The Beautiful Game

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In much of Central America and the Caribbean football is a religion, Barcelona is Mecca, and Messi is God. In Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Costa Rica we met kids and grown men everywhere wearing Barcelona team shirts with Messi’s number 10 embossed on the back. As one Cubano said to us you are either a Barcelonista or a Madridista – these were the only two options and in his eyes being a Real Madrid supporter is heresy. He accompanied this statement with a theatrical throat slitting action when we said Madrid. Nonetheless we also met our fair share of Brazil and AC Milan supporters during nine weeks travelling in Mexico, Central America and Cuba.

In most of the countries we visited football is number one. Only in Cuba and Nicaragua, which have had more historic ties to the United States, does football take second place to baseball. For instance, in the small town of Vinales in Cuba the only playing field is used for both sports and the football kids have to give up the field when the baseball players arrive. In one of the few open spaces in the centre of Leon, Nicaragua football fought unsuccessfully with basketball and skateboarders for space.

In every town (small and large) it was easy to find a playing field (locally called la cancha) where kids and adults alike played passionately in the evenings and on weekends, often with a worn out ball and sometimes with no shoes. They readily invited the non-Spanish speaking gringo kid to join in. Simply arriving in a football jersey and a few minutes juggling was enough to evoke an enthusiastic invitation to join the game. Communication was easy as football has its own non verbal language and our 12 year old son quickly learnt the Spanish for phrases such as: pass it, handball, header, get it out, and most importantly goaloso (magnificent goal). He also quickly learnt the local game rules. Normally the first team to score two goals won the much sought after prize of staying on the field to face the next opponents. Not playing was hell. In one game he scored both winning goals within minutes of each other enabling his team to stay on to meet the next contenders and was duly proclaimed a “legend”.

We encountered a variety of playing surfaces and types of fields. Hundreds of young men come to the main park, La Sabana, on Saturday mornings in San Jose, Costa Rica and a dozen informal games spring up throughout the broad, grassy park, while in the mountainous area of Mount Verde we found a smaller, indoor synthetic field. In other places, the games were on concrete or stony ground, or simply in the street. In Panama the main park in the suburb of Buena Vista had a well maintained, synthetic futsal field which was fenced off and only accessible with a key. On the Caribbean coast of Cuba we played beach soccer with Argentinean students.

Emotions run high. The young kids in Panama – playing five aside futsal every afternoon from 3 to 7 pm – cheered, cried, high-fived, argued with the referee, and hugged each other as passionately as any player in a World Cup. The referee resolved disputes with a coin toss and the kids expressed their agreement or dissent with the outcome with elaborate hand gestures and arm waving.

The kids all dream of being the next Messi or Ronaldinio, and some of the kids and young men we met had real potential. We met a few that represented their province in national competitions. In Cuba a young eleven year old, Jan Carlos, had phenomenal talent. In Tepotslan Mexico, the first lot of younger kids our son played with disappeared after a relatively brief game only to return with the local champion who could show the gringo a trick or two – and he did. We just hope these players have the opportunity to be discovered and their skills developed. It is incredible that these lads can perform so well when they don’t have the same access to quality playing fields, equipment and coaching that we take for granted in Australia.

Ball skills are a defining feature of play. Either by choice or more likely through the necessity of confined spaces in crowded cities, small spaces, park corners, or streets are the fields of choice for the youth of Central America and Cuba which emphasises fine handling skills over structure and formation.

Everywhere we visited knowledge of the beautiful game is profound. Strong opinions, passionately presented, abound over current teams and players performances in Spain, Italy and England. Should Roy Hodgson have been sacked from Liverpool? Is Messi better than Ronaldo? Who should David Beckham play for? Knowledge even spreads to some of the Australian players playing in Europe – one Cubano wanted to know where Mark Viduka is now playing. Completed games also still feature strongly in views. One Costa Rican had no doubt that Fabio Grosso dived in the box against Australia in the 2006 World Cup. Others remember fondly Liverpool’s comeback against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final.

Our final swansong to latino football was to attend a national league match in Mexico on the last day of our holiday – the local Mexico City team Pumas versed a regional team Monterrey. In attendance were about 40,000 Puma fans, 200 Monterrey fans, 500 police and three clueless gringos (yeap that would be us). Naively, we said at the ticket booth that we didn’t care where we sat and ended up in the very exclusive and confined area set aside for the few Monterrey fans, lovingly surrounded by 40 riot police. We obediently joined in the Monterrey cheers and chants, yet luckily for us our team lost 2-3. At the end of the match we, along with our new found Monterrey chums, were escorted out of the stadium by the riot police. All in all a high quality match and an interesting cultural experience.

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Comments

[Michaela]

Goaloso!
Another amazing travel blog - better than the weekend papers. (Actually, you could easily distill this into a travel article - Jackson you just need to put it all together). Ball skills of local sound pretty incredible, and added to that all of the players looked to be at their peak of fitness. Here in Melbourne we have the clash of the titans with Phil playing Michael in a golf match ( a Christmas present for Michael). Also happens to be Phil's birthday, but that probably will not influence Michael's play. Huge wet weather weekend in Melb with several suburbs drenched and transformed into mini Venices. Happy travelling, love Michaela