Corinthians v Ponta Preta

A ridiculous detour from Ilha Grande via Rio by private car then luxury coach saw us arrive in Brazils largest metropolis Sao Paulo. We blended seemlessly into the amazingly diverse 18 million strong population.

We had negated several travelling companions advice to give the big city a miss on the premise that we wanted to see the mighty Corinthians attempt to take the title with one match to spare.
Rumour had it that the 70,000 available tickets had all been sold. Hardly suprising considering the overwhelmingly passionate fan base of the samba school (hard core fan group) and its 15 millon other supporters dotted around Brazil´s vast expanse.

With a spring in our step fresh from an interesting night sampling some of Sao Paulo´s excellent nightlife we decided to taxi it down to the ground hoping to pick up an elusive ticket or 3. Our good friend Dave had joined us on our trip, and was about to experience his first ever live football match globally! What a match to pick!

Some legendary negotiating skills by Dan and his pigeon portuguese saw us land 3 tickets for only double the standard asking price. We were in! A resounding shout of Cooooooome on!, was drowned out by one of the insanely loud fire crackers being unleashed by the ecstatic Corinthians fans jumping about like kids at play school.

In a attempt to blend in we decided to purchase one of the many ridiculous hats available from street vendors trying to make a fast buck.
We realised the error of this when walking into the ground to find a suitable viewpoint. The mainly half naked, tattoed testosterone fuelled males all seemed to turn in our direction, whilst pointing, shouting and uttering phrases in slurred portuguese, wearing wooly hats in 30C searing heat probably wasn´t the best choice of head gear! Slightly intimidated by this we feverishly looked around to find a suitable spot, and were drawn in by 5 fans standing at the front beconing for us to come over. After an exchange of high fives and handshakes, and small talk about where we were from and who we supported, attentions started to focus on the match in hand, and the obvious excitment that today Corinthians could be crowned champions of the national league once more.

We were now nestled in the thick of the crowd in the amorphous mass of sweaty bodies, ready to salute our team as they ran out the tunnel infront of 70,000 adoring / obsessive fans. Black and white balloons now filled the stadium, representing the colours of the home side.
Huge banners started to appear over large sections of the crowd from nowhere. The largest and most spectacular, over the hard core fans. A banner which requires a staggering 100 people to carry it in and out of the stadium!

...And then the crowd start stamping their feet and going wild even more so than before...the team start filing out of the tunnel, bending down to pick up a blade of grass and cross themselves across the chest before waving to the delirious fans. The biggest explosion imaginable then echoes round the ground. For a stunned couple of seconds I fear for the lives of the people on the opposite side of the ground, but then quickly realise this is a planned part of the extravagant build up as black and white streamers swirl around the ground. I dont envy the people who had the mamoth task in the post match clean up operation.

The debate for Dave our virgin top flight football attendee was to whether the crowd shenannigans or the match itself was the more entertaining! I had to agree with him to some extent, that the spectacle and carnival atmosphere of the people was more memorable and event than the football itself. In many ways, for many the game serves as a side show, with key moments serving as a trigger to go wild, release any inner frustrations and grab the nearest person to you and lift them into the air like a trophy! Dave had first hand experience of this when Corinthians Gustavo Nery volleyed a nice equaliser into the top corner just before the break to cancel out an early crowd silencing header by the Ponta Preta forward Everton. (Being a Liverpool fan, this made me dislike Ponta Preta even more!)

The second half carried on in the same vein of energy, a 1-1 draw looking more and more likely, the first half Tevez missed penalty looking more and more crucial.......Then in the 90th minute, a Corithinas freekick placed on the right hand side of the area a decent 30 yards out was lashed in by Coehlo. .......................................GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!! Beer, water, sweat flying everywhere, at least 5 new friends were made instantly, as everyone hugged each other in sheer joy. What timing.

The team were now on a complete high feeding off each other in complete harmony, this served to rub salt into Ponta Preta volley when 60 seconds later deep into injury time an audacious 25 yard drive by Carlos Alberto found the top corner of the net! 3-1...........Now we waiting on the Inter result. Unfortunately for Corinthians, they too had won, so, despite todays thrilling victory, the real celebrations would have to be postponed for another week.