Football in South America

Early start Saturday morning to catch 9 am flight to Rio. It took about 40 minutes to reach smart new terminal which only opened in April this year. Our flight was on time but at the boarding gate we were joined by scores of travelling Boca Juniors fans.
Today is the Libertadores final. The biggest club match in South America - their equivalent of the Champions League Final. The match is between Boca Juniors of Buenos Aires and Fluminense of Rio and is being played at the iconic Maracana stadium. There was a lot of chanting both before and on the flight from the Boca fans - a sea of blue and yellow, the colours of Boca Juniors.
On arrival in Rio we were met by our guide, Rayol, an excitable gentleman who took us to our hotel on Copacabana beach. The weather today has been a bit overcast but still very warm.
Copacabana is a huge, huge beach and we walked along the promenade behind the beach which was very busy with competing football supporters. The beach is marvellous with the waves crashing in and many hundreds either sunbathing or swimming.
In the evening for the match we ventured out to a bar near our hotel which was crowded with supporters from both clubs. We were sitting with 2 men from BA who had tickets for match but the police refused them entry. They were not happy.
We enjoyed watching the match with them, though they quickly left at the end as Boca lost. It was a good evening for us as neutrals to see the emotional South Americans reacting to football. A typical South American match, two sendings off, VAR controversy and plenty of play acting! Not a very high standard of football though.Read more