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.