The Copa América Centenario is currently taking place in cities across the US. The Copa América is the South Américan soccer confederation tournament. I was lucky enough to attend two matches last year in Concepción, when Chile hosted (and won) the tournament. This June has been a busy one for me, so I have not been paying much attention to the 2016 tournament, beyond occasionally checking the scores to see how the US and Chile were faring.

Tonight I happened to see Chile was playing Colombia in the semi-finals and I was home, so I switched on the tv to catch the game. It was an exciting first half – Chile scored two goals rather quickly and Colombia finished the half with a few strong pushes towards Chile’s goal. Then, during halftime, a storm rolled in, bringing sheets of rain in a torrential downpour. This lead to a nearly 2 hour delay in the game and required some work by the grounds crew to move some of the standing water off the field. The game was set to resume later than I wanted to be awake, so I skipped watching the second half.

However, for the short while before I fell asleep, I could hear the city occasionally erupt into cheering and shouting as something happened in the game. When it happens, there is no mistaking it – clearly something big or contentious has happened. Often, this means Chile scored a goal. But in the end, Chile won the match 2–0, off the goals scored in the first part of the first half.

I had experienced the city-wide cheering before (in fact, this is often what clues me in to the fact that I am missing a Chilean fútbol match), so I set up my sound recorder on the balcony for the first half. Most of the recording is the usual city road noise, but the times when Chile scores are clearly obvious.

Here’s a minute-long sound clip of the Santiago City Center following Chile’s second goal:

The energy is impressive!

The US will play Colombia for 3rd place on 25 June. And, in a rematch of last year’s Copa América Final, Chile and Argentina will battle for the title on 26 June.