Day 10

Morning - Ricardo and Leo, the administrators of Premier Soccer Tours and organizers of the Brown team's trip, are both from Rosario. Leo grew up playing for Newell Old Boys, one of Rosario's two largest and most famous clubs, now known for being the club where Leonel Messi rose to fame. On the morning of Day 10, Leo showed the team the youth training academy, where they saw a group of six year-olds who could easily demolish any U-18 team in the U.S. Incidentally, these were the fields where Lionel Messi first played. There is a popular Mastercard commercial that features footage of a young Messi on the fields:



Needless to say, Leo was beaming with excitement as he showed the Brown players around the club. A little later, he arranged for the team to visit a discount jersey store, where they could pick up some inexpensive replicas. Perhaps by coincidence, the store only sold Newell Old Boys attire.

Afternoon - Later that day, the team headed to a local restaurant/bar to watch the Brazil-Argentina World Cup qualifier. Leo and Ricardo had to pull some strings to get a group of 25 Americans into the incredibly packed facility, but they somehow managed to do so. The team took in the match with a roomful of Argentines whose very well being--and that of their friends, families, and loved ones--seemed to depend on the outcome of the match. They oohed and aahed every time Messi touched the ball, and seemed totally perplexed any time he lost it. In the end the game ended in a 0-0 draw, with most local witnesses agreeing that Argentina should have won.

After the game, the team loaded back onto the bus and returned to the hotel to prepare for their final game of the trip, against the Newell Old Boys reserves. It remains to be seen which team Leo will cheer for.

Day 9

Brown 2, Central Córdoba 1

Before the game - The morning of the match, the team is given a brief tour of Rosario. At first, most of the players seem a bit unenthusiastic. Then, the tour guide (a remarkably cute Argentine girl who speaks fluent English) appears. Suddenly, the team's collective posture improves dramatically, and everyone's messed up hair somehow becomes combed. "Wow," the girl says at one point in the tour. "You guys have a lot of questions. You must really be interested in Rosario."

2:50 pm - The team arrives at the field, fearing they might be late for the 3:30 kickoff. Instead, they find not a single member of the opposing squad.

3:30 pm - At the scheduled kickoff time, Central Córdoba have exactly two players. Coaches Noonan and Murphy survey the nearby road and place bets on which passing mopeds will drop off (or might be willing to drop off) players. Ryan Levesque heads to the highway and asks a pack of hitchhikers if they would like to suit up for the match.

4:45 pm - The opponents finally have eleven players, and the game kicks off more than an hour later than scheduled. A 35 year-old former first division star, who for some reason now plays with this second division side, begins to dominate the match.

28th minute - A Córdoba player uses what is known as "Argentinian On-sides" (5-10 yards offsides) and fires one home. 1-0 Central Córdoba.

37th minute - Several days of training finally pays off, as Brown strings together a lovely six-pass movement that culminates with a low Darren Howerton strike. 1-1 tie.

62nd minute - T.J. Thompson steals the ball from an opposing defender in the penalty area, cuts the ball back approximately sixteen times, and is eventually fouled by the frustrated, dizzied defender. Darren Howerton steps up to strike the ensuing penalty kick, and shoots low left as the keeper dives right. 2-1 Brown.

85th-89th minutes - As darkness sets in, Brown misses a series of easy headers and tap-ins from inside the six yard box. After each miss, a wolf howls at the moon and the sound of crickets fills the air.

90th minute - The final whistle sounds and the team stumbles through the darkness, hands raised in front of them, searching for the bus.

Day 8

As many of you know, there is a huge farmer's strike taking place in Argentina right now. As best I can gather, the problem began when the government raised export taxes on beef and grain, two major staples of Argentina's economy. They also began devoting increasing amounts of land to soy production--soy is one of Argentina's most profitable crops. The government claimed these measures were necessary to combat rapid inflation and other warning signs that were eerily reminiscent of those that preceded the 2001 economic collapse.

On Day 7, as the boys waited for their bus at the hotel, thousands of protesters marched from El Obelisco to the Plaza de Mayo, passing directly in front of the hotel. They banged pots and pans and chanted slogans in support of the farmers, in support of preservation of the land, and in support of unity. As the players stood and took in the scene, many of the protesters waved and cheered, encouraging the Americnas to make noise in support of their cause. One woman even gave them a copy of a poem she had composed.

