Football in Paraguay: Cerro Porteno vs Olimpia

With immaculate timing we hit town as the two biggest teams in Paraguay, both from Asuncion, were locking horns. There was a lot of pre-match build up in the paper we bought which claimed the country was literally split in two. Not sure how that works but lots of people were talking about it. Cheap seats were sold out so we forked out about £7 each for civilised seats. We chose Cerro as our team as they play in red and blue, the colours of York City.In the red and blue corner... Cerro! Woo!

Entering the ground just before kick off, the atmosphere lived up to the hype. The hardcore fans were at either side of us behind the goals and they did an amazing job of making noise and showing off their team colours.And in the white corner... Olimpia! Boo!

We went to the game with Eileen, who had never been to a proper game before, and Doug, an American chap who Eileen met through work. Doug was splendid company and a sports fan, though soccer was not his first love and he did get a bit too excited about the prospect of a red card and impressed when the ball was kicked a long way. Cerro were favourites but Olimpia took the lead during a first half where the former were very lack-lustre and unimpressive. At half time some uncoordinated but scanitly clad cheerleaders were followed by a nice, positive message carried onto th pitch reading 'no more violence'. The second half kicked off and so did the Cerro fans. Had some Olimpia fans sneaked into the opposition end? No; this was simply the fans from Cerro Porteno hitting each other and throwing missiles to prove who were the most hardcore of all. At this point we were very happy to be in the quieter part of the ground. Eventually the riot police came quick-marching in, causing all the fans to run away from them in fear as is the way in a country where a long standing, uncomprimising military dictatorship recently ended. Objects were thrown and handbags brandished until the end of the match with only an equaliser ten minutes from time reminding them there was actually a match being played. Apart from one brief skirmish the Olimpia fans to our left were far happier, bouncing and singing to drums in a typically Latin American style. It wasn't too sad then to see Olimpia fire in a well deserved goal in the dying minutes of the match.

The game was good and the fans were crazy, even starting a small riot on the street outside a supermarket we were in after the game. A great day out for all.

Cerro Porteno 1 - Olimpia 2 Att. 32,000