Superliga Baby!

For my birthday, the Duchess bought me tickets to the New England Revolution vs. Santos tilt in Superliga on Sunday. God bless her for picking up my subtle hints that I wanted to go to the game (subtle hints like “you know, I would really like to go to the Revs/Santos Superliga matchup for my birthday). The game was full of highlights. Upon the start of the match, I realized something. Once again, I was outnumbered a soccer match. That’s right; I had Santos fans in front of me and behind me. Normally, that would have ranked as my number 1 concern, but I had an older gentleman next to me who decided to have a running commentary of the match. It was like sitting next to John Madden on crack. He even tried to engage me in conversation every once in a while. I was less than pleased.

Anyway, back to the match. To put it mildly, I think the Santos players are also trying out for the Olympics……for diving. I swear I think they teach this south of the border. For one I had a great angle. The guy has the ball, two Revs defenders come to him, and he hits the turf. He was untouched! Of course I yelled “oh get up” after the ref called “play on” and I got glared at by the two Santos fans sitting in front of me. Then, 5 minutes later one of the Santos defenders punched one of the Revs midfielders in the junk and only got a yellow card. As I was wondering if you needed to pistol whip someone to get a red card, another Santos player got frustrated and pulled some shenanigans and got the red. This was almost immediately followed by a Jimmy the Greek-esque racial comment by the old chog sitting next to me. We weren’t even out of the first half and I’ve already seen a red card, a punch to the junk, a glare from opposing fans, and heard a racially insensitive comment. This was shaping up to be the best soccer match ever.

The second half couldn’t live up to the first half. We got to see the only goal from the Revs, which was great (even if Ralston got a cheap assist). I also came to the conclusion that the grand-parents of blond Argentinean striker for Santos probably emigrated to Argentina about 60 years ago from a north central European country that prided itself on blond hair and blue eyes (what do you want, I just finished reading “The Odessa File”). Another highlight was the old chog giving people guff for leaving with 10 minutes to go. He seemed so incensed that people would be leaving during a close match. Let’s just say I was definitely waiting for the final whistle on this one. Once it came, we were outta there with the rest of the crowd.

One more highlight from the game, which I find funny now. I was parked by this massive van that was packed full of Mexican Santos fans. Since I couldn’t see around it, I needed the Duchess to direct me out of the spot, which she did with her usual grace and dignity. As she jumped into the car and I took off, she relayed the fact that a couple of the vans occupants had been hitting on her. I must say a little anger welled up inside of me. Now that I think about it, it’s kinda funny. Of course that was going to happen, she’s hot. But my birthday turned out to be a winner. The Revs won the match and I got the girl. All is right with the world.