Football in Costa Rica: Heredia vs. La Liga de Alajuela
By: DJLera
In every corner of America except the United States, football is life. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina have produced some of the best players and teams in the world and tiny Costa Rica is on the rise. In the 2006 World Cup held in Germany, this country of 4 million fielded a team that made it to the final 32. On that day I’m told the entire country was wearing red. For anyone living here for an extended period of time, I highly recommend attending some matches or partidos. The excitement and atmosphere are unlike anything I have experienced in the United States. Plus you will learn some very interesting and colorful words.
Costa Rica has twelve football clubs that are divided into two groups. Matches are generally played on Sundays, but weeknight games are not uncommon. Without doubt the two best teams are Saprissa (San José) in purple and La Liga (Alajuela) in red and black. These teams have the most money, the most fans and the biggest stadiums. On Sunday I went to see La Liga play Heredia in Heredia. Tickets can be bought at the gates up to one day before. You have options, usually including, sun or shade and numbered or unnumbered seats. I was in the sunny numbered seats which cost about 4.000 colones, a price my Tico friends found quite stiff.
Like any sporting event you can buy food and drinks from wandering vendors. They even sell ponchos should you be caught in a downpour. Football is not a sport that stops for weather, as demonstrated on Sunday. After 15 minutes of heavy rain the field looked more like a lake, but the fans were not phased. All in all it was a great experience even though Heredia lost 2-1. For more info you can check out the Costa Rican Football Federation’s website http://www.fedefutbol.com/ or read the back pages of any local newspaper.
Click to view Lisa and Bruce's entire photo album from the football game:
Costa Rica has twelve football clubs that are divided into two groups. Matches are generally played on Sundays, but weeknight games are not uncommon. Without doubt the two best teams are Saprissa (San José) in purple and La Liga (Alajuela) in red and black. These teams have the most money, the most fans and the biggest stadiums. On Sunday I went to see La Liga play Heredia in Heredia. Tickets can be bought at the gates up to one day before. You have options, usually including, sun or shade and numbered or unnumbered seats. I was in the sunny numbered seats which cost about 4.000 colones, a price my Tico friends found quite stiff.
Like any sporting event you can buy food and drinks from wandering vendors. They even sell ponchos should you be caught in a downpour. Football is not a sport that stops for weather, as demonstrated on Sunday. After 15 minutes of heavy rain the field looked more like a lake, but the fans were not phased. All in all it was a great experience even though Heredia lost 2-1. For more info you can check out the Costa Rican Football Federation’s website http://www.fedefutbol.com/ or read the back pages of any local newspaper.
2 comments:
DJLera,
Guess what? Lisa and I were there as well - I was actually just about to put together a post on the the game when I noticed you already had. Very nice entry. It really was a great time Sunday (even though all of us in the "sun" seats found out it's more apt to call them "rain" seats). Although we were rooting for Heredia, which lost 2-1 to La Liga due to a missed PK in the first half, we had an outstanding time.
Oh and as for the "colorful" words you mentioned, I was going to say that if one tried to learn the Spanish language simply by attending football matches, he would probably wind up being able to say a variation on only one phrase - it was like a chorus line of "hijo de puta" throughout the whole game.
Anyway, I'll be posting some of our pictures to compliment yours. Thanks again for the post.
¡Liga liga! When I was in Costa Rica, I was in Alajuela, so I heard that a lot. I never actually got to a game, but I probably should have. I'm not much of a soccer person, although I've tried to be, but I should probably try to get to a game while I'm there just for the experience.
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