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Published: March 29th 2009
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So after the mess that happened in the last place we are back to the big city, Buenos Aires. We are back to Milhouse one of the best hostels we have stayed at. we are back to sorting out our plans. Which was to go to Patagonia then work out way back up the coast in Chile and Argentina. Well that was until Krista came running up to me to tell me she just saw a poster that said Argentina was playing Venezuela in a world cup qualifying match on the coming Saturday. Cancel my flight, sign me up...this for me is a no brainer. I understand that for Jeff and Krista it way far too expensive to wait around for a game that was cool but nothing special to them. Plus they really were looking forward to Patagonia. Me on the other hand got goosebumps thinking about the fact that i was getting an opportunity to see some of the worlds best players as well as Diego Maradona´s home debut as head coach of the national team! So after 2 nights with Jeff and Krista we said our goodbyes. They were heading south and i was flying solo to the
game. I had to kill a few nights before the game...the others flew out on Thursday and i wasn't due to leave until Sunday at minimum. I had made some friends the last time i was here and they were still in BA so i went out a few nights with them. Going out in BA is pretty odd. You don't eat dinner until about 10pm then maybe nap...shower...get ready...have a few drinks at the hostel bar then head out to the club at about 2am. Normally getting home when the sun is up and McDonalds is serving fresh bagel sandwiches. Another means of a good time out was with our friend Gena that we scrambled around with in Colonia. Her and i met up for a pretty sad excuse for an Italian dinner...then made our way back to her residence to round up her crew and head out. Again...so late it is early..but this time we were home just before the sun reared it ugly face. It was a super fun night... she introduced me to some really cool people and we hit a pretty cool club for some dancing and drinking. good times.
After one of the nights
out with the other group from Milhouse we returned to our room to go to sleep to find that my sheet was stolen. no big deal...i have my own. the following night i came back and my entire bed was stolen! ok nobody walked out with my bed but somebody did decide it was a cozy spot to crash. Not cool! there is unspoken rules to dorms...you just don't mess with other peoples stuff...most importantly there bed! i can back to the room with two others that were in the same room. We we not happy to see that only one bed remained for the 3 of us. And every other bed had 2 people in it...and one girl was on the floor. i might have accidentally kicked her in the face because it was dark and i didn't see her. I just figured it was a backpack or something. crazy birds! i guess they checked out and then missed there bus and had no where to go but to stay with there friends in our room. lame. and guess what...you are on the floor because i paid for this bed. move!
After all the mess we have had with
rooms i could care less...i have a ticket to the game. please dont let that go wrong! it all went smooth. We got the bus to the game that the hostel organizes and all was well. It is a crazy experience going to these games. the streets are packed and the energy is on high. we have been thoroughly warned about the pick pockets and possible trouble that you could face...such as i dunno...riots. no biggie. they have riot police and armored vehicles equipt with fire hoses for crowd control...and what do you know...a bullet hole in one of the windows of this beast. i dont know how to descirbe this night. you feel the buzz. A ton of people that would honestly die for there team. it is like nothing at home. We wondered around lost for about a hour before we made it to the correct entrance to the stadium. River stadium...i was at Boca´s before and this is way bigger but feels a little more organized and secure. We weren't as packed in as Boca either which made it a little more comfortable but never the less you stand the entire game while everybody around you chants
in spanish. I wish i could understand so i can sing along. The game was amazing! I was sitting at the top of the stadium looking down on the field watching the game from not only a fans perspective but as a student as well. i will say Argentina is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Granted Venezuela inst the best test of skill but Argentina didn't drop off like so many teams do when playing a lesser opponent. Instead the went for the throat. A sign of a great team, a hungry team, a dangerous team.
(Sorry if i bore some with the soccer talk but it is one of the things i really love, so stop reading here if you dont care to hear it)
Looking on from the top you see how Argentina flows...they are compact on D and were shutting everything down before it was even a possible shot on goal. If you were a Venezuelan striker you would have been frustrated with the defender that is sitting in your pocket for 90 minutes. The back was strong and seemed to win every tackle and overpower anybody that tried to play
with there back to the goal. On the other side of things...it is all Messi. It is almost like he has free reign and a player with his skill should. It is how he works best. he finds pockets to pick you apart. Somehow he always has created space and time around him to play into. He is the fastest on the field and he has the most amazing technical skill on the ball. He shredded 3 defenders at a time on several occasions. You do it once and you were lucky, you do it twice, people notice, you do it three times and you are unstoppable. That is when they start going for your ankles. But it doesnt bother him. He is almost better when people over commit to him because then he just splits you to feed Teves into the box. It is almost like the whole attack flows through him. It is a solid team and they all understand that if you get Messi one on one, or one on two, near the box they will win. On the overall, watching a game from above is fun. You get to see how it all flows. you get
to see why our coaches all screamed at us when we didn't make the right run or check to the ball to pull the defender for somebody else's run. Every wrong move stands out as if were an off timed beat in a song...or a missed note. But when it flows like it did that night with Argentina it is a thing of beauty. You feel the pulse of the team. They are one. And with that, comes a privilege of being one step ahead of the opposition every time. When it flows like that you don't think, you just play. Move the ball, wait for the opportunity, never forcing things, but never becoming complacent. This is exactly what they did. This is how the game is played...this is how the game is won. 4-0 Argentina. Case and point.
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you are awesome.