River Plate vs Colón

Given that we were in Buenos Aires another must see was a football match. Fortunately during our stay, on the Sunday the domestic Argentinean season kicked off and River Plate were facing a team called Colón. We wanted to go to the game on our own accord, however we had been sold the fact that the games can be dangerous, you cant get tickets etc etc, so we rather stupidly paid a premium to go with a tour company. What a mistake, to be honest the "female" tour guides were pretty ineffective, but at no time did we feel threatened in the slightest, as security is pretty tight following a famous shooting of a fan a few years back…Wolves vs. West Brom much scarier! We sat in the equivalent of the "family enclosure", which was no different than going to a English game and there were about 15,000 free seats.. "Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti" is the River Plate stadium and is pretty old and grotty, and very different to the standard premiership/championship ground . Once you have a ticket you can choose your own seat/area of the bench and there is still a large proportion of the stadium which is dedicated to old fashioned terraces. It is in these areas where there is a distinct contrast with going to a English game, the fans. Tens of thousands of fans pack themselves into the terraces behind the one goal and they do not stop making noise and waving banners from the minute they enter the stadium…mental! There was probably 50 guys banging drums to some pretty funny beats and everyone else chants and throw some pretty crazy shapes in the process. With regards to the football, it is played in true Argentinean spirit, a full blooded affair, some of the tackles were incredibly shocking, two-footed, completely miss-timed and after 30 minutes one Colón player was sent of for one of the worse tackles I have witnessed in a professional football match. But to be honest this made the game far more interesting and River Plate dominated the tie from there on. Although tactically they are not too clever, players seem to play everywhere and quite a few are greedy…almost like school boy football, and they would certainly get destroyed in the Premiership on this display. However there was one stand out player "Rosales", who could be the next big Argentinean export to Europe to join names like Tevez, Crespo, Ortega and Heinze. At 2-0, River could and should have made it 6 or 7. Even following a crazy strike from "Capurro" of Colón from about 35 yards which flew into the top corner, it still seemed River should walk it. However in extra time some Colón player "Prediguer" pinged another peach from about 35 yards again which again flew into the top corner. The stunned silence that followed was bizarre, it was the only time the River fans stop chanting in the whole game!