Hi all, this follows on from my blogs on
Italy and
New York. It is longer but it covers more matches and will explain some things that Andy Townsend and the like won’t tell you. I hope a few of you enjoy this!
The Maracana is not just an icon of Brazil but of football itself. Situated in Rio de Janeiro’s west, we all know of its reputation, the legends who have played there, the 1950 World Cup final which hosted 200’000 spectators. Lesser recognised here is its place in Brazilian domestic football. Home of Flamengo and Fluminense, Botafogo and Vasco da Gama also use it for their larger fixtures. Literally and figuratively it is the city’s stadium.
In 2010 I set off backpacking in South America for four months. My first stop? Rio. As a holiday destination it surpasses most expectations, the city seemingly has everything – beaches, street parties, scenery, weather, friendly locals, marmosets in the parks, football. Step on the Copacabana and you’ll see men and women of all ages practising their ‘headers and volleys’ skills. Take a favela tour and you’ll see children showing off. The city lives and breathes
futebol.
Vasco’s Estadio Sao Januario on the left.It is difficult to divide the city by its teams geographically. Flamengo are the best supported and draw fans from all parts of the region and beyond. Vasco are their fiercest rivals and hail from the northern slums – for those going to Rio, keep an eye on the hills on the right as you travel from the airport. Stuck in the middle of a favela (in 2010 at least), I have not seen a more intimidating ground for visitors. Fluminense are considered the rich person’s side then Botafogo can be forgotten by some – left aside in Rio’s grand derbies, their traditional area is near Sugar Loaf by the town centre. These clubs plus many more from Rio State also make up the local
Carioca championship annually.
My first taste of Brazilian football was actually with Botafogo at the Olympic Stadium. As it’s not wholly relevant I’ll save details for perhaps another time. I’ll simply say that fed up with South Americans confusing Charlton and Chelsea, they did enough for me to claim I was a Botafogo supporter when travelling. The next day though, saw Flamengo’s season opener against giants Sao Paulo at the Maracana. With my own hostel organising tours, a large group going and me not having a caipirinha hangover for once, what could go wrong?
Not how you envisage the Maracana.Nothing went wrong but little lived up to anticipation. From the outside the (old) Maracana is impressive without being imposing, many of its seats being below street level. The interiors were dusty and roomy, from there you could walk completely around the dry moat which lapped the pitch. Only non-alcoholic beer was on sale but I recall being impressed by the cigarettes on offer. Having been the temple of Pele, Ronaldo, Zico et al, I left some Akpo Sodje graffiti in the toilets.
Up until kickoff the stadium remained eerily quiet. Raining hard, had kickoff been delayed? No, the players emerged with no warm-up and without music. This was/is seemingly normal. With Flamengo in
Libertadores action midweek, stars such Adriano and Vagner Love were also rested.
Expect close-ups of similar soon.11’000 were there. Amid tropical downpours it was a damp squib, the hostel over-charged us and I was surrounded by American tourists. I asked my tour guide about the poor attendance and he blamed Mothers’ Day. Really? Having seen dozens of red and black shirts around town I was disappointed, especially after my Botafogo adventure. Flamengo drew 1-1 draw and similar happened to me the next week at Sao Paulo’s Morumbi – 11’000 were inside their 70’000 capacity ground to see them lose 2-1 to… Botafogo.
The new Arena de Sao Paulo will instead host matches.So of my three matches in Brazil, only one had genuinely excited. The few Flamengo and Sao Paulo followers who did attempt to make noise were vibrant, had an array of tunes and were accompanied by some highly technical drumming. Honestly though, we have better atmospheres at The Valley. Brazilian fans were seemingly only worth anything if they actually bothered turning up, either all or nothing. Having booked my flight home from Rio, I thankfully had another chance to see the Maracana in its full glory.
Comments
Spot Blanca.
In August 2010 Vasco were languishing midtable while ‘Nense, led by Fred, were chasing their first title in twenty-six years. Although not on the level of Vasco and Flamengo’s venom, it is a big and illustrious clash. I arrived with my hostel group an hour kickoff to what was the polar-opposite environment to my prior visit – crowded, noisy, a spark that ran through the air and raised goosebumps on your arms. This was the real Maracana.
