Travel

Peñarol vs. Nacional

Yves Weissig

15 Jan 2015 • 2 min read

I arrived in Uruguay, knowing that the Uruguayan Primera División is currently in its summer break. Thus I was almost sure that I won't be able to visit a football match here. What I didn't know: summer tournaments are quite popular in South America. So me and my compañeros went to the Copa Bandes 2015! It's a series of four friendly matches and had this year two of the most widely known teams from Montevideo, one from Argentina and one from Peru competing each other. I couldn't believe my luck!

Participants Copa Bandes 2015:

Everything took place in the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, on Monday the 12th and Wednesday the 14th of January 2015. We were able to secure tickets for the semifinals on Monday. In the first match Universitario beat River Plate 1:0. Peñarol versus Nacional was then the highlight of the night. Two teams with a long tradition and a huge number of fans. Early before the game the fans ignited fireworks and played drums. In the game Nacional took a glamorous win after scoring a goal in the second half time. Peñarol was fighting hard, but the end result was 0:1. What an atmosphere! In the finals Peñarol and River Plate fought for the third place, Peñarol eventually taking the win: 1:1 after 90 minutes and 4:2 after the penalty shoot-out. The big final between Nacional and Universitario ended 2:1, Nacional securing the second title in this friendly tournament.

Some impressions: