Futebol!

Tuseday night I was invited to play soccer with Ana and several of her girlfriends. Ana informed me that these ladies were a group that liked to smoke and party, and that the game would be low-key. When we arrived at the soccer field, a faded green rectangle of netted turf located between the walls of opposing apartment buildings on the outskirts of Cuenca (you would not even know it was there), it was scattered with bubbly girls streching and laughing, excited for an evening pickup game. Holas were exchanged and I felt the old sensation of training days at the Armory fields in East Orange. The smell was the same, the sound of laughter and smiles, the energy of futebol about to be played; I was brought back to my days of soccer and the amazing team of individuals we had throughout the years.

Although I was quite out of breath sprinting around the field, most of the ¨skill rust¨ disintegrated instantly, and the game fit like a long lost, well-loved glove. Ana and I had a superb one-two going on, an almost instoppable combination of crisp passes and power shots. The girls we played with were great, all good-spirited and energetic. By the end of the night one of them would scream and charge everytime I received the ball, perhaps theorizing that scare-tactics would bring me to some demise. Afraid not. Regardless of the range in skill level and tactical thinking, the night was stellar, and it was enlivening to get on the ball again in such a relaxed setting. I think Tuesday nights are now soccer nights here in Cuenca... score.