Viña is one of the host cities for games and I went to the game on Friday night! We got the cheapest tickets because we just wanted to experience a pro fútbol game here and it is SO close by. I went with my roommates Natalie and Mahathi and another intern friend, Katie. Before the game we met up with some other Americans who are studying here and our Chilean friend Javi for dinner and drinks, but their cheap seats were in the North and we were South so we had to split up for the game.
It was such a fun experience! The fans were crazy wild and so passionate about soccer and their teams. The game was between Mexico and Bolivia, so I expected there to be a lot of Bolivia fans since they are so much closer. Surprisingly, the stadium was dominated by Mexico fans! I am not sure if it was all Mexicans who came down to watch, or if a lot of them were Chileans cheering for Mexico. Chile and Bolivia are having some major political and economic disagreements right now so I could see a lot of Chileans coming and cheering against Bolivia. Haha. Either way, there was a lot of Mexico red/white/green in there!
It was pretty chile (LOL I left this typo because I thought it was hilarious. It was chilly in Chile!) outside since the sun was down, so we were bundled up for the game. It was fun and went a lot faster than I expected. The one experience I wanted to have was seeing the fans go CRAZY when somebody got a goal, but I never got to see that! The game ended in a 0-0 tie! How crazy is that?!?! And since this first round is just pool play, they allow ties and don't go into OT.
On the game days when Chile plays, the whole city goes nuts. To try to give you something to compare it to, it is honestly like the Super Bowl. But every single time they play it is like that. All the people are wearing their Chile gear, all the news stations are talking about it, the bars and restaurants are packed with people, and there are people walking around with Chilean flags and wigs and craziness. All the patients talk about is the game, and the news broadcasters are even wearing Chile jerseys and every other news story focuses on something related to Chilean soccer. They played last Thursday, and Katie I went to the house of one of her American friends studying here. She has a host brother who is 23 so he had a ton of his Chilean friends over, and she had a ton of Americans over. It was PACKED in their house and there were probably like 30 of us in total, but it was such a cool experience to see how the Chileans do game day. It reminded me a lot of the watch parties we would have for Frozen Four Sioux Hockey! They were glued to the TV and yelling and cheering and they would do these Chilean soccer cheers so it was fun to learn them. Chile won that game and they all went wild.
Then last night, Chile played again and Natalie and I went to a pizza place near our house to have pizza and watch the game. Two new interns from our program came on Sunday, so we met up with them there which was fun. The game was very action packed with many goals, but ended in a tie at 3-3. The people at the pizzeria would freak out every time we got close to scoring, scored, or had a nice save. Their entire hearts are in soccer and it is so cool to see their pride in Chile.
Here are a few pics from my Copa América experiences so far! I cannot wait to continue enjoying the Chile games! I hope they stay in the cup for a while yet!
Here are the 4 of us at the Sausalito Stadium! We were able to walk there which was SO nice. They also have horse races, soccer games, and other events at this stadium.
We had a great view of the goal! Luckily most of the action was at our end during the game.
During the game I had to get some churros of course and be extra Chilean! Go México! We got our faces painted by some random girls walking through the mobs of people as we were standing in line waiting to enter the stadium.
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