For many people, Saturday's New York Red Bulls vs. Columbus Crew match will be the biggest and most important match in the MLS this season.
Bear with me here. Yes, it's still too early in the season to be a must-win game for either team, and yes, these teams have already played this year, a 0-0 draw in the season-opener at Columbus. But there is something much greater at stake here - a continuation of one of the fiercest rivalries in the entire world of sports: Boca vs. River.
When the Red Bulls' Juan Pablo Angel, who spent three and a half seasons with River Plate from 1997-2000, takes the field Saturday, he will be facing off against a familiar foe in recent Crew addition Guillermo Barros Schelotto. Considered by many to be one of Boca Juniors' most popular players in recent memory, Schelotto spent nearly a decade with the club before signing with the Crew on April 19.
So why is this matchup so important? Go to Argentina for the next superclasico, the name given to matches between these two Buenos Aires-based clubs, and you'll see. There is nothing like it.
"To be honest, it was the best game I have ever experienced," said Angel, who made his regular season debut on Sunday against Colorado. "The atmosphere inside and outside the stadium was amazing. To me, the Boca/River derby is the biggest in the world."
British newspaper The Observer listed "Watch Boca Juniors Play River Plate in Buenos Aires" as number one on its 2004 list of "50 sporting things you must do before you die". Their reason? "There is such passion for this match that it is unsurpassed anywhere in the world" - a strong claim coming from a newspaper in England, where pride and passion are a major part of the soccer experience.
The superclasico's storied past is rife with all the mythology and controversy of any great rivalry. The two clubs have a history that dates back even before 1913, when they played their first official match, a 2-1 River Plate triumph. The myth goes that both clubs were based in the working-class Buenos Aires neighborhood of La Boca, and that they played each other to determine which club could stay and which had to find another home. Boca won the match, prompting River's eventual move to Nuñez, the slightly more affluent section of the city that they still call home.
Since then there has been plenty of controversy and drama to keep the rivalry hotter than grilled asado bathed in chimichurri sauce. The all-time record in league matches between Boca and River is remarkably close: Boca has 65 wins compared to River's 60, with 55 draws between the two. Since 2000, the results have been even closer, as each team has won four, lost four and drawn five against its rival.
There is no love lost between fans of the two sides either. Fans of the Millonarios - the name given to River Plate due to their cavalier spending habits over the years - cover themselves head-to-toe in their team's red and white, creating colorful spectacles at the stadium while singing their favorite venom-filled anti-Boca songs. Fans of the Xeneizes - the Boca Juniors nickname, derived from the Genoese dialect spoken by the clubs founders - get every bit as flamboyant, turning their stadium into a cauldron of blue and gold, which doesn't shake, they claim, it beats like a heart. After either team triumphs over the other, the supporters of the victor give new meaning to the term "bragging rights," parading and hanging banners all around the city, flaunting their temporary superiority.
So even though the Red Bulls vs. Crew game will be played at Giants Stadium - thousands of miles from Buenos Aires - and the players will be wearing new threads, followers of this classic rivalry will no doubt be paying attention. The two sides will have to wait until next season before they face off again since the most recent superclasico, played on April 15 at Boca's home stadium La Bombonera (The Chocolate Box) ended in a 1-1 tie.
On a more personal level, Angel may be interested in getting a little bit of revenge against Schelotto Saturday. While they played for their respective rival squads from 1997 through 2000, the two South American playmakers met head-to-head four times. Schelotto's Boca Juniors won twice and the other two ended in draws, with Schelotto scoring the lone goal between the two.
Angel played in one game for River in which Schelotto did not play, a 2-0 River win. Including last month's 1-1 tie when he came on as a late sub, Schelotto has played in 15 total superclasicos for Boca, notching five goals and a 5-3-7 overall record.
