So back in late March my friend Oded came over from Fort Lauderdale to visit me for a few days. We were able to catch a good sized swell while he was here so we did quite a bit of time in the water. But on Wednesday, March 26th, I was delighted to hear that Oded was up for a trip to the big city (San Juan) to watch the big World Cup Qualifier that would played that night.
The game pitted fierce island rivals Puerto Rico against the Dominican Republic in a one game elimination in the long qualifying process for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Now Puerto Rico (ranked 149th in the world) and the Dominican Republic (ranked 178th) have about a snowball's chance of actually making it all the way there. Both countries are hispanic rarities in that baseball is considered their national sport, rather than soccer (which is rightly the national sport in about 95% of the rest of the world).
After spending the day in Old San Juan, cleaning out a casino, sampling free Don Q rum and touring old forts and castles, Oded and I headed over to the stadium at night. Although the quality of the players in the game was far from top class, there was a lot of intensity out there. And the atmosphere in the stands was very good, lots of cheering, singing, trumpet playing, toilet paper throwing, drums, etc to make it a very lively affair.
The game had to go into overtime where Puerto Rico finally scored, securing their right to receive the privilege of surely being thrashed in the next round by Honduras. Definitely had a great time.
Goal Celebration
Game Atmosphere
Top Picture
Standing in awe and reverence outside the National Stadium in Bayamon, the true epicenter of Puerto Rican soccer... reminded me a lot of the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro :)
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