Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Cali, Colombia - World Cup Fever

They're In
The last game of the world cup qualifiers was held on Tuesday night.  The whole city ground to a halt, the game was on everywhere.  Colombia was taking on Peru in Lima and they needed a win or a tie with Chile losing.  We watched the second half at an outdoor ice cream shop.  Every employee was there with us, running into the shop to serve the odd customer and then running back out as quickly as possible.

It was zero-zero at half, then Colombia scored.  The place went absolutely crazy, the ice cream employees were jumping up and down and screaming, hugging and high-fiving each other  Ten minutes later, Peru leveled the game and it was quiet from that point on.  Brazil was smashing Chile, essentially knocking them out.  All Colombia had to do was keep the tie.  It was the tensest 30 minutes - everyone yelling at the television whenever Colombia lost the ball or let Peru across mid-field.  Finally, the tie held up and Colombia was in.  We walked home and from our terrace we heard celebratory fireworks, or perhaps gunshots - it's hard to tell the difference.





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