It was a fun game though. Yelena, Jess, Kate, Kelsey, Megan, Kristy, Bethany, Erika, and I walked to the stadium around 1:00 this afternoon in order to have time to buy our tickets (it's an hour walk from Cerchi to the Fiorentina stadium).
Once at the stadium, it took us awhile to figure out where to go. Every time we tried a new entrance, we found out we had the wrong tickets and were sent elsewhere. We made it almost the entire way around the stadium before someone finally let us in.
Our prize for getting through the very tight security was that each of us received a chocolate Easter egg wrapped in Fiorentina foil. Inside each of our chocolate shells, was a purple plastic Easter egg, and inside that egg was a toy duck. Each of our ducks wore Fiorentina team colors (it's actually Fiorentina Club, by the way; they don't have teams, they have clubs) and was in a different soccer pose (mine is holding the ball over his head).
The game began without much introduction. The team was announced (not individually, but "Here's your Fiorentina team! Ecco il tuo club Fiorentina!"), then the rival team, Chievo, took the field without any fanfare, and the match began.
This was my first time seeing professional soccer, and I'm pretty sure the only other thing I've seen live that might be more intense than this game, is its fans. The Fiorentina fans were nuts. They were on their feet the whole game, no matter what was happening on the field, shouting and gesturing in a way only Italians can. I was surprised by the level of anger toward their own team; the fans would boo and hiss Fiorentina for every wrong move they made and every good move Chievo made. When Chievo scored the first goal of the game, the Fiorentina fans went wild with rage, yelling and even throwing things at the team.
We were down 0-1 going into halftime, and Fiorentina was booed off the field, running into the locker room with their faces covered - less from shame, I think, than as a means of protection from the furious "supporters."
Halftime at this game was much less a spectacle than it would be in America. I'm used to watching pierogi races during the seventh inning stretch at Pirates games and having mascots shoot t-shirts and hotdogs out of cannons at every sporting event I attend (although if you know me, you know I don't attend many). At Fiorentina, there was no entertainment and we all just sat waiting for the second half or went to get drinks and popcorn at the refreshment stands.
When the team took the field again at the start of the second half, Fiorentina was booed again. But they brought it back quickly, tying up the game within a few minutes of returning to the field. The Fiorentina fans went wild again, but this time in a good way, waving flags, clapping, cheering on their team, and singing La Viola!, the Fiorentina fight song.
I enjoyed the match a lot more in the second half, now that we were in the game and the fans weren't so enraged and threatening. Also, Fiorentina was shooting toward the fans (we sat in the Fiorentina fan section), so they spent a lot more time on our side of the field. We came close a few times to scoring a second goal and Artur Boruc, Fiorentina's goalie, managed to make a few great saves.
The next goal came with two minutes left in the game... but it was scored on us. The Fiorentina fans were so outraged that, instead of booing and throwing things like they did the first time Chievo scored, the simply got up and left. A sea of purple supporters simply stood up without a word and moved to the exits, leaving our CCI group setting completely alone on the bleachers in our Stevan Jovetic jerseys, while the real #8 attempted to rally his defeated team on the field.
Jovetic did manage one last near-goal, but Fiorentina failed to bring it back. The players ran off the field after their defeat, covering their heads once again and being shepherded into a quickly constructed tunnel form the field to the lockers in order to protect the team from any remaining fans.
It was upsetting that our team lost, but it was a good game and a great experience. I definitely had fun, even if none of the Fiorentines did.
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| Go team! CCI love at the Fiorentina match... plus some creeper. We can't avoid them. |
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