South American Football Tour - Parts 6 & 7

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South American Football Tour - Part 6

Oriente Peterlo 2 San Jose 1

Back to Santa Cruz and we were lucky enough to catch the potential title decider. The maths were that San Jose were top of the league with 35 points and Oriente 2nd with 31 points with just 2 games to play, a draw and San Jose were champions, a win for Oriente meant it would go to the last game. It was a sell out (30,000) and luckily we managed to get tickets the day before.

On the night, the atmosphere was amazing, best so far. San Jose even brought a few despite Oruro being 15 hours or so away on the bus. Loads of fireworks, ridiculous amounts really and probably the biggest flag ever made. It really was something special, a million miles away from the Reebok on a cold winters night.

Game was decent, Oriente really took the game to San Jose who seemed intent on time wasting and holding out for the draw that would make them champions. They were sprawling about all over the floor everytime they got fouled, it was pitiful! Oriente finally took the lead late on in the first half and all was going well. An equaliser early in the 2nd changed the mood but thankfully it was short lived as a decent finish from outside the box gave Oriente the win.

Superb nght, we loved every minute of it. Oriente are now our favourite South American team.

Okay so who won the league after all? Well on the last day it was down to one of three teams, San Jose 35 points, Oriente 34 points and The Strongest 32 points but with a better goal difference (they won 8-1 in mid week to remain in with an outside chance). San Jose were at home to The Strongest and Oriente were away at National Potosi. At kick off, as things stood, San Jose were still on course for the title, then;

GOAL - San Jose 0 The Strongest 1 - The Strongest on course for the title

GOAL - National Potosi 1 Oriente 0 - The Strongest on course for the title

GOAL - San Jose 1 The Strongest 1 - San Jose on course for the title

GOAL - National Potosi 1 Oriente 1 - San Jose on course for the title

GOAL - National Potosi 1 Oriente 2 - Oriente on course for the title

GOAL - San Jose 1 The Strongest 2 - Oriente on course for the title

GOAL - National Potosi 2 Oriente 2 - The Strongest on course for the title

and that was that!! 4 minutes away from the title, almost as exciting as City´s triumph the day before. Great weekend of football apart from the Bolton result but hey ho, we always fancied a trip to Brighton.

South American Football Tour - Part 7

Destroyers 3 La Paz FC 1
Liga B promotion Play off 2nd leg

After a first leg 6-1 defeat in La Paz, surprisingly Destroyers only needed a single goal win to force a third and deciding match which would take place in Cochabamba. Strange but thems the rules. Attendance was low, probably around 2,000, but these guys are only the 3rd biggest team in Santa Cruz. They were hoping to join the other two, Blooming and Oriente, in Liga A.

The match itself was a little one sided, especially after La Paz got a man sent off early doors for a second bookable. Destroyers had pretty much scored directly from the kick off and both teams seemed to have accepted that they´d be playing a decider. A brief bit of panic when La Paz scored from the penalty spot with about 10 minutes to go to make it 2-1 but it wasn´t to be enough.

We did have the strange sight of a ball boy being sent off for time wasting, hilarious. Not so funny were the racist chants from some of the home fans directed at the black center forward from La Paz, it´s a long time since we´d seen anything like that and it left a sour taste. La Paz won the decider in Cochabamba so they had the last laugh.

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