Watching the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil
Although I love to travel and had a good old time at the Olympics in Sydney in 2000, I have very rarely travelled for a major sporting event.
This all changed recently when I headed to Brazil to get married to my Brazilian girl. We timed the wedding for the week after the 2014 FIFA World Cup, so that we and the guests could have a second reason to visit Brazil. More on the wedding in my next post!
So how was the World Cup in Brazil? Well first of all, we missed the first half of the event due to work and study commitments in Sydney. In the end, we were in Brazil only for the finals. It’s possible that the supporters of many of the teams that had bowed out had mostly gone home by then.
Secondly, we arrived in Brazil just as the home team had bowed out. In Sydney, the Brazil-Germany semi-final was played at 6 am local time, and with an 11 am flight, the last thing we did was to watch the game. I was excited to head off to a Brazil bristling with excitement at their team’s advance to the final stages of the contest, but we watched in disbelief as the German goals came thick, fast and early. By contrast, our German neighbour (who arrived on our couch to watch the game with us) was delighted. We headed to the airport almost in shock, knowing we would arrive in a downcast Brazil.
Finally, we didn’t have tickets for any of the games. Our timing in Rio was such that the only game we could have made it to was the final, and tickets to the final were $1000 each even if you were lucky enough to get one from the official FIFA website. If you weren’t, add another zero to that price. As much as I love a spectacle I’m not that desperate. So we resolved to watch the final at the “Fan Fest”, a chaotic crowded party area with big screens on Copacabana Beach.
Our first World Cup experience was the Argentina/Netherlands semi-final, which was beginning on a screen at Rio Galeão airport just as we arrived. Baggage trolley full of bags, we watched as the game progressed to a thrilling penalty shoot-out in a restaurant full of screaming Argentines and Dutch. So far so good. Then we went into town.
The vibe in Rio was pretty busy, although Rio is always buzzing, so this was not too out of the ordinary. Perhaps the most noticeable aspect was the traffic. With a (very nice) Metro system under construction and many roads closed, plus the World Cup, the traffic was absolutely crushing. I am used to the irritating traffic of Sydney and other big cities, but this was soul-destroying. On one occasion it took us an hour to travel from Ipanema to Gavea (only a few kilometres), another time it took us nearly 2 hours to get from São Conrado to Copacabana. And for several days that week there was pouring tropical rain. Not fun. The party was clearly on every night though, particularly amongst the Argentines (who were streaming into town in their thousands) and Germans, as the excitement of their progression to the final permeated.
I watched the 3rd/4th playoff Brazil vs. Holland at my brother-in-law’s place. Where better to watch the game but with a Brazilian family? The kids and family friends were all dressed up in their Brazil jerseys and I was determined to get the reaction to the first goal on video. Unfortunately, it was to the Dutch, and the intensity of the reaction surprised me- all the kids burst out crying and shouting. Never underestimate Brazilian emotion when it comes to football. I quickly deleted my upsetting video!
The next day, my fiancé (now wife) Babs and I headed to Copacabana beach to watch the final. The family was watching the game again at someone else’s house, but I was determined to go to Copa where the party was. In the end, we walked all the way from Leblon to Copacabana along the beach. We were greeted by hundreds of thousands of screaming, drunk fans (mostly Argentines) and a veritable army of police. There were high spirits, drums, dancing and cheering. It was a party alright!
Surprisingly, the Brazilians, having been ousted from the competition by Germany, were almost all supporting Germany against Argentina. My brother-in-laws explained that for Argentina to win in Brazil would have been an unforgiveable humiliation, and avenged only by Brazil winning a future World Cup hosted in Argentina. “They will laugh at us for a century,” he exclaimed.
I would have been happy to bury myself amongst the crazy crowd and get loud but my partner enjoys those things less than I and so at half time, we jumped in a cab and decided to head back to where the family were watching the game. As an aside, while we were in the cab the second half started. No problem- the cab driver had some kind of mini TV tuner thing for his phone, and was happy to lend it to us in the back seat so we didn’t miss a minute.
This time, there were Brazilian smiles all around and firecrackers exploding in the nightsky outside all over the city as Germany were catapulted to victory.
One thing you can never fault a Brazilian for is their passion.
I’d love to hear your World Cup travel stories and adventures. Do you too like your party with a dash of sport, sport?