Game at Javari has RJ scout and megaqueue for cannolis – 08/29/2023 – O Mundo É uma Bola

The idea came up a few months ago, in a chat with colleagues, including me, who studied together as children and/or teenagers and got together for happy hour.

We were talking about football, and at a certain point the conversation turned to stadiums, who had already been to that one (Morumbi, Pacaembu, Vila Belmiro, Canindé, among others) and who hadn’t.

A comment here, another there, and I mentioned that I didn’t know about a very famous stadium, that of Juventus, on Rua Javari, in the Mooca neighborhood, in the east zone of São Paulo. Eric, one of those present, said the same.

In our fifties, we realized the absurdity and decided that we would have to go to Conde Rodolfo Crespi, the stadium without lighting (it only hosts daytime games) where Pelé scored, aged 19, in 1959, the goal recognized as the most beautiful of his career.

Our schedules were busy and Juventus didn’t always play at home on Saturdays or Sundays. After a few weeks, we finally managed to arrange to see a match, Juventus x Oeste, at 10 am on Sunday (27), for the Copa Paulista.

An aside to explain what this competition is about.

Organized by the Paulista Football Federation, the Copa Paulista brings together 18 clubs, divided into three regionalized groups of six each. Eight teams qualify for the knockout rounds, the first two from each bracket plus the two best third-placed teams.

The 2023 Copa Paulista champion has the right to make a choice: either participate in the 2024 Copa do Brasil or win a place in Série D (fourth division) of the Brazilian Championship. The runner-up gets the prize that the champion didn’t want.

Having done this contextualization about the tournament, I admit that it didn’t matter to me. What I really wanted was to set foot inside the stadium, to know what the atmosphere was like at a match on Rua Javari.

Eric suggested we buy a chair ticket, but I retorted and suggested bleachers. My intention was to be very close to the fans of the most popular sector, in order to feel their behavior.

I heard stories that the crowd was very close to the field, that the pressure on the referees and on rival players was enormous, that there was a very fanatical and foul-mouthed old guard.

Another attraction was the famous cannoli, an Italian sweet that would be sold in the stadium’s premises.

We went from the stands, at the unit price of R$ 30 (full), and the choice was for a ticket to the home team’s sector. As the purchase was made on a partner website, and not at the club’s box office, there was a service fee (R$ 4.80).

We arranged to meet at the entrance gate. I went by car (Eric opted for a taxi), I arrived about 40 minutes before kick-off, and parking was very easy – not on Rua Javari, which was quite busy, but on a parallel street, a five-minute walk from the gate. . No flannel.

Time was closed. It didn’t rain, however the cold reigned: 12°C, with a thermal sensation of 10°C.

The climate changes are really impressive, since on Thursday (24), just three days before, the thermometers in the capital of São Paulo exceeded 32°C in the middle of winter.

We entered, without facing a queue, after a quick police search and after showing the tickets (which had been printed) to an employee. We won a thematic cup (with a “J” on one side and Moleque Travesso, the team’s mascot, on the other) and headed to the stands.

There was even a fixed seat marked on the ticket, but it was just a formality. It was allowed to stand in any vacant space, in the central area closest to the gate or behind one of the goals.

The central stands on the opposite side were intended for fans from the West. The team from Barueri (Greater São Paulo) had a dozen (not at all excited) fans there.

The two teams hit the ball on the field (one on each side), at that moment close to the central bleachers of the Juventus fans, and it was possible, for those who wanted to be glued to the fence, to hear the conversation of the players, in case they spoke in a low voice. very low.

About ten minutes before the start of the game, chants and drumming: organized Juventus fans entered the venue, almost all dressed in the team’s colors (grená and white), with T-shirts, caps, warm clothes.

They headed to the left, to be behind one of the goals, and we chose, for no specific reason, to go to the right, staying behind the other goal.

We stood up, while the national anthem was played, and at the end of it we heard a man ask, behind us: “Do you know any Juventus players?”.

He presented himself as a representative of Volta Redonda, a team from RJ that has had a good campaign in the Brazilian Series C, in search of new talents to reinforce the club.

No, we didn’t know. The last ones I remembered played for Juventus in the 1980s: midfielder Gatãozinho and striker Silva. The latter became famous for scoring on a bicycle, at Pacaembu, the team’s goal in a 1-1 tie with Corinthians.

As a matter of fact, during the match against Oeste, I noticed that not even the fans of the Mooca team –whose coach, Jorginho Cantinflas, has been involved in football– knew the names of the athletes.

They were always referred to by their shirt number. For example, after substitutions were made, I heard this phrase: “The wingers, 7 and 11, left”.

Game started, who attacked for the side we were on was the visitor.

“Let’s go to the other side, there should be more chances of scoring there”, I said, trusting in the field factor, since, of the teams, I only knew about the balance in the table (Juventus with 13 points, third in the group, Oeste with 12 points, fourth place).

