The 2015 Copa América

Chile was host to the 2015 edition of the Copa América, and Concepción’s municipal stadium was renovated to host three fútbol matches in the knockout stage. In the end, the stadium was host to a quarterfinal match, a semifinal match, and the contest for third place.

Argentina – Paraguay

The semifinal match in Concepción was between Argentina and Paraguay, on 30 June. Ezequiel, my postdoc sponsor here, had purchased advance tickets for the game and had one extra, which he offered to me. I was pretty excited about going to see a live South American fútbol match (and an international one at that!), and a little bit nervous (given the sometimes violent “side shows” associated with fútbol). But the chance to see a match, and to see Argentina play, was too good to pass up.

We got to the stadium nearly two hours before the game, so we could secure a good seat – the tickets were sold for blocks of the stadium, so actual seats within those blocks were first-come, first-serve. We ended up even with the penalty box, about halfway up the stands, with a good view of the field.

The game itself was great. Argentina dominated Paraguay, and ended up winning 6–1. Though Messi did not score, it was still impressive to see him play.

Peru – Paraguay

The third place match was on 03 July, between Peru (who lost to Chile in their semifinal match) and Paraguay. Kelly had just arrived in Chile for a visit and Ezequiel sold us his pair of tickets. We repeated the exercise from the previous game, and arrived in advance to get good seats.

The game was won by Peru, 2–1. With the lower score, the game was somewhat less exciting than the previous game, but was still a fun time. Kelly enjoyed seeing her first international fútbol match.

Of particular amusement was the cheering at the game – the majority of the crowd were Chileans and the resulting cheers were mostly for the Chilean time, despite the fact Chile was not even playing in the match. The person sitting behind us would cheer for a team in the match whenever one was getting close to the opposite team’s goal, but the rest of the time he’d be cheering for Chile. He just wanted to see some goals!

Chile – Argentina

The Copa América final was in Santiago on 04 July. Kelly and I joined a group of postdocs at a local bar to watch the final on a projector screen, surrounded by Chileans. It was quite a fun experience, and a very close match. The 90 minutes of regulation time elapsed with the game tied 0–0. A further 30 minutes of overtime did not result in any scoring, and the game went to penalty kicks to decide the victor.

The penalty kicks were quite exciting. Chile and Argentina made their first kicks. Chile made their second, Argentina missed their second. Chile made their third, Argentina missed their third. Then, Chile made their fourth, clenching the victory.

The folks in the bar went wild, jumping, yelling, and singing. And then, within 5 or 10 minutes, the bar was empty and everyone had left.

A group of us went outside and followed the stream of people headed towards the Plaza de Armas in the center of town. People were out in their cars, hoking their horns and hanging out the windows waving Chilean flags. Though, with the number of people out in their cars, it was faster progress on foot. The police had blocked traffic on the main road passing by the plaza, O’Higgins, so we walked down the middle of the four-lane street until we reached the plaza.

The plaza was filled with people, all wearing some Chile-themed apparel while singing, cheering, and chanting. A few road flares were even lit, with the red color matching the fútbol team’s jerseys. We mingled for a while, before heading off in search of pizza and a beer.

Epilogue

Three fun fútbol matches. I had seen a professional fútbol game in Germany in the mid-90s, but it was really cool to see two international games in-person, and to watch Chile win their first international title.