Rio de Janeiro: Where Stars Shine, FIFA wanes and Froths Reign Supreme

After a longer than expected travel day we finally found our accommodation – all this with no signage out the front of the hostel, and our info telling us it was number 44, not 444!

The next day was World Cup Opening, and to be honest we really didn’t know what to expect. We spent the morning getting ourselves familiarised with Copacabana which was where all the action was to take place.

Luckily for us (and unbeknown at the time of booking) our accommodation was only a 5 minute walk from the Fan Festival and the big screens. After making some loose plans with some friends, we decided to skip the official Fan Fest area (people had been lining up since 10am for the 5pm kick, so it safe to say that place was packed!) and bring our own tins down to the beach and watch the game on one of the big screens set up on Copacabana Beach.

We set up shop nestled in with about 30,000 other cadets, most of them being Brazilian, but a fair representation from all over. Lucky, or unlucky, for us, a group of young English lads took up residence just behind us. These lads were to provide the majority of the entertainment for the first half of the evening. Especially when Brazil went down a goal. Just like the Barmy Army, these lads were full of chants, and they just kept them coming.

Copacabana on Opening Day - FIFA Fan Fest and Sugarloaf Mountain in the background

The sights, sounds and colours of Copacabana on opening day were what many lads would describe as ‘Dream Areas’. Brazilian’s clad as only Brazilians can be, hawkers selling everything from Caipirinhas to prawns on a stick, and of course the world biggest game, on the grand opening.

After the initial shock of going behind through an own goal, the prodigal Brazilian son, the guy on the back of 99% of Brazilian shirts, Neymar Jr. scored the equaliser that brought the crowd back to their feet. Fire crackers were set off, beers were wasted, shit I’m even sure I saw a free prawn sticks chucked around in celebration. And half way through the second Brazil got what they were ultimately after. A controversial penalty brought Neymar to the spot where he duly converted and had the crowd in raptures. I can only imagine the noise in the stadium!

The rest of the game was celebrated in true party style, with Oscar icing the celebrations during injury time. We milled around the beach afterwards and eventually made our way back to the hostel to see Patty Mills and the Spurs take a commanding 3-1 lead on the NBA finals. Along the way I introduced Nic and Al to the genius that is Frenchy - for those that don't know him, look him up, laughs all round!

Introducing Frenchy!

The next day, hangover in check Nic and I strolled down to Ipanema for a swim and some relaxing before backing it up for the Netherlands v Spain game, and the main event – the Australia v Chile game. This time we thought we would check out the FIFA Fan Fest area as we were sure the Aussie game wouldn’t attract as big a following as the Brazilian opener!

The Fan Fest is set up like a mini concert, with the main stage at the end with drinking outlets spread out on either side. The crowd had seemed to split into Australian and Chilean halves, so naturally we migrated to the rest of the Aussies.

Advance Australia Fair was sung with gusto I haven’t heard it sung for years – more than likely due to the fact that most of the singers were a good half dozen cans deep! I wouldn’t say we were stunned into silence with the 2 Chilean goals in the space of 3 minutes but from my vast football knowledge (which is limited at best) we had played better than a 2-0 start indicated.

We were quickly back up and about when Cahill got us on the board, and the Aussie contingent was by far the most animated for the majority of the second half. And again, I believe many would feel the 3-1 end shoreline did not give the Aussie lads credit. Still it had been a good start to the nights’ festivities, and when in Rio, the nights festivities are often long and fun filled.

T. Cahill in the moment!

We ran into the ‘Let’s Get Rugby League Drunk’ lads, and fair to say they may have been nudging ‘Origin Drunk’ status but were all in good spirits and fun to be around. So I suppose that might just make them drunk instead of the aforementioned levels of inebriation, as my understanding of ‘Rugby League Drunk’ is the tendency to cause inappropriate amounts of damage to anything and anyone in the near vicinity. Still, I’m sure they were feeling it the next day.

Commiserating post Australia v Chile in the FIFA Fan Fest

We made plans to meet up at one of the clubs in Lapa, but due to the differing levels of inebriation, the decided upon club was in fact in Copacabana, not Lapa. That said, we headed in to Lapa (after watching the Kings claim the second Stanley Cup in 3 years) with the hope of finding our friends. All to no avail and after walking around for a few hours taking in the famous Lapa Street Party, Nic and I were cooked.

Gettin' 'Rugby League' Drunk

Saturday was a more sedate day, as we took in Copacabana for what it usually is – a world famous tourist beach! The swell was actually quite good so I enjoyed myself for a good hour or two with Nic venturing past the shallows only when the waves permitted. It was actually quite a surreal experience to be catching some waves whilst also watching the Uruguay vs Costa Rica game from the big screen! Only in Rio. We stuck around in Copacabana for the England v Italy game and enjoyed a few cold froths and some illicit vodka in the Fan Zone before crashing back at the hostel.

Sunday was game day for us. Argentina v Bosnia in Rio’s opening match at Estádio do Maracanã. The Argentinians had been full of voice throughout the first few days of the Cup, and the noise of the stadium did not disappoint! With 75,000 people, we can only guess that about 50,000 were glad in blue and white, with about 49,999 wearing the number 10! The rest of the crowd appeared to be made up of a few thousand neutral (soon to be converted Argentinian) fans, a few thousand actual Bosnian fans, and 20,000 ‘whoever is playing Argentina’ Brazilian fans! The rivalry apparent between the two countries puts our Ashes rivalry to shame! But for the most part, all was done in good spirits!

Argentina v Bosnia at Estádio do Maracanã

The noise of the Argentinians was something that has to be seen to be believed – yeah I reckon you could see the noise as well as hearing it! They never stopped! And the Brazilians were quite adamant in their non-support to go along with it!

The Brazilian section of the crowd clad in yellow

One of the highlights for me came when Messi lined up to take a free kick yards out of the box. The Argentinians took up their chant of ‘Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole…Messi, Messi’, only for him to balloon the free kick well wide and not trouble the defence. This chant was immediately answered by the Brazilians with ‘Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole…Neymay, Neymar’. And not 2 verses (not sure if you can call them verses but you get my drift) into this, Messi answered all calls with a superb finish that sent the Argentinians into fever pitch – the ‘Messi’ah truly had returned!

Messi 'ballooning' the free kick

I have been to a few sporting contests in my time, but it’s safe to say I have never experienced anything of the like. The atmosphere, the constant noise and the spectacle has almost converted me – if only all ‘soccer’ games were like this!

Honorary Argentinian for the night

We have since spent 18 hours in transit making our way to Porto Alegre for the Australia v Netherlands game – and we are only half way there. We overnighted in Curitiba airport and have had our next flight delayed due to fog and weather conditions. This was all after thinking we were being kicked completely out of the airport at 12am. A breakdown in communication meant we were only getting kicked out of the departure lounge, the main areas of the airport remained open and we even stumbled across a ‘Fun Zone’ that had small mattresses for those lucky enough, and pillows that granted us a few hours of sleep before these further setbacks.

Our humble abode in Curitiba Airport

Hopefully I can post this one from Porto Alegre before gearing up to get back on the Cup bandwagon and see how much the locals love Brazil and hate FIFA!

All up it took us 23.5 hours, with only 2.5 hours of flying and 21 hours of waiting around! Got to love travelling!

On a side note, when we did finally touch down in Porto Alegre, there was a buxom vixen waiting for us handing out free cans of Budweiser – best landing present ever!

Duly rewarded after a hard day travelling