I watched Argentina-Chile last night. It was a bad game, full of violence. There were 53 fouls sanctioned and two red cards were issued to Chilean players. The referee was absolutely overwhelmed by the responsibility, and had a terrible game.
Nothing of all that surprised me. It was a 'typical' game between two South American teams. Problem is they weren't playing in South America. The Chileans pretty much lost it the moment the first red card was issue (a very cuestionable call) and were absolutely out of control by the end of the match. They even had a fist fight with the police outside of the stadium and as a consequence, nine players were hand-cuffed and taken inside. One of them was even tasered!
Two things really captured my atention: the first one was the unfortunate comments made by a Chilean politician saying that he was 'proud of his kids', and the second was the comment made on the local radio this morning. They said something like "Toronto is officially a soccer crazy city. We even have European-like riots now!" If they only knew of the things that happen in the name of soccer in places like Argentina and Chile...
Anoche mire el partido Argentina-Chile. Fue un mal partido, muy violento. Hubo 53 fouls y dos tarjetas rojas para jugadores chilenos. El referí estaba completamente sobrepasado por la responsabilidad, y jugó un partido espantoso.
Nada de esto me sorprendió. Fue un 'típico' partido entre dos equipos sudamericanos. El problema es que no estaban jugando en Sudámerica. Los chilenos perdieron el control ni bien la primera tarjeta roja fue mostrada (una decisión muy cuestionable) y estaban completamente descontrolados al final del partido. Hasta tuvieron una pelea con la policía afuera del estadio, luego de la cual nueve jugadores fueron esposados y conducidos dentro del estadio. A uno de ellos hasta le aplicaron electricidad.
Hubo dos cosas que capturaron my atención: la primera fueron los desafortunados comentarios del canciller chileno, diciendo que esta 'orgulloso de sus muchachos' y la segunda fueron los comentarios en la radio local esta mañana. Dijeron algo así como "Toronto está oficialmente loca por el fútbol. Ahora hasta tenemos peleas como en Europa!" Si supieran las cosas que pasan en nombre del fútbol en lugares como Argentina y Chile...
They don't even have a clue on the things that happens in the name of soccer! They just thing it's "Beckham style cool thing"
ReplyDeleteIf they had only watched those games for the Copa Libertadores back in the 70's... Independiente and Peñarol had wars, not games. Same would apply to Racing - Celtic and to many River and Boca games.
ReplyDeleteIt was very funny when I described all what happened to some coworkers earlier today. Their eyes were growing bigger, and they reached Japanese cartoon size when I finished the report saying "so, nothing out of the ordinary for a South American derby". :-)