A Few More Things from São Paulo

Before I get to my posts about Rio, I forgot about some fun things in São Paulo.

A few weeks ago, I went to a soccer game at the stadium called Morumbi. A guy from work invited me to go with him, his brother, and some friends. It was on a Thursday night, and it started at 10 pm. They tell me that the games start late, because the soap operas (novelas) are on earlier in the evening and the networks don't want to lose out on showing those. So it was a late starter. This was an important game because it was the quarterfinals of the Liberators Cup, the soccer tournament that pits the best teams of South America against each other. It was São Paulo FC (one of four teams in São Paulo) and Cruzeiro (from Minas Gerais, in the state of Belo Horizonte). I was pretty excited about going. I love sports and I have grown to really enjoy soccer over the past few years. When people invite me to go out on the weekends, I usually wiggle out because I hate bars and I don't drink. But with this, even though lots of people were drunk, it was great because I knew that even if the fans were drunk or annoying, I could just enjoy the game.

The system for these games is interesting, but it makes sense. The teams play two games, one in each team's stadium. However, they treat the two separate games as if they were halves of one game. So you could tie the first game, and end in a tie, and then play the second half. And also, goals you score on the road are worth more than goals you score in your own stadium. That is to encourage teams to attack the goal, instead of playing conservatively in the other team's stadium in order to get back to their own stadium and then try to score. Cruzerio was up 2-1 after the first game, and so São Paulo definitely had to score in this second game. If it ended 0-0, Cruzeiro wins. If São Paulo wins 1-0, São Paulo advances. Even though the total would be two goals for each team, São Paulo scored a goal at Cruzeiro and that is worth more. So São Paulo had to score more than Cruzeiro. But even if São Paulo scored two and Cruzeiro scored one, they would then be tied with everything added up and it would go to penalty kicks.

The atmosphere was electric. We got there early, and you have to because the traffic in the city is so bad. Just think what it is like on game night. There is no alcohol sold in the stadium, so millions of vendors sell it outside. You can drink before you go in, obviously, so people do that. There are tons of food vendors too, including lots of hot dog stands built into the back of a car. I thought that was pretty funny. It was when we were at that stand that a group of Cruzeiro fans walked by. The two teams are not bad rivals, but it was still interesting to see the groups of fans meet up.

It takes a while to get into the stadium, because police do a little pat-down on every single person entering the stadium. We made it through and got to our seats. It was a pretty packed place. It holds 50,000 or so, and it was like 98% São Paulo fans. This stadium is where the first game of the 2014 World Cup will be played. At the beginning of both halves, lots of the fans light up these flares. I thought it was interesting that you get patted down before you come in, but you can bring in flares! Why can't someone bring in a stick of dynamite instead? I don't know, but it was pretty cool to see all these flares and this smoke descend on the stadium.

São Paulo had lots of opportunities, but did not take advantage. At halftime, it was 0-0, and a player from São Paulo had just been kicked out. That meant that São Paulo was playing with 10 the rest of the time, and Cruzeiro was at full strength with 11. The crowd seemed nervous, because they knew that their team had to score a goal, and more than Cruzeiro in any case.

Cruzeiro scored on an amazing goal in the second half. This player hooked a ball right into the top corner of the net. It was an amazing shot, with some spin on the ball that brought it down into the net. I swear that I heard the ball hit the net because it was so quiet in the stadium. And then a split second later, the cheers of the Cruzeiro fans reached our part of the stadium. São Paulo fans were not happy. Then another São Paulo player got kicked out, or maybe it was before. But that meant 9 against 11. Cruzeiro scored again on a penalty kick. That deflated the stadium, because that meant São Paulo had to score 3 goals and it was not at full capacity because of the ejections.

Cruzeiro won 2-0 and advanced to the next round. As the Cruzeiro players left the field, the fans really went all out to wish them farewell. It turns out that the middle finger means the same thing in Brazil as it does in the US! It took a long time to leave because of traffic, which was blocked up because of lots of cars, narrow streets, and also some dude in the middle of the road who was unconscious, dead, or taking a nap. I didn't talk much with the guys in the second half of the game or after, because I could tell that they were not happy. And I know that sometimes, people just don't want to talk. We got home pretty late and it was nice to only have one work day left in the week because I woke up tired! I watched Cruzeiro last week in the final game against a team from Argentina, and they blew it. They could have won, but lost opportunities and couldn't make it happen.

That week I was also able to eat my first feijoada in Brazil. I had it before many times, but never in Brazil. It was on Wednesday, and that is a traditional day for feijoada in restaurants. My co-worker friend, who is from Belo Horizonte and is a Cruzeiro fan, took me to a place with some others from work. He said that we were going to get "feijoada roots," not the "feijoada light" that the nicer restaurants have. I think the difference, you can probably guess, is that the roots is going back to what the slaves ate, which can get pretty gross. When the slaves in Brazil ate it, it was usually with the scraps from the masters. So it gets pretty creative: ears, feet, etc. Feijoada light just has the normal stuff. I love how roots and light are both English words but used in these Portuguese phrases. For me, this is the best country in the world to find great English/American words and names mixed into the language.

We got the feijoada roots. There were some other suspect things in the meal. On the side, there were a few things that I think were pig feet or something, and they were deep fried. But they still had hair, or whiskers, or whatever they are sticking out. It was pretty gross. My buddy Luiz told me that a joke in relation to eating that stuff is that you have to bring your razor to the meal. I thought that was hilarious. I ate the feijoada, and some of the stuff seemed pretty weird, but it was good and it was great to have my first feijoada in Brazil.