Panza Verde Futbol by Zipline

La Antigua GFC is a prestigious club de futbol in the city.  GFC stands for Guatemala Futbol Club.  This league offers the highest level of professional competition in Guatemala.  Futbol in Latin America means soccer.   And soccer is a big deal in this part of the world.  La Antigua GFC are proud league champions for the past 2 seasons.  As with the NHL or the MLB, the teams attract the best players from other soccer-crazed countries.  The local team has players from Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, and the USA.  Locals will proudly tell you that one of their players had previously played with Beckham on the L.A. Galaxy.  Both goalkeepers on the team are from Costa Rica.

The funny thing about La Antigua GFC is their nickname.  Panza Verde.  Green Belly.   Locals (antiguenos) are known as las panzas verdes because they eat so many avocados.  The team mascot is an avocado.

Our family watched an exciting game at estadio pensativo in Antigua Guatemala last Sunday.

Being a Sunday, our family had attended a bilingual church - iglesia del camino, and had attended the 9:00 service (First time for church in English since Moncton in September).  After church, we walked across the street for crepes at Luna de Miel and enjoyed Sunday Brunch before the game.   Luna de Miel is owned by a young man from Marseille who has been serving up haute French cuisine at Guatemalan prices since 2006.  We all had savoury crepes with chicken, bacon, spinach, and cream, and desert crepes with nutella and banana or white chocolate, peaches, and coconut ice cream flambe with orange liquer.  Thus satisfied, we headed off to the game.

By the time we bought tickets and cleared security the game was underway.   Drums pounding, horns blaring, and fans cheering we walked into our 4th row 30 yard line seats (in the shade).  The rivals were from the nearby city of Esquintla.  The wooden score board showed 1-0.  Oh no, I thought...it's soccer, half the games end with a score of 1-0, what if we missed the only goal?

The first half saw Antigua score on a penalty kick after their striker was tripped in the zone.  The goal was announced and play continued for some time before I asked a local fan why the scoreboard still showed 1-0.  It turns out that no one had removed the score from a previous game. The penalty kick was the first goal, and the correct score was 1-0 Antigua at the end of 45 minutes.

Lucky for us, most of the action was right in front of us near the Esquintla net in the second half.  The highlight of the game was a corner kick that made it 2-0 for Antigua.  Following the corner kick, one player hit the ball with his head to pass it to his team mate.  The second player did a high-over-the-head-backwards "bicycle kick" for the goal.  The fans erupted with applause.  A beautiful goal like this gets played over and over again on highlight reels.  It's the equivalent of an 80 yard punt return in American Football or an Encarnacion Grand Slam at the Toronto Blue Jays.  So fun!!

There were a couple of close calls.  A Panza Verde striker shot a crazy hard kick off the post from 35 yards out.  Another player kicked a crazy hard shot into the stands - at the 4th row on the 30 yard line.  I ducked, Grandma Bev ducked, and the ball struck a man's arm spilling his drink and chips directly behind and between us in row 5.  Grandpa thought that the ball had hit Grandma in the head and was holding her and checking to see if she was alright.  This made everyone else assume that Grandma had been hit too.  She wasn't though and her glasses were intact.

The game continued with Antigua scoring again to make it 3-0, and Esquintla scoring a single point in the final few minutes to make it a 3-1 home team victory.  Hurray for the league champion Panza Verdes!

Team photo op: stock photo


A great of view of play in corner


Fans and Bands in the Stands.
Latinos love noise at games!


Check out the Maple Leaf on the Panza Verde Home Jersey!
There is a private Canadian school in Antigua.  The school is one of the teams' sponsors.  I wonder if our kids could attend this school??


Stock photo - the bicycle kick!
Such a fun game!


Another maple leaf on an end zone poster.
Love the Canadian connection to this team.