Futbol fanatics

After qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 12 years on Sept. 10, Chile played its last game of the season Wednesday against Ecuador.

I was lucky enough to have a ticket.

Chilean soccer games are an experience you cannot forget, especially when you stand out in the crowd. The culture shock hit from the moment we walked into the stadium.

I was with a group of eight other girls from around the United States, and when we entered the stands to walk to our seats everyone started applauding. At first we thought that something must be happening on the field, but the game did not start for hours. Then we listened to the cheers and the whistles and understood.

They could see that we were not Chilean, and they were cheering for us. They were intrigued, especially by some of my friends with blonde hair.

We could not make it down the stairs without being stopped by countless Chileans wanting their pictures taken with us. Some would even push their children in front of us to take photographs.

It was quite the start to my first professional soccer game experience.

While that experience was quite shocking, there were, of course, many other interesting occurrences throughout the day that none of us could have expected.

As we waited for the game to start, we witnessed many common activities that normally occur before sporting events, including the usual cheers and attempts at making the wave successful.

However, we also saw a few rag dolls that were wearing Ecuador’s colors being thrown about around the stadium, some the size of small children. Also, people were lighting flares, which I found especially strange.

We had all gone through security, and they did not even allow water bottles because they could be used as a weapon, but apparently flares were completely acceptable, as security did nothing to stop them.

The food available was also surprising because even though hot dogs, alcohol and ice cream are extremely popular in Chile, they were not offered at the game. The only options were soda and sandwiches – not even water was available.

The actual game seemed to be one of the only things that went as expected. It was like many other soccer games with the ecstatic crowd and lots of noise. The final score was 1-0 to Chile.

It was definitely a great game and another fascinating day in Chile.