To be gremista or colorada, THAT is the question...
This weekend there will be one of the most exciting soccer games of my time here. It's the Grenal!, a much anticipated event here in Porto Alegre. Gre-Nal is a confrontation between Grêmio and Inter, the two soccer clubs of Rio Grande do Sul. It's a rivalry of epic proportions. This will be their 383rd meeting. Spirited, yes. Edge-of-your-seat-excitement, yes. Tumultuous, yes. Out of control, yes!
A brief history of the two clubs:
1903, Grêmio founded. 1909, Inter founded as a team for foreigners, the poor and blacks who weren't yet accepted in the other two existing clubs. All throughout the years Grêmio was much better and I'm not even sure why Inter was named Inter(nacional) because they weren't even good enough to compete internationally! But fear not, they got better and now the two teams live together in a thriving rivalry. To add to the intensity, they are both bichampions of the Libertadores championship. In 1983 and 1995 Grêmio won. In 2006 and 2010 Inter.
Now only one question remains--who will I cheer for? I guess I have until Sunday to decide!
No comments:
Post a Comment