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.