The people of Gimnasia are absolutely top rate. They are treating us very well and have almost become too accomodating. Their hospitality is unbelievable and we are all grateful.
More than one player stated that this "was the greatest day of my life!". Unless you have experienced what we did today it is impossible to understand. I'll explain more later.
With all of us asleep pretty early and with 2 rooms of 3 players, 1 room of 4 and 1 room of 7 we really didn't feel the need to set an alarm. Breakfast was scheduled for 8am and coach Sabin was the first to wake up at 7:55.
Training was from 9:30-11. The profession team's head and assistant coaches stopped by to greet the players and the youth team coaches conducted the all-technical session. I had the chance to meet with the staff after training and compare our ideals and culteral differences and its very difficult for them to understand how different our environment is for the players. It was a wonderful exchange and one I truly enjoyed.
After yet another meal (we seem to eat all the time and the national beverage is coke), we loaded the bus for the match between Gimnasia and Rosario Central. The match was supposed to be held at the new state of the art 45,000-seat La Plata Stadium but the head coach chose the old stadium which holds only 25,000 but it much more intimate. The two teams were both relegated to the second division last year and currently sit 1-2 in the promotion table back to the top division next year so the match was very important for both teams.
We were treated unbelievable at the match. The group entered the stadium through the Gimnasia locker room as the team returned from warm-ups. They took us to the field and took picture on the playing surface. We were the guests of the team president and sat in the owner's box. Most of the players and both coaches were able to get seats just outside the box.
It is impossible to explain the atmosphere so I won't try, but the match ended 1-0 on a very questionable penalty for the home side with 5 minutes left. Both teams finished the match with only 9 players and the away fans tore chairs from the concrete and threw them over the fence. Gimnasia went from a player up to a player down and back to even in about 10 minutes. The Gimnasia coach was sent off and needed to be restrained by the police and the Rosario coaches went after the referee after the match. A group of Rosario fans actually went after the riot police and the only disappointment amongst our players was that they pulled the water canon and pointed it at the skirmish, but never actually used it.
Note - the home fans are locked in the stadium after the match for about 30 minutes to give the away team fans time to "escape". After witnessing my first match in this country I completely understand why!
Tomorrow we have a full training session with the youth team coaches and they have promised a very demanding session for the boys. The highlight for tomorrow is the match between Independiente and San Lorenzo in Buenos Aires.
Buenos Noches.
