Not just a game
Lozada, Carlos
OF SEVERAL MINDS CARLOS LOZADA HOT JUST A GAME Soccer as the Argentines play it It's more than an hour before kickoff, but Augusta's Pizzeria in the heart of La Boca, a proud working-class...
...asks Sergio ruefully...
...Augusta's erupts...
...Brilliant...
...Forget Sampras-Agassi, or Yankees-Red Sox, or even Ali-Frazier...
...Today, many of Argentina's top soccer stars play for higher-paying European squads...
...Sergio complains to the manager...
...The presidents of both teams have publicly called for Argentina's notorious pockets of violent fans-the barras bravas- to remain under control...
...Maradona, who led Argentina to a World Cup, would eventually leave Boca to play for Italy's Napoli soccer club...
...Pass it back, pass it back...
...Those are the colors of Boca Juniors, Argentina's most popular professional soccer team...
...Boca now leads the all-time series against River with sixty-three wins, fifty-seven losses, and fifty-one ties...
...he yells deliriously...
...But I can eat with her tomorrow, or maybe next week...
...A lone cry of "ole...
...The match also offers a rare chance for Argentines to forget their well publicized woes...
...Golazol Stupendous...
...emanates from the front of the restaurant, revealing a smattering of infiltrated River fans...
...River Plate's goalkeeper cannot even move before the ball inflates the net behind him...
...The crowd at the pizzeria echoes the fans in the Boca section of the stadium...
...The next morning, the Buenos Aires daily El Clarin would report clashes between disgruntled River fans and police that left sixty-two people injured...
...Twelve minutes left...
...Dozens of fans throw their hands up in disgust...
...Minute forty-two...
...Sometimes the intensity gets in the way of the tec-nica, the quality of play...
...Today, on a sunny Sunday in late October, Boca is playing its eternal archrival, River Plate, in the super cldsico of Argentine soccer, the match that brings the nation to a halt...
...The second half kicks off, with so much confetti on the field that the ball seems to disappear...
...That most unsatisfying of outcomes-a draw-seems inevitable until "El Chelo" fires a blistering, unstoppable kick from thirty-five yards out...
...those are joys for the rich," explains Sergio Noguera, a thirty-eight-year-old salesman and lifelong Boca fanatic...
...Read the papers tomorrow-you'll see...
...OF SEVERAL MINDS CARLOS LOZADA HOT JUST A GAME Soccer as the Argentines play it It's more than an hour before kickoff, but Augusta's Pizzeria in the heart of La Boca, a proud working-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires, is already packed with men, women, and children sporting blue-and-gold-striped jerseys...
...The seventh minute provides early drama, as Boca forward Carlos Tevez speeds past the River defense on the left side of the penalty box...
...Boca leads 1-0...
...Minute thirty-one...
...My first cldsico was April 10,1981...
...Nearly a thousand police officers stand alert in and around River Plate's Monumental Stadium, the site of the match...
...Boyfriends kiss their girlfriends...
...River slowly takes control...
...When Boca Juniors and River Plate meet, it's more like India-Pakistan...
...Pandemonium at Augusto's...
...Driving a Ferrari, or traveling around the world...
...Sergio was right...
...Yet the violence seemed a footnote amid the twelve full pages of breathless cldsico-related analysis and commentary...
...A River player finesses through the Boca defense...
...These are not normal matches," mutters an annoyed Boca fan...
...Chairs are knocked over...
...River Plate's Este-ban Fuertes ties the game after a wellexecuted crossing pass left him virtually alone in front of the Boca goal...
...Why do I come here, all the way to La Boca," he demands, "to have someone cheer a River goal in my face...
...There is only Boca-River...
...Minute fifty-two...
...The referee finally blows the whistle, and Boca Juniors have notched another win over their nemesis...
...Play begins...
...Masterful...
...I don't justify the violence some people feel, but I understand it...
...It is a deliberate provocation...
...Che, they're going to kill you, friend...
...We won because of Diego Armando Maradona," one of Argentina's all-time soccer greats...
...In a nation battered by political corruption and economic collapse, River-Boca is much more than just a security concern...
...Marcelo "El Chelo" Delgado scores for Boca on a beautiful free kick from outside the penalty box...
...The River fans slink out, quickly disappearing among the throngs filling the streets...
...Carlos Lozada is senior editor of Foreign Policy.r editor of Foreign Policy...
...Boca, Boca, Boquita...
...The celebration continues into halftime...
...Boca-River is only today...
...Girlfriends kiss back...
...roars the restaurant, but Tevez doesn't see his teammate trailing the play...
...Grown men jump up and down, howl in delight, and hug strangers...
...Tears are shed...
...For ninety heart-stopping minutes, there are no financial crises, no upsurge in poverty, and no painful negotiations with international creditors...
...It is not that I love Boca more than my mother, of course...
...Sergio reminisces during the break...
...Sergio gropes for his two remaining firecrackers and runs outside again...
...Sergio dashes outside and lights two thunderous firecrackers in the street...
...But there is no happiness a rich man can buy that compares to what Boca Juniors has given me over the years...
...Dale, dale, dale, Bo...
...What can they say when they are offered that kind of money...
...The morning newspapers include city maps detailing the distinct routes Boca and River fans should take to the match...
...Sergio is back, running around the restaurant, not knowing whom to hug next...
...Go, go, go, Bo...
...The emotive television announcer cannot find sufficient adjectives to convey the import of the moment...
...I was supposed to eat a roast with my mother today, but I called her and explained about the match," confesses a jubilant Sergio as he leaves the restaurant...
...You should throw them out...
...warns Sergio...
...He was just a pibe [a kid] then...
...The audacious River fans fill the sudden silence with vociferous cheers...
...He then turns to this reporter...
Vol. 129 • December 2002 • No. 22