On Day 8, the team boarded a double-decker bus and departed for Rosario, a city four hours north of Buenos Aires, along the Rio de la Plata. The question on everyone's mind was, would the striking farmers lengthen the trip, or prevent it altogether? They were blocking many major roads near Rosario, a city of one million people near the heart of Argentina's farmlands.

But in the end, there were no blockades and no flying pitchforks. After a quick 3.5 hour drive, the boys arrived safe and sound to Rosario, and checked into the hotel.

Andele!

Day 7

On the seventh day, the Brown Men's Soccer team rested.

In the morning, the boys explored the artist stands in Recoleta, where dozens of local artisans and craftsmen sell all things painted, knitted, and leathered for low, low prices. Unfortunately, several of the players were unable to purchase the things they wanted, as the merchants informed them that they had been given counterfeit money.

In the afternoon, the team returned to Ricardo's house, where they lounged around the backyard and ate fleftover beef and pork sandwiches. Needless to say, this second asado was just as delicious as the first, if not quite as epic.









In the evening, the boys were treated headed to the Argentina vs. Ecuador World Cup qualifier at the River Plate stadium. The match featured the best and worst of South American soccer -- bouncing fans uniting in song, flags everywhere, ten year-olds shouting insults at the opposing players, incredible displays of skill by Leonel Messi and the rest of the Argentine team, and time-killing tactics by the Ecuadorians that bordered on embarrassing. A last minute strike from Rodrigo Palacio rescued Argentina, and the game ended in a 1-1 draw, which every fan in attendance considered completely unacceptable.

Day 6

Day 6 kicked off with a 30 minute spinning workout at the local gym, led by assistant coach Ryan Levesque. As Levesque sat on the raised bike at the front of the class, barking out commands like Richard Simmons or Billy Blanks, it became apparent that he has missed his true calling. The speakers pumped out the house mix ("musica electronica") as the boys burned off approximately a tenth of the calories they ingested at the previous night's asado.

The afternoon featured a training session at the Argentinos Juniors training ground, and the evening consisted of some free time to explore the city. Because none of the team events were particularly photogenic, I've posted some pictures of downtown Buenos Aires for your ogling pleasure. Enjoy!

Day 5

Day 5 was incredibly packed. It included:

- A game against the Argentina Juniors reserves
- Lunch at a sports bar called 'Loco por el Futbol' to watch Italy vs. Romania
- A trip to Recoleta Cemetery
- An appallingly massive feast of pork and beef at tour director Ricardo (I don't know his last name)'s house
- A magic show!

Argentina Juniors 3, Brown 1
Warm-Ups: Neither team is allowed to warm up on the game field. Brown's field players play keep-away on a hard packed-dirt field, while assistant coach Ryan Levesque puts the Brown goalies through shooting exercises in a patch of land adjacent to a shack, with stray chickens. Levesque uses the chickens as token defenders, beating them with a series of clever stepover moves and curling in crosses, some of which deflect off overhead tree branches. The goal mouth is essentially a beach volleyball court, causing the goalies to be repeatedly sprayed in the eyes with loose sand on low shots, and to shake the dirt out of their shoes afterwards.

1st minute - Brown asserts itself immediately, putting Juniors under heavy pressure in the midfield. They force numerous turnovers and claim a good chunk of possession.

2nd - 30th minutes - The game goes back and forth, with neither side able to generate many great scoring chances.

33rd minute - A Juniors forward nods home a corner kick for a 1-0 lead.

38th minute - Darren Howerton plays a quick free kick to Jon Okafor, who motors down the right sideline and cuts the ball back to Nick Elenz-Martin, who fires in a low shot from 15 yards. 1-1 tie.

Halftime - Brown Coach Mike Noonan is highly encouraged by Brown's performance, and he tells them as much.

46th - 75th minutes - Both teams trade scoring chances and miss several clear scoring opportunities.

76th minute - Juniors breaks the deadlock with a nifty combination play and clinical finish. 2-1 Juniors.

83rd minute - Juniors seals victory on a great individual effort from their left midfielder. After running through the heart of Brown's defense, he blasts a perfect shot into the upper right hand corner. 3-1.




Lunch: Loco Por El Futbol
After the game, the team lunches at a massive sports bar in Recoleta. Eight large projectors complement the approximately 45 televisions that stretch from one end of the bar to the other, and hoards of international citizens scream in despair, joy, or disbelief with each play.