Rising to the upper tier behind the goal, Flu' fans greeted me with thousands of red, white and green balloons, three on each seat arranged in the club's colours. These are inflated and used to create visual waves in time with each song. Already in full voice, the drums, banners and flags arrived soon after, many of which displayed Street Fighter character Blanca. He is Brazilian after all. Despite being Flu's home ground, this was an away match for them yet amid the festive atmosphere I never felt threatened. Things can turn ugly quickly in Brazil but I didn’t see trouble at any of my matches.
Iron Maiden and mischief.
Meanwhile in the Vasco end, huge banners were unfurled including one of Iron Maiden's mascot, Eddie. No, I don't know why either. Apparently, and this may not be true of all places, when these banners are down everybody underneath takes a quick line of South America’s most infamous export. This is often performed after scoring, then thirty seconds later the banner will depart to the rear of the stand while the inhabitants below dance manically. Uruguay scored four when I saw them.
Vasco had flags and balloons in abundance as well, while the volume from both ends made for a real cup final atmosphere. Their singing is interesting too, more songs than chants, all energetic and bouncy and often with ‘oohhh’ parts. Although not of great quality this video does convey some of the electricity; I still get this stuck in my head:
When the teams finally appeared (again without a warm-up), Fluminense fans took the opportunity to light dozens of green flares and I joined them in popping every single balloon, mimicking the sound of thousands of synchronised firecrackers. Vasco's torcida threw hundreds of toilet rolls from the top tier and erm, did more coke. A football match did take place but it can be hard watching 22 guys run around a field when surrounded by 80'000 mentalists.
From what I did notice it was a topsy-turvy affair filled with incident, defender Gum sticking Fluminense in front early after pouncing on a rebound. Vasco equalized thanks to a neat diagonal through ball and calm finish not long after, then carved a near replica early in the second half to lead. They probably deserved to hold on but a rare defensive error allowed Julio Cesar (how many Brazilian are called that?) to equalise late on. 2-2 the final score then, and as an added bonus some old guy called Deco made his Brazilian return.
I awoke the next day after a favela party covered in footprints but basking in the glow of what is still my greatest experience as a neutral fan. It is nights like that which have given the Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho not only its mystique but make it a fearsome prospect for opposition fans. Likewise I suspect it is why followers of all four Rio clubs were sad to bid farewell to its dilapidated walls, home now of corporate boxes and over-inflated ticket prices. When BBC and ITV’s pundits are rambling about the classic Brazil XIs who have called it home, think also of the millions of Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama and Botafogo supporters who have seen dreams made and shattered there. It truly is one of the planet’s great stadiums.
Keep 'em coming.
Great experiences to treasure.
Not wanting to highjack your thread but will upload some pics of my visit to the Maracana if i can work out how to upload them...
My wife is brasilian so as a result I have been able to tie in a few games when over there on holiday. I did the Vasco v Flamengo derby game in October 2008, very fruity to say the least!
It was a home game for Vasco. With the derby's they generally switch them to the Maracana as the stadiums are generally too small to accommodate demand.
Having said that the attendance was only 37,000 of which about 25k were Flamengo, who won 1-0.
Due to the size of the country and the prices being relatively high for many, attendances are generally very poor, although you will always see people watching the football on tv in the bars over there.
Overall it is a great experience watching the passion of the supporters over in South America.
Buenos Aires anyone for the Boca v River Plate derby?
Earlier that day I did the tour, what amazed me was the half size football pitch off the home dressing room for the players to warm up on, you could just imagine the greats knocking a ball about under that great stadium.
Later we (me and four lads) went down to Copacabana beach, met some locals for a kick around - we were absolutely destroyed!
Rio is a fantastic city!
@Boom Sign up to Photobucket, upload to there, copy the image URLs, then on here click the image icon in the message tab and paste the address. If you have them on Facebook already you can also right click the photo, copy image URL (you may have to go into properties) and paste to Charlton Life.