Игровая Жизнь

Former Geraldine woman Rachel Meadowcroft watched the All Whites' last match in the World Cup in Paraguay's football-mad capital.

There were 500 people shouting "Paraguay, Paraguay, Paraguay" at the top of their lungs, and in the corner of the giant football-watching tent were two New Zealanders cheering on the All Whites – and potentially taking their lives in their hands.

Paraguayans are passionate about their football. Minutes after the game that sent them through to the next round of the Football World Cup they were out in force in the streets. Cars were decked out with Paraguayan flags, the Paraguayan football song was pumped at enormous volume. People hung out the windows in their Paraguayan shirts, yelling in delight that they had topped their pool and were still in to win the World Cup.

My friend and I are travelling in South America, and years ago his family hosted a Paraguayan girl. We managed to bus to her city, Asuncion (the capital) in time to be there for the All Whites-Paraguay game.

Sports bars are apparently not a big thing here, and the game being at 10am, we made our way to a big shopping centre where a massive screen had been set up inside a huge tent. It was packed with supporters in their Paraguayan shirts and hats. Before the game, we had some pre-match entertainment which mostly consisted of scantily clad young women playing a mini game of football.

At first we were unsure whether to identify ourselves. Should the All Whites win, we wondered whether we might be lynched. But patriotism overtook us, and we stood and sang along with the New Zealand national anthem. The crowd responded to this by throwing a couple of empty soft drink bottles at us, but on the whole they were very good natured and seemed happy to have us in the crowd.

Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America, with a history of wars and dictators. So their asados – barbecues involving incredibly huge cuts of meat – and their football are the main sources of patriotic pride. Making it in football is also one of the few ways of escaping poverty.

During the match there was singing and drumming and ear-splitting cheering. We suffered through the first half with no goal from either side. We slipped out for some fresh air at halftime then we were back in for a nail-biting second half.

Paraguay were on the attack but we defended and defended and defended. But goals were not to be, and the game ended nil-all. Not that this dampened any spirits – we were ecstatic at New Zealand's effort, and the Paraguayans even more so because they had made it through to the next round.