Recoleta Cemetery
After lunch, the team explores the Recoleta Cemetery.




Dinner at Ricardo's
The day concludes with a massive feast at Ricardo's house. As per the Argentine tradition, dinner begins around 10 pm and concludes when no one can eat any more meat, which is usually around 9 am the next morning. For reasons that are awesome if unclear, a magician showed up after dinner and starting doing tricks.

Day 4

To be honest, not a whole lot happened on Day 4. It was all about rest and recovery. The highlight of the day was the afternoon training session, when the team met the Argentina Juniors youth players, who were performing a series of exercises at the clubhouse when assistant coach Anders Kelto approached them and started asking them questions. Within moments, all exercises had come to a halt as the young Argentines swarmed the Brown team, hoping to learn more about their American guests, and maybe trade some gear. Here is a list of the most commonly asked questions:

"Where are you from?"

"What state is that in?"

"What position do you play?"

"Do you play well?"

"Is it true that college parties in America are crazy? They look crazy. I have seen all of the movies. There are many girls."

"Do you have anything that you can trade with us?"

Assistant Coach Ken Murphy slipped an 11 year-old player a piece of gum through the fence and instantly became the boy's favorite member of the squad. The boy was instantly surrounded by his friends, who insisted on getting a piece of his piece, leaving him with approximately 1/16th of his original stick.


Assistant Coach Nic Rossi meets a future Carlos Tevez.

Day 3

The team played its first match against the reserves from Estudiantes de la Plata today. For those of you who don’t follow Argentine professional soccer (there are probably a few of you), Estudiantes is one of the strongest clubs in Argentina. While they don’t garner the same international attention as Boca or River, they are one of the country’s most storied and successful clubs: World Club Champions in 1968, a slew of league championships, a first place finish last year, and a second place finish this year.

Estudiantes fielded a young but very strong reserve side – a combination of their best academy (U-18) players and young professionals, including three players who have played for the professional first team. For a Brown team that has trained together for only a week, and lacks a bit of fitness, the task proved too formidable. They were thoroughly outplayed (and at times run in circles), and lost 3-0. On the plus side, Estudiantes were fun to watch!

Here is your post-game report:

Warm-Ups: The referee asks to speak with the team captains. When he learns that Brown has two captains, he says, “Two?! But why?!?” After a brief explanation, he continues to shake his head, utterly unable to comprehend the concept.

1st minute – Estudiantes immediately finds its rhythm, moving the ball effortlessly from player to player. On the rare instance that Brown intercepts a pass, they maintain possession for only a few passes.

2nd minute – A blatanly offside player is waved on, signaling that it might be a long afternoon for the Brown backline.

15th minute – Estudiantes strike early. A corner kick finds its way through the crowded box, and an open player blasts it home from fifteen yards. 1-0 Estudiantes.

27th minute – After a nifty buildup on the left side, Estudiantes’ mullet-ed left midfielder curls in a perfect ball, which a towering forward clinically heads into the goal. 2-0 Estudiantes.

30th minute – Steve Sawyer takes a shot in the lower stomach and stays down. The Estudiantes trainer appears on the scene and administers a bizarre treatment that cannot be adequately described here—let’s just say it was a combination of groin stretching, Lamaze breathing, and an upper back massage, with whispered Spanish instructions in the ear. Athletic trainer Matt Culp is unclear what to do in this situation, so he remains on the bench, laughing.

33rd minute – A ball over the top is met by Estudiantes’ incredibly quick – but apparently offsides -- right midfielder, who skips toward goal and blasts a shot into the left side of the net. 3-0 Estudiantes.

41st minute – Paul Grandstrand saves a semi-breakaway from the left side, pushing the ball wide of the right post.

50th minute – Estudiantes’ central defender turns to striker Dylan Sheehan, who often appears fatigued, and asks, “You smoke? You no fit!”

58th minute – Another Brown player goes down, and trainer Matt Culp hustles onto the field. Once again, however, he is beaten to the scene by his new arch nemesis, the deceptively quick trainer. He politely asks the man if he can administer care to his player, and the man eventually complies.

60th – 90th minutes – Estudiantes continues to put on a clinic, missing shot after shot by several inches. Brown musters a handful of attacks, but is clearly outmatched. After the game, the players exchange “Good Games” and “Bien Hechos,” and Coach Noonan ceremoniously exchanges gifts with the opposing team’s representative.

