Football, Ferroviário, Fireworks

Last night I took in a match involving the third football team in Fortaleza, Ferroviário. Ferroviário is currently in competition in Brazilian Serie C. Serie C is a competition with multiple stages in which teams are divided into groups of 4, with teams playing each other team in their group home and away, with the top 2 teams in each group then advancing to the next stage. Ferroviário is now in the second to last stage, and sits in second place in their group. The top 4 teams from the final group of 8 will be promoted to Serie B for next season. If Ferroviário were able to manage a draw against Bahia last night, and a a win or draw on the road this Saturday, they stood an excellent chance of advancing to the final group of eight.

Last night, Ferroviário took on first placed Bahia, from the city of Salvador. The game was held in Estádio Presidente Vargas, rather than the larger Castelão that I have previously seen games in. Vargas has a nice atmosphere, as it is a smaller stadium with concrete bleachers and an enthusiastic group of fans. The Ferroviário fan club sets up behind the opposing goalkeeper and creates a considerable amount of noise in the form of drums, fireworks, and songs. At halftime, they march to drumbeats to the opposite end of the stadium to continue the harassment of the opposing keeper in the second half. Last night, I saw fireworks set off in one corner of the stadium three times, and many more times outside the stadium.

Ferroviário vs. Bahia
Estádio Presidente Vargas
27 Set 2006
2030

Ferroviário took on Bahia in a critical Serie C match last night at Estádio Presidente Vargas. Throughout the first half, Ferroviário created numerous chances with a clear advantage in team speed that allowed their outside midfielders to penetrate deep into the corners to produce crosses into the penalty area. The Ferroviário strikers placed heads or feet on a few of these crosses, but were unable to find the back of the net. Bahia had a few chances on counterattacks after defensive mistakes by Ferroviário. At the half, the score was knotted at 0-0.

Returning from halftime, Bahia took the opening kickoff and came out with a bit more enthusiasm, immediately creating high quality chances. The Ferroviário parried a few well taken corners and free kicks away before a 2 on 1 break by Bahia resulted in the first goal of the game, putting Ferroviário down 1-0 on their home turf. Ten minutes later, Ferroviário would penetrate deep into the penalty area, only to be tackled from the side by a Bahia defender. The referee blew the whistle immediately, pointing to the spot to award the game's only penalty kick. After a bit of dissent from Bahia, the kick was taken, with Ferroviário placing the ball past the outstretched arms of the Bahia keeper. The game resumed with the score now tied at one, and Bahia again mounted attacks that required brilliant goalkeeping to keep the score level. With five minutes remaining, Ferroviário had their best chance of the match with the recently substituted left striker penetrating deep into the area only to push a shot just left of the goal post. The game ended a few moments later in a tie, with each team gaining a hard earned point in the standings.