Colo Colo!

This weekend we finally made it to a Chilean Primera Division football match, which deserves a post of its own! We've watched a few matches live on TV at a great fake Irish bar in Bellavista but this is the first time we've made it to a stadium. 

Heather, Alison, and Struan outside Estadio Monumental, the home of Colo Colo!

Like the English Premier League (and most other major football leagues really) the Chilean Primera Division is dominated by a handful of top teams - in this case the big three are Colo Colo, Universidad de Chile, and Universidad Catolica. There's no new big money in Chilean football, but historic results and popularity suggest that these three equate to Liverpool, Manchester United and perhaps Arsenal as the historic "special" clubs in England. 

This weekend saw the final games of this year's Torneo Clausura, Chile (like much of South America) operates a league based on two competitions each year - the Apertura (Opening) roughly running from January to June, and the Clausura (Closing) in the second half of the calendar year. So each "season" has two champions.

Heather and Alison before the game

The previous weekend Universidad Catolica opened up a 3 point gap at the top when they beat Cobreloa 3-2. Colo Colo, neck and neck to that point, dropped points by losing away to O'Higgins, a team from Rancagua. This meant that going into the final weekend's games, anything other than a loss for UC would see them 2010 Clausura champions but a UC loss and Colo Colo win would put them level on points. Oddly, at that point the title is not decided on goal difference, but a "tournament final" would be played the following weekend to decide the champion. 

Anna and Struan before the game

An upset was possible because while Colo Colo were playing the lower mid-table, but mathematically apparently safe, Universidad de Concepcion, UC had Everton - for whom anything but a win would see them relegated to Division B.


Before you think that's a mistake, that is Everton yes, a different one. There are a few teams here which have names reminding us of the historic British influence in Chile that was so evident in Valparaiso (see our previous post). Others include Santiago Wanderers and Santiago Morning.  

In case it's not yet obvious from the pictures, we were at Estadio Monumental, a 47,000 capacity stadium (standing still allowed in parts - before they put seats in the official capacity was about 67,000!), to watch Colo Colo. Colo Colo are the only Chilean team to have won the Copa Libertadores - the South American inter-club championship similar to the Champions League in Europe. The club is named after a famous Mapuche Indian chief who kept the Spanish out of the South of Chile for many years.

On to the game! 

Colo Colo come out of the tunnel

early pressure from Colo Colo

Cristobal Jorquera - creative midfielder and Colo Colo dangerman

The first 20 minutes or so were very balanced, Colo Colo certainly didn't set out to put the game to bed quickly. U. Concepcion played an offensive 4-4-2 with 2 strikers pushing high. Colo Colo however are characterised by an excellent defence, including an awesome goalkeeper (lowest goals against score in the Primera Division this torneo) and tend to play by soaking up pressure and playing on the break with an essentially lone striker.

first goal for Colo Colo

Colo Colo play with virtually no width, but the main man is a midfield general called Cristobal Jorquera, who plays a sort of Cesc Fabregas role of controlling play in the middle and either feeding the striker or having a go himself.

Another point to note is that the game is played at a much slower pace than in the English Premier League. For anyone who knows football this won't come as a surprise as it's an accepted piece of wisdom that in England the game is fast - but we're not talking Italy slow here, it's slower.

Jorquera getting stuck in

Colo Colo went in at half-time 2-0 up, here's what happened when they scored: 

Half-time empanadas, just as bad as half-time pies

intense half-time brooding

And we're off again...

Jorquera without help

Slowly but surely Colo Colo dominate...

the mountains looming over the stadium

another Colo Colo break

skinned!

Another real oddity of Chilean football relates to the problems of being in a country of vast distances. This game was played at 1900 on a sunday night, against a team based in a city which is about a 7 hour drive from Santiago - and by Chilean standards that's not that far! Every other game is like Torquay v Newcastle United in the FA cup, and that has a large effect on the travelling support. Admittedly it was a game in which U. Concepcion stood to gain little, and on a sunday night, but the travelling support was literally a dozen people in a 45,000 capacity stadium. When we say travelling, these people were probably Conce's who now live in Santiago for work or something.

So when U. Concepcion finally got a goal back, and a good one too, the 12 yellow fans went crazy, to absolutely no noticeable effect...

Conce get one back

As you might expect, Estadio Monumental has a sort of "kop" behind one of the goals - an all-standing area where the hard-core fans (the Garra Blanca - "White Claw") cram themselves in. Not the place for gringos to watch football for sure. This pack of fans created an excellent atmosphere and, in true South American style, started to pull out the flares as the second half continued!

the first flare is lit!

the Famous, Glorious White Claw - Colo Colo!

Not long after the flares started to be lit, the police decided to join the fans in the pen, and mayhem ensued. From where we were sitting it's not obvious what happened, but at some point the police decided it was time to whip up some angst and charged the fans. Which led to a huge scrap, and then more flares, this time being thrown.

A group of Carabineros carrying shields marched onto the field at one point while the ref discussed the situation with the players and coaches.

stop throwing stuff

The best though was still to come, with a battery of flares lit, the fireworks came out!

Good work lads! (But glad we were on the other side of the stadium...). The Colo Colo Garra Blanca have some notoriety. One of Struan's students from Rancagua mentioned that at the game the week before against O'Higgins in Rancagua, after losing the match, the Colo Colo travelling fans set fire to the stadium causing millions of pesos of damage (not that bad given the value of the peso chileno)!

sun-setting on the higher snowy mountains

get up son, run it off

Jorquera lines one up

In the end, U. Concepcion managed to pull another goal back and the game finished 4-2 Colo Colo. Not good enough however, as meanwhile Universidad Catolica had thumped Everton 5-0 making UC the torneo championes and relegating Everton.

Part of the fun was certainly the journey back to the centre of Santiago. There are weekend strikes on the Metro at the moment so we had to take a bus. Having seen the buses on matchdays we had hoped to avoid that - the football fans pack the buses, completely taking them over, wrench open the doors and hang out while its moving, singing and banging on the outside of the bus.

We managed to get on a bus that wasn't too packed. We were the only people who flashed our Bip cards to pay, everyone else just jumped the barrier on the bus. The guys at the back then proceeded to take the bus apart, ripping the pneumatic cables out of the door mechanism so their singing was accompanied by compressed air escaping. Struan had a guy pleasantly chatting with him, while nonchalantly wrapping a chain around his knuckles... 

As we reached Plaza Italia (our stop, but also the spot for celebrations in Santiago - see our previous post about the 33 Miners) the tension on the bus suddenly rose and a group of fans surged for the door as the bus stopped. Outside, the Plaza was packed with Universidad Catolica fans celebrating - so the Colo Colo fans were going for them. As they got off they were met by riot police in full gear - it was all over in seconds, some of them were grabbed and the rest ran in the opposite direction. Then we got off the bus, glad not to have been caught wearing the wrong shirt. 

Carabineros ready for a ruck

A great day, and we await the 2011 Apertura with anticipation!