel in your own plane. Plus you get armed protection. Like in the photo below in San Juan airport.

If you are Sebastian Vu, you travel with normal schedule flights with Aerolineas Argentina and often during Copa America, these flights are full of media and less important football officials.

Today, I had a schedule flight at 13.40 from Buenos Aires to Jujuy. I got to the airport early and got my boarding pass.

While waiting to find out which gate the flight would leave from, I noticed that many flights were delayed, cancelled, and only a few were leaving on time. Mine was leaving on time.

Until 13.15. The board said for my flight, please contact the airlines. I was waiting with lots of Bolivian fans and some Argentina officials and we all went back to the ticket counter to get more information.

When we got there, the public announcement said that due to the ash cloud from a volcano in Chile, all flights were suspended until 18.00

With Bolivia vs Costa Rica kick-off set at 19.15, there was no way I would get to the game.

So I went to the bus station and bought an one-way ticket to Salta where I have ticket for Venezuela vs Ecuador on Saturday.

The bus will only take 22 hours. I am excited to go on this trip to see the pampas and may be I will meet some nice people on the bus.

more from Salta tomorrow

Copa America Day 6A - The Stadiums in BA

I just came back from watching Argentina-Colombia game in a cafe in Buenos Aires. Colombia was the better team and would have won if they had shot better.

I watched the game with 2 fans from San Lorenzo club. I had a good practice with my spanish as we spent most of the game debating 'who is better, Maradona or Messi?' and 'who should be the next Argentine coach?'

They were very impressed when I showed them a photo of me in front of the stadium of San Lorenzo. It was located in a bad neighborhood of BA.

That was my project of today. I hired a driver to drive me all over BA to visit 8 stadiums. It took almost 4 hours without a break.

First was the neighborhood of Avellaneda where I saw

1) Racing Club de Avellaneda - most famous recent player was Diego Milito (his nickname is el Principe).

Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Peron

2) Club Atlético Independiente - most famous recent players were Sergio Agüero and Diego Forlan

Estadio Libertadores de America

The stadiums of Racing and Independiente are one block from each other

3) The next club in Avellaneda that I visited was found in 1957 by 2 brothers named Grondona. One of them is the President of the Argentina Football Federation as well as FIFA Vice President.

They liked a certain club in north London so much that they named their club after it.

Arsenal FC

Estadio Julio H. Grondona

The most famous player of Arsenal FC was el Burru, Jorge Burruchaga, who scored the winning goal in the 86 WC Final against West Germany.

4) Club Atlético Huracán - most recent famous player was Javier Pastore. He currently plays for Palermo and many Argentine fans want to see him play in Copa America.



Estadio Tomas Adolfo Duco

5) San Lorenzo de Almagro - most famous recent player was el Pocho (the chubby), Ezequiel Lavezzi who now plays for Napoli

Estadio Pedro Bidegain

6) Ferro Caril Oeste - most famous players were el Raton (the mouse) Roberto Ayala and el Cabezon (the big head) Hector Cuper

Estadio Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverri

7) Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield - the current Argentine champions. Their most famous player was the goalkeeper Chilavert from Paraguay.

8) and finally I went to see the stadium of Argentinos Junoirs. This club is famous for their youth academy who has produced Juan Pablo Sorin, Esteban Cambiasso, Juan Roman Riquelme, Fernando Redondo, Sergio Batista (the current Argentine coach) and a player whose stadium is now named after him.

El Pibe de Oro started his career here and played for this club for 5 years before moving to Boca Juniors.

During the visit to these stadiums, I was wearing a replica of the shirt of Celtic Glasgow when they became the first British club to win the European Cup (today Champions League) in 1967. They went on to play the Intercontinental Cup against Racing Club de Avellaneda.

Celtic won the first game in Scotland and lost the second in Argentina. The third and deciding game was in Uruguay and it became famous for the dirty play from both sides. At one point, the Uruguay police had to enter the field to remove a Celtic player who refused to leave after getting a red card. In another moment, a Celtic player got angry and chased a Racing player across the pitch. Racing won the deciding game 1-0

see the 3 minute video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3hONr7cJuE

Before I left for this trip, I read a book written by a Celtic fan Tom Campbell just about this Intercontinental Cup. I felt some sympathy for Celtic so I bought that replica shirt to wear on this trip.



To be a balanced reporter I am now looking for a Racing shirt to wear the next time I go to Glasgow.

Good night from Buenos Aires.



 







Copa America Day 5 - Kimberley in Mar del Plata

It was my hope to visit Kimberley in Mar del Plata on this trip. But my schedule was too tight.

In World Cup 1978, Estadio José Maria Minella in Mar del Plata was one of 6 stadiums used for matches.
At this Copa America, there is no match in Mar del Plata.

