Nacional wins, Medellín goes crazy

Saturday night I headed to Envigado to one of the trainees houses, to watch the final soccer match between Nacional and Equidad de Bogotá for La Copa Postobon (Colombian National Championship). Now, Nacional is a Medellín team, and theyre really good. They also have a huge fan base, and the final game was held in Medellín, so you can just imagine the intensity of this game before it even started.

The city was covered with Nacional flags hanging from bars, windows and drapping taxis. The colours green and white were seen everywhere, whether it was people sporting their jerseys, people with their faces painted, or balloons and streamers decorating people´s homes. People were ready to cheer their team in one of the biggest matches of the year!

The game was pretty intense, as it was the 2nd game out of the 2 they had to play to win the final. Unfortunately Equidad de Bogotá won the first game (2-1), so Nacional (and their fans) were under a bit of pressure. In the second half, Nacional was up 2 goals... (but technically only one when counting their first game), so it looked like they were going to win the championship... however in the 3 minutes of over time in the 2nd half, Equidad de Bogotá scored a goal. Now the game was at 2-1 which meant it was tied at 3-3 when counting all goals from both games. So the final had to be determined via penalty kicks....which was awesome because it was so exciting and intense.

Luckily Nacional ended up winning the penalty kicks, and the entire city went nuts. Fireworks started to be lit, people cheering, honking in the streets. Everyone was celebrating. We went ontop of the roof to see all of the firecrackers and fireworks being set off throughout the city, it was awesome to see.

Traditionally when Nacional wins a final match like this, there are HUGE parties throughout the city. But the biggest party is in Parque Lleras (the main bar district of El Poblado). People gather there dressed in green and white, to celebrate and throw white powder at each other and foam. We didnt end up going there because we thought it would get too crazy but here are some photos from some of my other friends who went:





We decided instead to go to another park that also celebrates the victory of Nacional and was a lot closer to where we were at the time: Parque Envigado. We started walking and instantly we saw all kinds of people in the street celebrating. There was a cute little boy dressed head to toe in Nacional gear and waving a HUGE flag. He was so cute I had to get a photo with him.


While in Parque Envigado people were cheering, chanting, dancing around and just being crazy. Ive never seen such passion for soccer.



After checking out the celebrations we decided to hang out in Parque Envigado and grab some food and beers. I always love going to Parque Envigado because more low key but just as fun. Especially when youre surrounded with good friends. It made for a fun Saturday night. :)