joga bonito

Saturday was our last full day in Rio and we spent it doing a variety of things. We got up and headed downtown to a tram that runs to Santa Theresa, a neighborhood in the hills. It is apparently a big artist enclave and Lelaine was very excited about going. Unfortunately the tram wasn't working but a sign led us to believe it would be operating at noon. We came back at noon but once again it still wasn't working. A group of kids dressed in school uniforms, which seemed strange since it was Saturday, told us there was an electrical problem and they didn't know when it would work. The guy working the train let Lelaine go up to the tram and take a couple of pictures. I guess we will just have to wait to visit Santa Theresa on our next trip.



In the afternoon we did some more walking around Copacabana and relaxed before heading to Maracana Stadium for a big futbol game. Chris found a tour guide on the internet to take us. He gave a great run down of the four big clubs in Rio and the history of Brazilian soccer. He is a writer from England who moved to Brazil and now does freelance work for a English papers on soccer happenings in Brazil.

The stadium was huge. Even though it is in Rio and not Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and the southern hemisphere, or Brasilia, the capital, it is still considered the national stadium. It was built for the 1950 World Cup. More than 200,000 were in the stadium for the finals that year, as Uruguay upset Brasil 2-1 in what some consider the biggest upset in sports history. Nearly 60 years later, it is still considered a national tragedy in Brazil and many people even killed themselves in shame. Maracana is the Brazilian equivalent of Yankees Stadium, Fenway Park, or Wrigley Field. It will likely host the World Cup final in 2014, making it only the second stadium to host two finals (Azteca in Mexico City is the other).

Our match was Fluminense FC vs. Juventude. It was the final home game for Flu and because they had already qualified for the tournament to follow the season, it carried little importance. However, Juventude was near the bottom of the standings and a loss meant they would be relegated to the B league. The game was back and forth but Fluminense ended up winning 3-2.

There weren't many people there, maybe 30,000, but the supporters club sections were packed and made the place sound like it was full. The would be really quiet and then in a matter of seconds they would all start jumping up and down, shooting off fireworks, lighting smoke bombs, using strobe lights, waving flags, and screaming. It was pretty neat.

As expected, the game was more exciting than most games you see in other countries. The Brasilians have their own style of joga bonito (the beautiful game) and it was much more wide open - long passes, heel kicks, volleys, defensemen pushing way up the field - than what you see in some elsewhere.



In Rio it seemed like most stores would have a little sign up front with either the Fluminense, Botafogo, Vasco, or more often than not Flamengo logo so you would know who the owner supports. Another interesting thing is that even though the fans are very passionate, the sections designated for visiting teams aren't completely fenced off from the rest of the stadium like what you see in England and elsewhere. Our guide said that it is because most fighting among fans is actually between supporters clubs from the same team, not among fans from different teams. He said the old saying is that no Vasco game goes by without someone dying, but it is always one of their own fans killing "their brother, not their opponent."

After the game we spent our final night in Rio walking through Ipanema and grabbing dinner at a nice Neapolitan pizza joint.

Fun futbol fact: the Rio club Flamengo has over 25 million supporters and is believed to be the most widely supported club in the world. In Rio they are considered to be the team of the people (Fluminense is the team of the elite) and it seemed like most people we spoke with, except for Robert our tour guide who supports Botafogo, live and die with Flamengo.