On June 10, 1978 France met Hungary in a meaningless game as both had lost to Argentina and Italy.
The match took place in Mar del Plata and because the Argentine TV equipment at the game was only in black and white, one could not tell the difference between the two teams on B&W TV.

So France borrowed the kit from a local club. It was the only time in the history of the World Cup that a team did not wear their own kit to play a match.

Didier Six of France vs Hungary

For this trip, I searched on the internet for this shirt but it was impossible. The next best thing was a pennant.

But it was listed on ebay Argentina and the seller only shipped to an address in Argentina.

So I contacted my friend Silvia in Buenos Aires and asked her to buy the pennant for me and sent it to me in Zurich. She did and I received the pennant earlier this year.

So today, my first day back in Buenos Aires, I went to see Silvia at her shop. Every time I am in BA, I come here and spend a fortune to add to my museum collection of soccer stamps

It was no difference this time. I had a blast looking for new soccer stamps from Argentina, Brasil, and Uruguay. For Copa America 2011, the post office in Argentina released these nice sets of stamps.



  It was a fun hour spent in the shop of Silvia. I thanked her again for her help to get me the famous green and white pennant.

Before I left, I posed for a photo with Silvia and her son Fernando (who was fascinated with Vietnam and told me I am the first Vietnamese to arrive in Argentina)

and that Mar del Plata club who lent the kit to France?

Their name is Club Atletico Kimberley.

Copa America Day 4 Monday Night Soccer x 2

while waiting for my flight to San Juan yesterday morning, I saw a Mexican fan carrying a very familiar bag.
so I went up to him and said 'chicharito, why are you carrying this bag?'
he answered 'yo vivo en Zurich'
I said to myself  'Joder! I go half way around the world and now I run into someone like him'
his name is Juan.

Hopp GC!

Juan was on the same flight with me to go to San Juan for the Monday Night Soccer Doubleheader: Uruguay vs Peru and Chile vs Mexico

The matches were played at the Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario, a brand new stadium just opened this year. The stadium was quite out of the city and the taxi could only dropped me off 1 km from the stadium.

From there, there was this walk to the stadium with no buildings on either side. But there were a lot of vendors.

vuvuzelas

local meat

wine tasting

and then I ran into this group of children who would perform in the opening ceremony.

inside the Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario

opening ceremony

in the first game, Uruguay (the favorite) was held by Peru 1-1. Diego Forlan, the best player of the 2010 WC did not have a good game. The Argentine fans did not like him as he recently canceled his wedding to an Argentine model. This story is all over the pink press here.

the second game was better. San Juan was invaded by some 25,000 Chilenos. It was a home game for Chile but the team did not take the young Mexican team seriously. And Mexico scored first and then played with a lot of poise.

Chile came back in the second half and scored twice on corner kick. Juan was sad.

In a few hours, I am flying back to Buenos Aires. No soccer today. May be I go to the theater to see this musical.

The Sound of Music





Copa America Day 3 - Where are you Brasil?

Argentinian red wine is very STRONG¡ JODER¡

more about this later

I like La Plata.
It is a city of grids like Manhattan but it also has these diagonal boulevards that let you go across (on the map, it looks like an X).
Only the big intersections have traffic lights so it was fun to cross the streets, especially when a horse was coming.

La Plata has many beautiful old buildings. Like this one for the governor.



or this landmark Cathedral



All the tourists stop to take pictures in front of this Cathedral. So on Sunday, I came here for Mass and for meeting the soccer fans. There were a lot of Brazilians and some from Venezuela.

with Brazilian fans of Sporting Recife

When I met these nice young people from Venezuela, I asked them how to cheer for their team. Their answer was ´Vamos vinotinto´

How cool was that? The national soccer team of Venezuela plays in burgundy and so the nickname (see photo below)



So for lunch, I ordered parilla (grilled meat) and salad and a glass of local red wine. And I was close to be drunk after one glass. JODER¡

Luckily, the long walk along Diagonal 70 something from the Cathedral to Estadio Unico allowed me to recover before the match Brasil vs Venezuela.



For this game, my ticket was in the south curve and there was no seperation between the two fan groups.But the Venezuelans sticked to each other and they were joined by the 'not so neutral' Argentinians.

The Brazilians were very colorful and noisy.

south curve

I was excited to see Ganso and Neymar of Santos for the first time and there were 3 Milan players on the field for Brasil, Pato, Robinho and Thiago Silva.

It was obvious that Venezuela played for a draw and for this reason, I could not understand why Brasil played with 2 holding midfielders in Ramires and Lucas Leiva. May be Brasil was afraid to lose.

Just like Argentina vs Bolivia, the underdog looked more organized and dangerous. But both sides were so content to wait that in the first half there were only 2 or may be 3 corners.

Game ended 0-0. I hope Brasil plays better. Soon.

The highlight of the match was in the first half when a paying spectator entered the field. I could not tell if it is a HE or SHE but this fan ran across the field, past Julio Cesar and then entered the locker room. No security guard bothered to stop HIM or HER.

