I’ve abandoned my comfy seat at Toronto’s BMO field this season for a year of travel and hopefully several football matches worldwide. Having never seen a match outside of North America I almost feel like I’ve been missing out on something. This week finds me in Cuzco, Peru and as luck would have it just in time for Wednesday’s Copa Libertadores match involving local club Cienciano and Brazilian giants Flamengo.

I actually had no idea this match was even happening, even though I’m always online trying to find a match occurring in a city that I may be passing through. I’m travelling with Jordana, fellow TFC supporter, footie freak and my wife. We spent the last few days out of contact with the world while visiting the ruins of Machu Picchu. As we left our hotel Wednesday morning we immediately noticed on every block people selling some sort of tickets: usually it’s lottery tickets here in Latin America. As we settled in for breakfast we noticed the entire staff wearing Cienciano jerseys. Outside people sold flags, hats and shirts all with the double C of Cienciano. A man stood near the entrance of the cafe yelling out, “Occidente! Oriental! Norte! Sur!” He was selling tickets for the four sections of the stadium. I approached and inquired how much and who was playing. He seemed a bit shocked I didn’t know Flamengo was in town and the importance of this group match. After looking through some tickets I choose the Occidental or west end. For less than the price of a beer at BMO Field ($10) we had tickets to the match.

As the day wore on you could feel the buzz in the city. A parade of Cienciano supporters with full band marched their way to the stadium at 3pm, even though kick off wasn’t until 8pm. We hailed a taxi and arrived at the stadium to find all the surrounding streets closed to traffic. Cars had been replaced with rows of souvenirs that lined the streets. We lined up to enter the stadium and were both surprised at the lack of security. It seemed if you hid something (a bottle of whiskey) then you were in the clear, if you carried it than you had to toss it.

Walking up the ramp to our seats I was immediately struck by the energy already present in the stadium and the fact that with over one hour to game time the entire 42,000 seat stadium was full. I have never experienced anything like this before. We both confusingly looked up to our section for seats. Seating here is unassigned and there was not an open spot to be seen. We figured we would walk to the back of the section and maybe stand there. People even sat on the stairs leading up to the seats. It was quite evident this match was way oversold. Finally we found a spot standing next to the National Police. The officer next to myself was a very friendly guy. I wasn’t sure whether I felt safer when he told me, “Don’t worry, you are safe here. We are all police.” Were we not safe elsewhere in the stadium? He was in charge of security for Flamengo and was quite curious to know about MLS. The only team he had heard of was D.C. United. “I know D.C. United. They are best in your league, No?”

The buzz in the stadium grew as game time approached. As Cienciano entered the pitch I got chills listening to the roar of the crowd. In the North end the main Cienciano supporters group, Furia Roja lit bright red flares. In the south end a smaller group lit flares and smoke bombs, and throughout the stadium fireworks were shot in the air with streamers raining down.

Even though Cienciano outplayed Flamengo in the first half there was no score. I was actually quite surprised the crowd wasn’t more vocal. Outside of the Furia Roja, some Flamengo supporters and some other small groups nobody sang all that much. To be honest it wasn’t all that different than an MLS crowd.

Of course, there were differences. The entire crowd was separated from the pitch by a tall barbed wire topped fence. Every time Flamengo took a corner, riot police with shields would run over to protect the player from a rain of debris. The other main difference was that though most of the crowd may not have sang every song and screamed every chant, I’ve still never seen a more passionate bunch at a match before. If Flamengo took possession, the stadium filled with a deafening whistling. When they crossed over half women would scream as if someone had just stolen their baby. It was if they could feel pain every time Flamengo neared the Cienciano goal. Men and boys screamed at the ref, screamed for a goal and twisted their bodies while pulling out their hair with every missed opportunity. Even the police officers next to us were loudly involved: they tried to keep straight faces but as the match wore on they were involved as much as any other fan. Soon I was pulling for the underdog Cienciano as well.

All that energy and passion quickly came to an end as Flamengo dominated the 2nd half. They scored three times and clearly showed they were the superior club. The Cienciano supporters now sat quietly as they watched their frustrated club outplayed.

As uncomfortably crowded as the stadium was, it was an amazing sight to see. Over 42,000 people literally sitting upon each other to watch their beloved club. There was no music, gimmicks or halftime show. Back home at BMO field I know we have a large group of truly dedicated fans, but I also know that many people are there for the show. Its become a trendy weekend outing. Outside of the few other tourists we spotted, this crowd was here for football. Nobody lined up for overpriced beers or foot-long hot dogs. They watched 93 minutes of football as if the result would somehow affect their own lives.

This summer the country played host to the U-20 World Cup, club teams Toronto FC, Montreal Impact and the Vancouver Whitecaps are all successes at the box office, and finally the country has a National Soccer Stadium built in Toronto. An outsider could be led to believe that soccer was in great shape in Canada, but a Canadian soccer fan knows better.