After the match: The ever-gracious Estudiantes hosts escort the Brown team to its locker room, asking question after question about the team, the university, and life in the United States. After showering, the team enjoys a wonderful meal in the clubhouse, licks its wounds, and heads back to the hotel.

Day 2

On Day 2, the boys traveled to Argentino Juniors and practiced on the fields that such legendary players as Diego Maradona, Fernando Redondo, Juan Ramon Riquelme, and Juan Pablo Sorin used as youth players. When practice began, Darren Howerton ingested approximately three pounds of field grass, hoping to achieve a Maradona-like touch. Whether or not this tactic worked is still unclear. After the morning session and a light afternoon session, the team boarded a bus and took a tour of Buenos Aires. The highlight was a stop at the Boca Juniors stadium, where they snapped photos like a team of wedding photographers and flooded the gift shop like 18 Paris Hiltons. Two photo albums from the day's events are posted below. Enjoy!

Day 1

3:55 pm - The team bus from Providence to New York somehow manages to avoid the Puerto Rican Day Parade, which has turned Manhattan into a sea of red, white and blue flags, jerseys, bandanas, mini-shorts, mini-skirts, mini-panties and nudity.

8:35 pm - The flight from New York to Washington D.C. departs over an hour later than scheduled. When it touches down, the team is left with only a 25-minute window to make its connection.

9:20 pm - As the players rush through the Dulles airport, they are faced with a difficult choice: make their flight, or pick up a Bacon Double Cheeseburger Extra Value Meal at Wendy's. Within seconds, a line of thirteen hungry college athletes has formed at Wendy's. Through an act of divine intervention, the players all make the flight, vanilla Frosties in hand.

9:45 pm - 11 hours of flying begins, with the expected jostling and jockeying for position.

9:45 am - 11 hours of flying comes to an end.

10:15 am - The team boards its bus and passes through the sprawling suburbs of Buenos Aires. They observe the odd juxtaposition of dilapidated brick and concrete residences with colorful billboards for designer clothes and high end perfumes.

11:30 - The team checks in at the 725 Continental Hotel. Located just a few blocks off Calle de 9 de Julio, and within sight of el Obelisco, it is right in the heart of the downtown district.

3:30 - After lunch and a quick nap, the team heads to a training session at Club Atletico Platence. The stadium is a classic South American venue, with cement bleachers, decaying brick walls, patchy yellow grass, and barbed wire. They are let into the stadium by a friendly team of security guards and escorted to the sidelines of the game field. After a spirited session, they get back in their transport vehicles (aka "The Ice Cream Trucks") and navigate the crowded avenues and side streets of Buenos Aires. Despite the chilly temperature (high 40s), the streets are bustling with people. Trucks jockey for position with motorbikes that weave in and out of Calle 9 de Julio's fourteen busy lanes, while pedestrians slow traffic as they fight their way through the crowded side streets.

7:55 pm - After dinner at the hotel, the team settles into their rooms and takes in replays of the Euro 2008 games. After a long day of travel and training, it's early to bed...and early to rise.

It's (briefly) Alive (again)!

What do Michael Jordan, New Kids on the Block and the Brown Men's Soccer Blog all have in common? No, the answer is not "they revolutionized their art form" or "they are all stunningly attractive," though those are both technically true. The answer is...comebacks! All three announced their retirement and then later announced their return to the game, in grandiose fashion.

Jordan's comeback was a tremendous success -- I'm pretty sure he won sixteen championships after rejoining the NBA. The New Kids on the Block will be a miserable failure -- boy band success does not equal man band success. And the Brown Men's Soccer blog will, by all accounts, set a new standard for comeback excellence, eclipsing even Jordan himself.

Though I am no longer a member of the men's soccer staff, I, your humble correspondent, will be traveling with the team to Buenos Aires on June 8, as they tour the country, play professional teams, learn important cross-cultural lessons, and discover that Madonna was not, in fact, the president of Argentina. It is destined to be an educational and unforgettable trip, and I look forward to inadequately describing it.

In all seriousness, I traveled to Brazil in 1999 with the Brown team, and it was one of the most unforgettable, eye-opening experiences of my life. This trip should be no different, and I look forward to sharing the team's many wonderful experiences with you. On that note, please don't forget to donate money toward this valuable cause.

See you (sort of) in Arr-hen-teen-ah!

-Anders