Simon is currently drinking beer on the terrace of the hotel (not as swanky as it sounds) with his dad etc and I'm about to head off to join them for food. I am also useless at football reporting, so this will be brief.
Our timing was terrible but Simon's adopted Ecuadorian team did well. They won 2-1. The first goal was scored just before the pitch came into view for us over the stadium steps - we arrived 20 minutes late. The goal by the opposition was a clanger by the goalkeeper, he should be ashamed. The winning goal for El Nacional was scored while I was turning around to see how much it cost to enter the ladies loo (15 cents).
The day was a scorcher and the fans went away happy. The drum was banging and the songs were going strong. We think they may be a little fair weather however as there were less of them there than for the Wednesday night game. Maybe now they've had a victory they'll come flooding back.
Additional excitement, and probably cause of the victory came from a sending off of a player in the opposition for no apparent reason. The whistle went for full time and there was a tussle of the pitch between the teams. The riot police came storming on for no real reason, probably because they never have anything to do, broke it up, without need of their riot shields and that was that.
Another point to note - the food is impressive. You can get anything from a chicken stew to rice and black pudding (ergh), ice-creams, beers and a salty/sweetcorn with salsa combination.
We're off to Machala on the coast next week to visit banana producers. They seem to get a good following and we're hoping to fit in going to a game.
No comments:
Post a Comment