On August 28th Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) president Colin Linford resigned, a decision that brought Canadian supporters back to reality. The CSA is essentially a federation run by volunteers who oversee a $14-million business. When Linford resigned he said a culture of amateurism prevailed and the only way to save the federation was to disband the CSA.

This leads us to the Canada-Costa Rica friendly at the National Soccer Stadium this week. Canadian national team supporter group, the Voyageurs, began to post on their message board about organizing some kind of protest for the match. The goal was to bring attention to the failings of the CSA yet not take anything away from the team on the pitch.

Slowly other groups began to be involved. Toronto FC supporter groups, U-Sector and Red Patch Boys among others, spread word of a protest. “Black Wednesday” was the name of the action and the goal was to cover the stands in mourning black. The result was hundreds of black T-shirts printed up with the slogan “Support our national teams – Sack the CSA.” The shirts sold for $5, just enough to recoup the cost of production.

The main goal of the protest was to get people talking about reform and in this the supporters can claim Wednesday’s action a success as the protest made news nationwide. Canadian supporters realize the revolution won’t happen overnight but the grassroots passion and desire for change is as strong as ever.

The Beckham craze has finally hit Toronto. To be honest, I had always envisioned the local media frenzy in the days leading up to this match to be more intense. Don’t get me wrong, it is a big story here in Toronto, but the real frenzy is being played out on scalper sites like Craigslist and EBay. Scalpers are nothing new to sports, but what may be new is the valiant attempt by Toronto FC’s largest supporter group the Red Patch Boys to stop them — or at least throw them for a curve.

Last week, members of the Red Patch Boys started to post links to tickets being sold on cragslist and EBay for the Galaxy match. The idea has been an attack on scalpers by making false claims on tickets and even posting on Craigslist to make it clear Beckham will not play in this game. Even now, as it has become increasing clear that if Beckham enters the game it will be short lived, scalpers are looking for upwards of $125 per ticket for what is normally a $15 seat. The scalpers have been fighting back with claims such as:

Contrary to the scare tactics that are going on on this site, LA Galaxy have confirmed that Beckham IS travelling to Toronto. He’s resting for tonight’s game, so should be revived for Sunday.Don’t believe the sour grapes of those that don’t have tickets!!!

We have no idea if these tactics are working but the Red Patch Boys are passionate about their club and the cry has been to have real fans in the stadium, not Beckham glory hunters. It’s also interesting to note that (while not to the extent of this game) this battle with scalpers has been an ongoing fixation for the Red Patch Boys. Toronto FC sold out every ticket for every game before a minute was played this season so scalpers have been out in force since April.

The Beckham effect around MLS has been interesting to watch, but here in Toronto the supporters of the club want people to know this stadium is sold out every match with or without Beckham. He is the sideshow in Toronto this week: TFC is the main attraction. On the supporter message boards, the arrival of wrist kissing midfielder Landon Donovan is more anticipated with the chance to shower him with streamers on every corner kick.

There is excitement that this match will be televised from the U.S.A. to Scandinavia to the U.K., as the world will get a chance to see how Toronto has embraced soccer. The supporters thank Beckham for making that possible. However, for the fanatical supporters of TFC, the real injury news this week has been that cult hero Danny Dichio is out.

Photo credit: martingroove on Flickr

I woke up this morning in Toronto and on every TV newscast and radio station the talk was soccer. For a second, I had to check if I was dreaming or had been transported to Argentina: nope, this is actually happening, and it’s not just Toronto but across Canada.

It started with Toronto FC, who have surprised everyone by selling out their entire season. Yesterday, it was announced TFC have a waiting list of 3000 people for season tickets. Then it was the unexpected run of Canada to the semi-finals of the Gold Cup last week. Now it’s the biggest single sporting event ever held in Canada: the under-20 FIFA World Cup.

It seems as if the whole city and country is finally paying attention to soccer. The entire tournament is almost sold out and Montreal has sold close to 60,000 tickets for today’s Brazil/Poland match. I almost want to say we’ve seen this before, as the naysayers would point out when it comes to Toronto FC. They bring up the Toronto Blizzard and the old NASL.

However, we haven’t seen this scale of interest in soccer before. It’s tough to figure out: Why now? Why here? Part of the reason is the huge mainstream media coverage that soccer is now getting in Canada. Toronto FC have every game televised and the majority of them on the public broadcaster, the CBC. The CBC also has the rights for the 2010 world cup and this U-20 Wold Cup. This is one of the few times that not just soccer but soccer involving Canadian teams is accessible to all on a national level.

I’m optimistic that this isn’t just another one shot football-frenzy for Toronto and Canada. In the past, ethnic communities celebrated the World Cup but then went back to watching their domestic leagues from the old country. Now everyone will go back to watching their own club, Toronto FC. And it’s not just Toronto FC: the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact are two of the most successful clubs in the USL. Has Canada finally found the beautiful game?