This match report was supposed to
be in Contested Ground #2 but Phil fucked up and forgot to include it. Sorry!
Hopefully it works OK as a blog post instead. Thanks to Wex for putting this
together.
Date: 31/01/16
Competition: Campeonato Carioca
Location: Estadio Sao Januario,
Rio de Janeiro
A few years ago there was a bit
of chat about the stadium being renovated for the 2016 Olympics.
Increasing the capacity and modernising facilities is probably a no brainer for
a lot of clubs, and I believe many Vasco fans would welcome a lick of paint,
especially in the bathrooms. However, it would be a shame to change it
significantly. The other thing is, when things get renovated, it often
takes bloody ages and that could hurt the team. Luckily for me
at this time no renovations were taking place and I made it to visit this
famous old place.
I was supposed to be a bit better
prepared for this game. Carnaval in Rio has not officially started but that
means nothing. The searing heat of Rio in January and drinking approx 26 beers
the day before had taken some toll. I had enlisted a few people from the hostel
who were interested in coming with me to the game, but most were too hungover
and bailed. I'd also met a Vasco fan named Joao who was planning on going, but
he too bailed when his lift from Niteroi (the city on the other side of the
River) fell through. So it was just me and my friend Carl from Manchester who
were down.
The
stadium is located in Sao Cristovao a traditional
nieghbourhood in the north zone of Rio and is only about 4kms from the famous
Maracana. I'd been to this suburb a few times before, to visit a big market
that is held there. It's not the worst place you could find yourself in Rio,
but it definitely has a slightly creepy, zombie film vibe after dark, and the
streets surrounding the stadium are confusing if you're on foot. The plan
was to take the metro to Sao Cristovao station, and then catch a taxi the last
little bit.
By the time we got to stadium,
kickoff was very near, and there were still huge queues at the ticket office.
At this point we realised how unfeasible queuing would be, and started to think
we'd made a huge mistake not planning this better. There were however, two men
shouting at us trying to offload their tickets. Initially we ignored them, and
thought about trying the visitors side of the stadium, but after 5 minutes or
so there was an acceptance that doing business with these guys would be the
best way. It was somewhat comforting that these guys weren't really hiding the
fact they were re-selling, it was right out the front of one of the gates.
So with our blatantly scalped
tickets we went inside. We weren't really in the same section, but the stewards
were very blase about this and gave us this look that said 'don't fuckin'
worry about it'. It turned out it wasn't a bad decision to get these
tickets, since we were in the Socios section (ie the section for members) which
was filled with families and old boys of the nice variety. I'm not sure if I
could have handled the lairy section at a time like this, especially since a
large portion of it was in the sun. We could tell already it's an excellent
stadium to watch football. The stadium has an oddity not seen anymore - it is
too skinny to accommodate technical areas on either sides of the pitch as
usual, so they are located at one end of the pitch besides the goals. At this
side of the pitch the Cristo statue can be seen too - since there's no stand at
that end.
Just as we'd settled in, Vasco
scored which puts everyone in a nice mood. The bloke selling drinks out of his
esky was doing a good trade. Even better, we were situated about 3 metres away
from him, so it was possible to pass notes through to him. I don't know if this
is normal, but it was absolutely brilliant not having to rush around for drinks
at half time or piss people off doing it throughout the game. For some reason
there were drinks breaks in this game too, and everyone got a beer during those
stoppages.
I was sitting next to a guy who
can only be described as Vasco's hype man. He wanted to know what's up with us,
why we're here. I was having a particularly bad day at explaining myself and he
dubbed me Alemao (German) because I was wearing white Germany shorts. I tried
to explain that I was just wearing Vasco's colours, which I think he got, but
he decided he was still going to call me Alemao from now on. He was a social
butterfly who changed seats multiple times to have chats with people (or
perhaps we were in his usual seats?).
The visitors Madureira, who I
didnt know a thing about at all, hit back and there was apprehension at half
time. On the resumption of the game, Vasco made a change and number 13, a
diminutive player who I've since learned is named Yago Pikachu (i've not made this up) was sent
on. He had only been with the club for a short time and his work getting
forward on our side of the field helped to take control of the game for Vasco.
A second, third and fourth goal for Vasco flew in. The scoreboard guy forgot to
update to the score from 2-1 to 3-1 for a good 5 minutes. The Colombian striker
Riascos scored and did the worm. Even though the ambulance buggy was on
the field three times there was not a second more than 3 minutes injury
time. The whole game felt like a massive throw-back to a long time ago.
We got outside and there was a
euphoric atmosphere; street vendors were out, the Vasquinho bars were buzzing
and even the cops were sprawled out on top of their cars taking selfies.
And a BBQ had kicked off at the Shell petrol station (!). Kids were waiting
around the back for the players.
I spotted the Hype Man again and
asked him when the next home game was. He told me it was something like 14 days
away. It has been announced that Vasco will play their match against
Flamengo in the Sao Januario, the first time in 11 years that a classic will be
held in Vasco's stadium rather than the Maracana, which is more suitable for
derbies. This time I have a ticket for the bleachers section and I will
go with Joao and his mates, and will actually remember to take a camera.
