Michelle and I begrudgingly watched the Super Bowl about every other year, before moving, for the commercials and a reason to make themed food, but otherwise we had little interest in football in the United States. American football (to me) seemed like a bloated, over-commercialized, and excessively violent waste of an afternoon. Other than the Olympics and some Tour de France footage we rarely tuned in to any sport with regularity.

In Portugal (and from what I’ve garnered based on interactions with people from other countries, most of the world) the relationship to futebol (soccer) is different, and possibly even more passionate. Games involving the locally supported teams bring large crowds to the cafes for impromptu viewing parties. Instead of the crowd you’d imagine at an American sports bar, this is a near perfect cross section of the community. Grandmas wearing their favorite team scarves, swing shift workers peeking their heads in a window during their break to get a score update, fanatics swigging beer and complaining about perceived referee errors, small children uninterested in the game providing amusement during slow moments with impromptu peek-a-boos, you can find them all together at the cafe during a game.

People’s connection to futebol is a complicated one (there are some interesting documentaries about FIFA, UEFA, and various teams on Netflix and Apple TV), encompassing feelings about relegations, political gripes, or even the overwhelming pride residents have in the star players who grew up in their towns. Shout out to Gonçalo Ramos, born in Olhão, who we got to see during this game. For now, let’s just say that Michelle and I watch a game or two of futebol almost every week and last September we went to our first (MAJOR) live match.

The national team was playing at the Algarve stadium between Faro and Loulé and our wonderful friends Jorge, who played soccer in his youth, and Karen, who had experience as a soccer referee, were excited to join us for a night out. Portugal was rated first in their division and was playing Luxembourg who was 3rd at the time. The stadium was nearly full, except the sections reserved for people from Luxembourg – you actually have to show identification to sit there. Portugal played an amazing game routing their opponents by a whopping 9-0. I will say that the food and drinks on offer were horribly disappointing but other than that miniscule gripe we all had a great night!