Vamos, vamos Ticos...

6/14/14

Esta noche, tenemos que ganar!!

Once we got on the road and were traveling to the stadium, we tried to avoid a huge traffic jam by taking back streets and thinking we were really smart to find a less traveled, alternate route. But obviously there was a reason it was less traveled: it was closed off to anyone without proper credentials. We were hoping they would just let us slide through but sadly no. A military police escort took us back to the traffic jammed highway, right where we had tried to get off and find a better route – Ha! We resigned ourselves to be stuck on the highway for quite a while but little did we know, in Brazil, they call their traffic cops “traffic cops” not because they monitor traffic but rather because they CREATE the traffic. And that’s exactly what was happening – the cops had lined the three-lane highway with cones (why this was needed in addition to the painted lines separating the lanes, I have no idea) and everyone was confused about the cones, switching lanes back and forth, thinking one of the lanes must be closed or it was a check point, so they slowed to a stop. But no. There was nothing, just a couple cops standing at the end of the cones, checking no one, doing nothing, just literally CREATING traffic where none was needed. So we now understand the Brazilian term “traffic” cops. [Nick: Well, they weren’t actually doing NOTHING; they did stop a big bus which completely stopped two lanes. So they were busy.]    

Military police escort

Nick waving his CR flag

But not to worry – we got to the stadium in plenty of time and it was AWESOME. SOO many people from all over the world, not just Costa Rica or Uruguay or Brazil, but the US, Australia, Netherlands, Scotland…any and all soccer fans that were able to get a ticket to the game. [Nick: And Costa Rica, being the underdog, everyone professed they were rooting for Costa Rica. We even met a Scot who was wearing a Costa Rica jersey, he was no longer bitter about CR beating them in Italy 1990 and said after that he made CR his team J] 

Costa Rican Scotsman

Ticos!

Aussies dubbed themselves the "lost kangaroos"

The Fortaleza stadium was impressive – a beautiful, almost lotus flower shape – it appears that this is one of the stadiums that Brazil was able to complete on time (or at least enough of it was completed on time).  There were tons of people but I was surprised at the lack of insanity and crowds hanging around outside the arena – there weren’t as many FIFA booths and interactives as I thought there would be around the stadium. No big deal; the real action was inside the stadium. We had to split up from our friends Fe and Filipe, as our two sets of tickets weren’t seated together. But we had really nice seats: just a few rows up from the field and right next to the goal. 

Crowd headed to the stadium

Filipe, Fernanda, Cat & Nick

In front of the Fortaleza stadium

Vamos Ticos!

Inside the stadium

Costa Rica's players warming up

Costa Rican huddle

Which of course was very fortuitous, as Costa Rica scored THREE AMAZING GOALS right in front of us!! We couldn’t believe it! You can only imagine how overwhelmed with joy and happiness Nick was – it was unbelievable. [Nick: I have not felt that futbol joy since Italy 1990; it was magical; definitely one of the happiest moments of my life, after my wedding of course ;-)] None of us expected Costa Rica to do THAT well and especially not against a soccer superpower like Uruguay. You could tell the Uruguayans didn’t expect it either. The stadium was mostly filled with Uruguay fans – being so close to home, this made sense – and at the start of the match, they were all pumped up, chanting and cheering for their team. But during the second half, they were pretty much silent as the smaller crowd of Ticos (though there was definitely a decent showing of them) dominated the cheering for their “little” hometown team. The Costa Rican team was impressive; I have never seen them play so well. [Nick: Come on, CR is good; remember the Aztecazo!] All but the Uruguay fans started taking up the chant and cheering for the Ticos by the end of the match – the Brazilians, the Dutch, the Australians, and the Israelis around us – everyone was supporting our guys. It was a beautiful feeling. We were over the moon and Nick had lost his voice well before the end of the game. [Nick: It was a magical moment, even if we still do not qualify for the next round I will be very proud of our little Ticolandia. After the 3^rd goal, La Seleccion came right to our section of the stadium and waved thanks to the fans and celebrated right in front of us.]

Tico section

Even bigger Tico section

Fortaleza stadium

Forlan (Uruguay)

Ticos cheering!!

Celebration right in front of us!

If Nick could have jumped down on the field to join them, he would have!

Sadly, the night would have been perfect had I not accidentally set down our sunglasses to stand up and cheer with another group of Ticos, when somebody stole both our sunglasses and our souvenir game cups. My f’ing Kaenons! And me unable to function without sunglasses. [Nick: Giving benefit of the doubt, someone could have taken the sunglasses by mistake. At the end, people were taking souvenir glasses that others were leaving behind, so it is possible someone thought they were just grabbing souvenir cups and didn’t realize out sunglasses were there till too late.] Ugh. I know in the grand scheme of things it’s a very small inconvenience but I was pissed – more at myself for not being smarter; I should have known better than to lay something down in a crowded area filled with tourists. But we were so swept up in the moment! [Nick: At the end of the game, we went to the railing and joined a larger group of Ticos and chanted and danced and slapped each other in congratulations.] Ugh, it’s a bummer, but we weren’t going to let is ruin our night – we still had two more games to go watch! So we found a great outdoor restaurant with local Brazilian food and beer. It was delicious and we watched the next two games listening to the equivalent of Brazilian country music and having a great time with some really great friends. A great end to an amazing day – and it’s just the beginning!!  As Nick would put it, truly a dream come true ;o) [Nick: Beyond my wildest dreams.]

The next four pictures speak for themselves:

Brazilian cowboy band

A great day with friends!