San Fran Soccer Sundays

The past few Sundays have been spent in soccer, San Fran, and sky church bliss. My neighbor and friend Mario plays in a soccer league in San Francisco de la Paz. Recently the team has been participating in a tournament. So I had the pleasure of going to San Fran for the semifinal and championship game.

The first Sunday we went was for the semifinal. We started off at church and it was one of the strangest church experiences I've ever had. The microphones weren't the best and the priest spoke some pretty tricky Spanish to understand. That and the group of giggling Honduran girls behind us, made for an incredibly unfocused church experience. The girls kept on "scratching" my back. Then they started gifting us things: Lacey got a ward off evil spirits necklace, Laura a cell phone charm, and I a Christmas, French horn pin. Random.

After church we walked with Milton (Mario's nephew) and Blackie (Mario's brother) to the stadium. Blackie's real name is Edwin, but they used to call him Negrito and then that switched to Blackie in English. It's been so nice to get to know Mario's family and friends more as they are all such wonderful, genuine, caring, and welcoming people.

The stadium was packed when we arrived as the first semifinal match was underway. The game was dead even the whole time. Back and forth. Back and forth. Finally one team scored and the other team quickly followed that up. So the game headed into overtime and eventually penalty kicks. Unfortunately, one of the teams just really blew it during the PKs. They goalie missed saving all 3 of their shots and the goalie of the other team saved all 3. Side note, pretty impressive goalie-ing as I don't believe I've ever seen three saved in a row. waaah waaah.

Then it was time for Mario's team to play, Delicas FBC. The real entertainment began during this game. The men were having a great time during this game, throwing back drinks and hassling one another. It was great. I was just bummed I couldn't partake due to different social norms :-P Delicas FBC has an awesome "cheerleader" or sorts. We found out his name is Roger or as I dubbed him C. Ronaldo/ The Avs. He has a friendly rivalry with Joche (sp?) who is the "cheerleader" for the other team. It was a tricky game to watch because it was such a fast moving soccer game and the banter between C. Ronaldo and Joche was equally as interesting so it proved to be a challenge to constantly monitor both forms of entertainment.

Within ten minutes of playing, Mario scored the first goal. Now, Mario is a fantastic person. He works so hard and for so many people. He does amazing things and is incredibly humble, calm, caring, and laid back, so much so that I knew each time I asked him about soccer and how he would just brush it off as "Oh, yeah soccer's fun. I'm okay at it" that he was an amazing soccer player. I was right. He had injured his ankle and wasn't even sure he was going to get to play. The coach was like I need you Mario, so he played. And, he didn't just play, he was the striker, now you don't play striker on an injured ankle unless you are GOOD. Mario went on to score two more goals in the game and Delicas won! Each time they scored, C. Ronaldo would turn around and high five us and say "You for yellow! Yay yellow! I like it!"

When the team one, we all rushed the field. Delicas had never made it into the finals before. It was thrilling to be apart of such pure joy and excitement with the players and fans. So much heart and love. As we were getting ready to leave, C. Ronaldo says, "You go to my party? Party in streee?" hahaah. We told him we would probably just see him at the next game. But, it was Mario's party too and Mario was the MVP, so we decided to go for a little bit.

What happens when a bunch of gringas show up to a soccer after-party? Well, it's quite the experience let me tell you. Suddenly there's this strange battle for attention, one second lifting Mario up and celebrating the soccer victory and then you catch a glimpse of the gringa's red hair and the gringas get swarmed with adoring men, offers of beers, dances, and "Te amo"'s. Definitely made space for lots of creepy moments, hilarious memories, and good times.

The next Sunday we returned for the championship game. Again we started off our Sunday at church. This time Fr. Dan was saying mass, so I could understand and follow him much better. Unfortunately, this time we had to leave mid-homily because the soccer game was starting. I have to admit I was a little bummed because I was really enjoying his messages about following rainbows.

When we arrived at the soccer game, we immediately came across good ole C. Ronaldo. We all practically ran to each other and greeted each other with big hugs. He's from New Jersey, silent J of course, so he spoke to us in his broken English and we told him we were ready for the big game. Of course Joche was back as well and the bantering was off to a rapid and rampant fashion. Laura even dared to enter into the bantering, which made for more hilarity on our part.

Delicas was facing Lempira. Lempira is a team from a small town just out side SF de La Paz. This team is notorious for bringing in illegal players and for cheating. Our friend Lalo whose house dad is the sweeper for Delicas said that he was fighting off offers all week to lose the game. Within about 5 minutes of playing, it certainly at least appeared to me that a couple of the refs had been bought, but maybe I'm mistaken.

The game was hard fought by both sides all along. It was much more of a battle than a soccer game, in my opinion however. There were lots of yellow cards thrown and tough battles for balls. Neither team could really seem to capitalize on many opportunities either, although Lempira definitely had more close calls than Delicias. Unfortunately, Delicas committed a foul inside the penalty box, leading to a goal score for Lempira. A few minutes later a Delicas player received a second yellow card and was thus ejected from the game, leaving Delicas a man down and unable to score a tying goal the rest of the game.

Regardless, the atmosphere, excitement, and joy were plenty. Good times were had. AND, Delicas still made it to the next round of soccer play. Now they go on to play teams from other parts of Honduras. So, no worries, Mario and Delicas, I'll be back to cheer you on, cause there's nothing I like more than San Fran Soccer Sundays.