Ecuador, Summer 2013 (Part 4)

THE FOLLOWING BLOG POST WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THIS WEBSITE WAS EVER CONCEIVED ON MY OLD TUMBLR ACCOUNT. IT HAS BEEN EDITED FROM ITS ORIGINAL FORM FOR GRAMMAR, PACING, AND TO MAKE IT AN OVERALL BETTER READ.

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GAME DAY! The day of the Ecuador vs. Argentina FIFA World Cup Qualifier had finally arrived. This game was huge for Ecuador as they were on the brink of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after failing to qualify to the previous tournament in 2010.

Similarly to when LeBron James plays your home team, adding to the hype for the match was Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi. This was to be Messi’s first game in Ecuador after receiving FIFA’s Ballon d’Or award for a third consecutive year, recognizing him as the best player in the world. Due to nursing an injury, Messi would be playing off the bench. Despite this fact people were still excited at the chance to see him play, even if it’s against their home team.

Ecuador always plays its international matches in Quito as the high altitude of the capital gives Ecuador an advantage over visiting teams who aren’t used to playing in the thinner atmosphere.

Gabriel and I left my uncle’s house at 7:30 but didn’t get to Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa until 8:45. So many roads were closed off due to the game a trip that usually takes 30 minutes almost took and hour and a half.

We looked around the stadium for a while but couldn’t find any scalpers. As it turns out, scalpers were being reported to the police for trying to sell tickets for more than five times their face value so the police began cracking down on any non-licensed ticket vending for this match. We searched for what seemed like hours to see if we could find any scalper willing to risk selling tickets but we couldn’t find any.

I was heartbroken to say the least but we tried to make the best of a bad situation. We looked around the stadium for anywhere we could watch the game and surely enough we found a TGI Fridays right across from the stadium. With food, beer, TVs, and plenty of other fans, Fridays was as good a place as any to watch the game.

Although we arrived three hours before kickoff, the restaurant started to fill up shortly after we arrived. Elena and Deanna joined us at 3 PM, roughly an hour before kickoff. Gabriel’s friend and girlfriend joined us as well.

We were really disappointed we weren’t able to get to go into the actual stadium, we tried to look on the bright side and used the money we would have otherwise spent on the tickets on a lot of food and a lot of beer.

The match started off on a bad note as Argentina took an early 1-0 lead after they were awarded a penalty five minutes into the game. During their previous encounter, Argentina beat 4-0 in a one sided affair and people were worried about another imminent blood bath.

Fortunately, Ecuador scored the tying goal less than ten minutes later and dominated the ball the rest of the match. Unfortunately the Ecuadorian team was never able to capitalize on any big opportunities and failed to finish. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

After the match, Gabriel and I made sure that Elena and Deanna got in a cab back to their hotel. We shared brief goodbyes as we had planned to meet again later that night. Unfortunately, we all agreed later that it probably wouldn’t be to safe to go out late as Gabriel informed us that the crime rate tends to increase immediately after a home game. As a result this was the last time I would see Elena and Deanna as they were leaving for Cuenca the next day.

Quito was an absolute blast and a great way to kick off my trip through Ecuador. I already made a few new friends and gained a lot of new experiences. I couldn’t wait to see what the rest of the country had in store as I got ready to head to Baños the next day.