This past weekend we experienced our first Honduran soccer game! Jess and Jesse happened to be visiting during the semi-final game of the Honduran National League so we all ran to the store on Saturday to stock up on green clothing and headed to the stadium on Saturday night.
We chose to root for Marathon (mostly because they are from San Pedro Sula). The other team, Olimpia, is from Teguc and is known as being similar to the Yankees (aka a lot of money and a lot of fans).
Marathon scored first and then Olimpia came back to the tie the game. Each time a goal was scored the crowd would go wild….fans set off fireworks in the stands and threw their beers from the balcony seats into the crowd below. It was wild! With only about 10 minutes left in the second half, Marathon scored again, locking in a 2-1 victory.
The cab ride home from the game was crazy as people were out in the streets cheering and shouting and our cab driver had the Marathon radio station cranked so high we could barely think!
Now that Marathon has advanced into the finals, there will be another game here in San Pedro two weeks from now. We’re hoping to get tickets again and drag the next round of visitors to the game!
Me, Jess, and Jesse in the taxi on the way to the stadium. There are two stadiums in San Pedro Sula, one downtown and one on the way to the airport. This game was at the second of the two, which also happens to be larger. It can fit about 47,000 people, but only around 20,000 were in attendance.
A view of the Olimpia section. This group of fans reminded me of the student section at Badger games…everyone was cheering in unison and jumping around for the entire game!
Me and Jess (and a random fan) at the game. To our surprise, the vendors were selling MGD rather than Honduran beer at the game.
Marathon is in green and Olimpia is in white.
Two Jesses and an Alex celebrating after the game.
The boys playing Wii in their matching Marathon shirts.
Me and Jess in our matching green Marathon shirts.
From Russia with Love 
Alex looks like he is in his element! I also would have been cheering for the home team. Not sure I would have liked beer spilled on me, though. Sound like it is a good idea to buy tickets for seats in the upper deck.Here is a suggestion for next blog entry: show us your Christmas decorations!
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Very god idea to watch some real football!! Have been waiting for this piece in your blog!If you are able to attend the final game it would be nice, if you could fetch, on your video, some excellent plays as well as the reaction of the crowd. It must have been wonderful to feel the atmosphere in the stadium. I see they have security guards around the whole field.
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They did have security guards surrounding the whole field, and they were very decked out. Each guard was in all black swat-type gear with a large metal shield!
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