We made the journey in about five minutes, passing, before settling close to the corner flag, almost under the manual scoreboard (Juventus 0, Visitor 0), by the organized crowd.

There were some banners hanging behind her on a chain-link fence, and one of them said, “Sing or Get Out.”

Explicit message: to stay there, right behind the opposing goalkeeper, it was compulsory to sing. Anyone who didn’t sing, get out of there. And everyone, without exception, sang –loudly, non-stop, during every minute of the game– verses in support of Juventus.

I lie. They stopped singing, briefly, to curse the goalkeeper and defenders from Oeste.

The game was disputed, and the short distance to the lawn made it possible to hear sounds that the TV does not emit, such as the kick of the boot on the ball and the screams of the athletes when they were fouled.

Disputed and bad: on an uneven lawn, there was a lot of will on both sides, but with minimal technical quality. The Volta Redonda scout must have been frustrated.

The only one of the 22 who seemed beyond mediocre to me was Juventus’ number 8, the shortest on the field, who was deft and quick, in a style that resembled that of Sao Paulo Lucas Moura. Masson is his name.

Still in the first half, in a 16-minute break (at 14 and 30), the two goals of the match came out.

Both came from corners, beaten very close to where we were by the same player, shirt number 5 (Léo Couto) – curiously, the first with his right foot, the second with his left foot.

Both headers, the first in the penalty area (number 2, Danilo), the second in the small area (number 9, Ruan).

The goals added a positive touch to the well-planned trip to Mooca – 0-0 is boring for anyone who goes to any stadium.

Nothing else drew attention on the field, except for two strong, high and aimless kicks (there were two more in the second half) in which the ball crossed the limits of the stadium walls and disappeared. I don’t know how the ball boys managed to recover them, if they recovered them at all. Reserve balls (there were several) were used.

Shortly before 11 am, the referee, in his all blue panty uniform, blows his whistle twice. Interval.

Over the loudspeakers, the announcer announces the attraction of these 15 minutes. Selected Juventus fans present at Javari (members-fans) would have the challenge of, from the middle of the field, hitting the ball in the goal.

The distance is about 50 meters, and the prize for those who succeed is a year of exemption from payment in the program that offers, among others, free access to the stands for all the team’s home games, at a cost of R$ 10 per month.

There was also free access for life: all you had to do was throw a precise shot, with the ball making the perfect parabola to hit the crossbar – a well-thought-out challenge, but meant for no one to succeed.

I only saw the first attempt: a crooked, low kick that traveled about 20 meters. No prizes this time.

It was cannoli time. We went to the space between the entrance gate and access to the bleachers and chairs, and there we found a giant queue, I estimated around 200 people. I went to see if it was what I imagined, and it was: to buy the delicacy in tube format, with assorted fillings.

Eric joined the back of the line, far more optimistic than I was. I went to the stall where the sales were made and asked: “But will there be enough for everyone?” The answer: “We do 1,000 to 1,500 [unidades] per game, we hope so.”

After a few minutes, the match was starting again and the queue had barely moved. The observation: there are people who will remain in the cannoli queue for the entire second half.

It was not our case. We return and position ourselves behind the goal defended by Oeste, the same one in which Pelé scored the great goal for Santos against Juventus 64 years ago. Would those nets swing again? No, they didn’t.

Who came back, to try to buy the cannoli in the middle of the second stage, was Eric. Without hope, I asked him to bring me a chocolate one.

My hopelessness prevailed. About ten minutes later, he returned empty-handed, as the queue was still huge, but his mind was busy: he had bought a Juventus cap at a Juventus store, for R$59.

While I thought to myself that this time it would not be the tasting of the candy (there would still be a final chance, on the way out), I looked to the side and noticed a happy family (two adults, one child), not necessarily with the result of the game. They were munching on cannolis, and they had more of them with them – I saw three in a styrofoam bag that was opened.

By the way, there were many families with children on Sunday morning at the stadium on Rua Javari. Mothers and fathers had one eye on the game, the other on the little ones who went up and down the steps of the bleachers.

The old people I expected to find didn’t show up in large numbers or they were all in the numbered ones –I didn’t look closely at them–, further away from the field. Most of the 1,942 paying guests (the stadium’s capacity is 3,800) seemed to be young people.

Young or old, everyone was satisfied with the victory, which left Juventus with a good chance of qualifying for the knockout stage of the Copa Paulista.

Only a dozen fans from the West were dissatisfied, who addressed the refereeing trio a little politely when they left for the locker room, which was attached to the visiting fans’ space.

Neutral, Eric and I considered the visit to Rua Javari to be fun and remarkable, even without the cannolis – when we left, the queue was still there, with about 30 to 40 people.

If you’ve never been, I recommend it.

And if the cannoli is a must, bring someone to stand in line. Just for that.