Last Wednesday at 1:00 Dan, Tom (Australians), and I headed to Mexico City with another group from school to attend the Mexico vs. Honduras World Cup qualifying game. With only 3 games left (only top three teams advance) and Mexico in 3rd place but only 1 point behind Honduras and the US, it was showtime.
We arrived outside the stadium around 4 and due to Tom's pathetic bladder, the 3 of us hopped out of the bus early. The quarter mile or so to the stadium looked eerily reminiscent of a war zone with more police than I thought possible (just the tip of the ice berg in this shot).
After picking up some sweet jerseys for $8 (holy peso) to compliment our fantastic head bands we were looking sufficiently Mexican (or at least were making a heck of an effort) and were ready to grab the tickets.
After a bit of a dicey walk around the entire perimeter of the complex (policemen every 25 feet on the side walk) we arrived at the barb wire lined with shoulder to shoulder police with really big guns, fenced in, bullet proof glass, cement bomb shelter that was will call.
As soon as we grabbed the tickets a torrential down pour started so with 3 hours until game time we took off down the side walk and darted into the nearest building which just so happened to be the nicest building in Mexico City replete with a gorgeous new bowling alley, arcade, restaurant, and lazer tag arena.
After a meal and a good chat, we strapped on our Kevlar vests and headed back to Estadio Azteca for prime time. After being interviewed by a camera crew and this chica (desperately tried to translate our conversation into Spanish to no avail except for repeated screams of MÉXICO MÉXICO) we headed for the seats.
Getting there an hour early we figured we would get a half way decent spot despite being in the general seating section. Wrong, it seemed like we were about the very last people to arrive and as a result sat in the very top row.
The noise level was absolutely incredible from the time we arrived throughout the game due to the generous free distribution of horns and thunder sticks. The chants were unbelievable and included everyone in the stadium screaming the Spanish equivalent of bi#*% everytime the Honduran goalie punted the ball.
The first half was exciting with Mexico threatening to score on multiple opportunities but the Hondurans held them off much to the chagrin of all our good friends in the stands for a 0 to 0 tie at the half.
In the second half, the story was the same with Honduras packing it back and playing for what looked like a tie until a Mexican player got through the defense and was tripped in the box.
On the ensuing PK, Cuauhtémoc Blanco (my brother will probably name his first son that) netted it and the place absolutely erupted. Anything people were holding in their hand (beer, food, cameras, small children, etc.) was thrown as far as possible and mayhem ensued for about 5 minutes.
Afterwards, Mexico calmly protected the lead and went on to a 1 to 0 win which really really pleased a lot of people.
After the marathon that was getting out of the stadium we hopped back in our short bus, cruised down to the Zocalo to see the Mexican 200th birthday celebrations (stay tuned for that blog), and returned home.
All in all a great trip. Though I enjoyed watching both games here, I would definitely recommend a #17 Giovanni Dos Santos Mexican jersey to the Capitan America flag cape for all your Mexican soccer viewing needs.
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