Did a bit of sight seeing and I noticed large masses of Internacional fans around so like any football loving tourist would do would naturally find the source of the congregation. Initially I thought it was a player unveiling and thought this is rather over the top for that especially when there were ticket booths open. The ticket cost me 40 reais which is roughly 19 Australian dollars and i managed to buy them without ID which apparently was supposed to happen.
So I walked in and picked my seat as it was general admission and picked a nice sport in the corner to view both goals and the action. This is the same venue where Australia lost to the Netherlands 3-2 in that very eventful match where Australia were on track to snatch victory only to take the foot off the pedal and fall asleep at the wheel like the rest of their World Cup campaign panned out to be.
The match was contested by "friends of D'Alessandro" and "Stars of the World" (English translations). I had a bit of a laugh about the world stars team as it reminded me of the Socceroos 1999 match in Sydney that was built up as the best in the world playing Australia but got watered down constantly to the point there virtually were no stars.
Most if not 95% of the players were not wearing shin guards which is very customary for these charity matches in Brazil which are quite the fixture after the football season is done and dusted in early December as the gentleman's rule is no heavy tackling. Many of these players are former greats and internationals of the game such as Ze Roberto, Dunga or Zanetti, Amaral or Zico.
The match was full of drama to simply entertain the crowd to make them laugh. I rather liked this as it was almost like a football theatre but in an open stadium in front of 35,500 fans. D'Alessandro or Dale as he is called was instrumental in most of the action scoring two goals himself. There was a moment a World Stars player was pushing up to the box then stopped with the ball at his feet. Every player stopped and waiting for him. Angrilly he was gesturing to his team mates and the opposition to get out of the way he is now taking the shot for goal. The crowd began an enormous rapture of laughter as he took the shot but was saved by the keeper who had to dive low and to his right. After all that the player who took the shot thanked the crowd, players and referee for being good sports.
The match was 5 goals to 2 in favour of Dale's team but with 5 minutes to go the referee has had enough blows his whistle and stops play. He asks one of the players to swap shirts and be the referee while he has a go at playing. Well what happens next is a penalty is given and the referee now has the duty of taking it from the spot. He misses but the referee was informed that the keeper was off his line and a retake is required. Goal scored this time with the match ending 5-3 in favour of Friends of Dale.
Food was there and plentiful but with so many people there and the nature of Brazil it became rather difficult to get it. Popcorn was 7 reais (3) with soft drink in 600mL bottles for 5 (2) but pay 10 (4) and you get a plastic collectors cup to take home with you; I must warn you numbers in brackets are Australian dollars. Water was 4 (1.80), pizza was 10 (4), potato 10 (4) and beers were 8 (3.50).
They have people come up and down like at the baseball asking if anyone wants food. I saw a hot-dog vendor but i couldn't get to him or flag him down as my Portuguese is atrocious. All in all a good place to watch football and for an Australian perspective value for money for food and drink there.
For the pure chance of going to a football game in Brazil when due to my travel plans had me unable to attend other events in the country it was a nice pleasure to be able to watch some football in the name of charity at a world cup venue.