All the fans in the stadiums cheered. It was the loudest cheer in the afternoon.

It is 6.13 AM now in BA and I am flying soon to San Juan for the double header tonight. Chile vs Mexico and Uruguay vs Peru. Group C is the Group of Death.

Copa America Day 2 - Where are you Lionel?

I went to the most modern stadium in South America last night to see the first game of Copa America 2011, Argentina vs Bolivia.

Estadio Unico in La Plata is impressive, for South American standard. It is located in the southwest part of the city and was just reopened in February this year after major renovations, including a roof to cover all spectators and the installation of seats in all sections of the stadium.

My ticket was for the north side behind one goal. I got there early and found out it was the side of the home fans. But there were no seats, only terraces. I was ready for standing and jumping and mixing with the tough Argentine passionate fans.

But all around me, I saw mostly families and young couples. No sign of the rough fans.

One family was 3 or 4 fathers dressed in costumes and about 10 kids with drums. I decided to stand next to them.

One father, Batman, spoke to me. He said 'look around you, these are rich people. the tickets are too expensive (80 pesos or 40 usd) for most people. you will not see the hooligans here'

well he was wrong. after the opening ceremony, the two teams came out to warm-up (it was the coldest night of the year according to the TV news and kick-off was 21.45). The rough fans arrived. Some were with Independiente, some with Tigre, etc...

The only 2 good things were: the groups were small in number and there were a lot of policemen around. Batman and Robin kept looking over their shoulders and they were worried.

I tried to take photo of the Tigre group but one of them told me NO.

Just before kick-off, there was a lull in the singing and I heard a waterfall. I looked to my right and saw a waterfall in the next section. May be those seats were cheaper.

Many Argentines expected a big victory against Bolivia. With the best player in the world Lionel Messi and a supporting cast of stars, the expectations were high.

Once the game started, we all saw right away Bolivia was not a bad team. Everytime, Bolivia attacked, Argentina defense seemed to be in a panic. Argentina tried to push most of the play through Messi but he did not seemed to be comfortable. Halftime was 0-0.

Right after the second half started, Bolivia scored off a corner. A backheel by Rojas and the Argentine goalie Romero could not stop the ball from just barely crossed the line. Bolivia then had a great chance to go up 2 on a 1 on 1 but Romero dived to touch the ball away from Martins of Bolivia.

WIth less than 15 minutes to go, Maradona´s son in law, a substitute, scored on a sublime volley. Final score 1-1 and the Argentine fans left quietly while the Bolivians celebrated.



The next morning, I met Tim (an Ipswich Town fan) from England in my hostel. We both agreed Argentina may be better without Messi. He is great with Barca because of the supporting cast there but with Argentina, he never lived up to expectations.

My cousins Khoi texted me later ´may be it is the product of Barca style. Messi gets more space there because everyone is in constant movement with and without the ball. Not sure Tevez, Lavezzi, and company do that like Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, and Villa´

Everywhere I went in La Plata, I tried to ask people ´what happened?´and most answered 'Messi was a disappointment'

I cannot wait until next Wednesday when Colombia plays Argentina. Early today, Colombia beat Costa Rica 1-0.

In September 1993, Colombia came to Buenos Aires to play a qualification game for WC USA 1994. Colombia won 5-0 and the Argentine fans gave the Colombia team a standing ovation because they played la nuetra.

Will history repeats?

Copa América Day 1 Argentina worst nightmare

I have arrived in BA after several hours delay in the air.

During the long flight, I had a chance to read a lot about Argentina fútbol. In Argentina, people are very proud of their style of fútbol, called la nuestra (ours). It is a style characterized by dribbling and short passes. Argentinians believe Argentina invented this style.

la nuestra is favored by coach like Menotti (the one who won the 78 World Cup), Valdano, Bielsa, etc.

but playing la nuestra does not always win trophies. In the last 2 Copa Américas, Argentina lost twice in the Final to Brasil while playing la nuestra

there were times when Argentina did not play la nuestra, like under Carlos Bilardo in the 1986 and 1990 WC.

the other style, which the Argentinians claimed was the European style, was more interested in winning than style. and this other style, when employed in Argentina, can be often brutal and dirty.

no club best exemplifies this style than Estudianted de La Plata in the late 1960´s. They were successfull, winning 3 Intercontinental Cups in a row. But their style was to intimidate their opponents. Anything (spitting, pulling hair, elbowing, etc) was acceptable as long as the referee did not see it.

Carlos Bilardo played for this club back then so it was no surprise that as a coach, he embraced this style.

Will Argentina play la nuestra or will they play Bilardista¿

the worst nightmare for Argentinians in Copa América is not that they do not win the tournament.

the worst nightmare for Argentinians in Copa América is that Brasil wins the tournament.