The “regulars” at the game were warm and welcoming.

The tiniest yellow 4-door car in the world pulled up to my hotel. I walked quickly out of the lobby, doing my best to act like I was not carrying $50 worth of cash (about 1,000 Lempiras). After we had crammed in the two gringo stadium “regulars,” the Amarillo Lightning sped down the street to toward the stadium.

We were headed to Estadio Yankel Rosenthal — the newest, smallest and least equipped in the city, located in the middle of a neighborhood in San Pedro Sula, which holds the prestigious title of most violent city in the world. Yards of rebar protrude from the top of existing concrete pillars like a box of foam noodle pool toys, baking in the 95 degree weather augmented by the 90 percent humidity. There are no lights yet at the stadium, which I’m told is still a work in progress. The yards of protruding rebar coming out of the top support that theory, though fans are skeptical about exactly what the timeline is for any further renovations.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=toVVmLB_BVw

I bought a green and red jersey of the home team, Marathón, both because I like being a fan and also to blend-in. Being a fan of the home team is probably a wise decision here when it comes to my personal security as well.

The driver of the yellow minicar, who wears a Mets hat and must be one of the few baseball fans in Honduras, drops us a few blocks from the stadium. Since it’s in a neighborhood, there are no parking lots and people are filing down nearly every street toward the stadium.

“See that crossed out tag over there,” said one of the American nationals I went to the game with, pointing to some graffiti on a bridge. He has lived in Honduras for about a year and a half and is a regular at the stadium. He knows just about every other person in our section of the stadium, including members of La Furiaverde, the fan group that supports Marathon. “That’s the tag of the fan club for España [the other professional soccer club in San Pedro Sula]. You’ll see more of them X’d out as we get closer to the stadium.”

La Furia is milling about outside the stadium as we approach. The Americans I am with greet them warmly. One of my fellow gringos even gets a belated happy birthday. Since the other team’s fans don’t really travel, there are no fan riots or violence to worry about on this day. Tickets to the game in the shade cost about $8. Instead, we get tickets in “El Sol” that cost $2.50 (50 Lempiras). Vida, the team Marathon is playing, is not having a good year. For the bigger games, the El Sol tickets might go for as much as $4 or $5.

On the concrete bleachers inside the stadium, we move to the top, where there is an ever-so-slight breeze. “We don’t really sit down,” says Chad. I quickly learn why. In the direct sunlight, the bleachers themselves are probably 120 degrees, burning any butt that dare sit on them, no matter the thickness of shorts or, for the love of God, pants. To offset the bleacher burn, pieces of cardboard are sold along with refreshments. People use the cardboard both to sit on and to shade their faces and I didn’t blame them one bit.

Even up at the top of the bleachers, we could hear the players yelling at each other and the referee. The stands are close to the action, located right on the edge of the field with a huge fence to separate the players and fans. When La Furia entered, they decorated a corner of the bleachers with streaming, shade-producing green banners and signs proclaiming their love of Marathón. Once the decorations were up, the singing began, a drum beating for pretty much the rest of the game, helping the fans stay together in their rhythmic chants wafting over the sun-torched field.

In extreme heat, shade is good, but water is most-important. Water at the Estadio came in the form of a plastic bag filled with a half liter of water that you can buy for about 40 cents. To drink it, you bite a hole in the corner of the square shaped bag and pour/suck the water out. It’s what the players use on the field too and is popular at all levels of soccer in Honduras. I started my day with a water before the game and was sure I’d sweated it all out by the 10th minute.

Aside from the bags of water, other stadium fare I partook in were two Honduras beers (Port Royal, for the record) at about $1.50 each, and a plate of Honduran beef kebab with beans and veggies for about $2. Finally, I finished it all off with a cold pouch, similar to the on the water came in, but full of ice cream. Yummy. I skipped on the fried plantains, bananas, and hot dogs that many of the other 5,000 or so fans were partaking in. What I did cram in my belly was plenty and I considered it a small miracle that my stomach ache didn’t come on untili well after the game ended.

While the fans battled the heat in the bleachers, so did the players on the field. Marathon went up 1-0 in the second half on a nice cross from the wing. I turned to the Honduran man next to me and we exchanged a solid high-5. I yelled at the officials along with the crowd and cheered on the “Green Monster” (Marathón’s “mascot”) as Marathón looked like they had the game well in-hand.

Despite a penalty kick save by the Marathon keeper, Vida got the equalizer in the final 10 minutes on a blast from the edge of the penalty area into the upper corner that no keeper could have saved. A tie was a disappointing result for the home team that has hopes of winning the league championship, but on a day that I was happy as a fan to get out of there with no major sunburn or heat stroke, a tie somehow seemed fitting.

Walking out of the stadium and into the late afternoon heat on the San Pedro Sula streets, we once again found the tiny, yellow car that was our way home. Being a fan for a day allowed me into a part of Honduran life and culture I would have never been able to see. One of the things I like best about sports is the phenomenon of people from different places and backgrounds coming together to support something that is bigger than themselves. All it takes is a jersey and some knowledge of the game to gain some camaraderie with a group of people I otherwise don’t have much in common with. In my mind, a stadium or arena is really one of the only places that this can happen, whether you are in Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, or the most violent city in the world.

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It can’t be that bad, can it?

The United States Men’s National Soccer Team is starting their hexagonal World Cup qualifying round on the road in San Pedro Sula, Honduras against one of the up-and-coming teams in CONCACAF — the Catrachos from Honduras. The game should be a good look at some new United States players and will give fans an idea about whether the US team has taken a step forward or backward over the last 4-8 years.

But the game is getting attention for other non-soccer related reasons. This Deadspin post describes a media member’s initial thoughts, arriving to “The World’s Most Violent City.”

Power Chicken. Greatest name ever. By Owen Main

As someone who has been to Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, I can vouch for the difficult task the United States team will face there. The stadium, which holds about 40,000 people, will be heavily secured, but the feeling for an opposing team will not be one of security. Hondurans love their soccer. Club Deportivo Marathon usually occupies the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, which is the largest stadium in Honduras.

Here are a few San Pedro Sula tips for visiting the city or going to a game:

On the way to the game, we ate at what must be the best restaurant name in the world: Power Chicken. It was kind of like KFC. They served fried chicken, along with other Americanized dishes, often with a Honduran kick or flavor. For fast food, it seemed pretty solid and for a pre-sporting event meal, it made a ton of sense. San Pedro Sula Tip: Power Chicken is Really Good.

The game I went to was a CONCACAF Champions League game and I went with a local. It was on something of a whim and me, being the sports junkie that I am, threw caution to the wind and decided that it was a great idea. The game itself didn’t even half-fill the Estadio Olimpico. Marathon hosted Deportivo Saprissa from Costa Rica. Both squads had a “Monster” as their mascot: Green vs. Purple. Driving up to the stadium, parking wasn’t exactly organized. There were some self-appointed directors of traffic. As we got out of his truck, our host gave the two “parking management” people a few lempiras to keep an eye out for his car. In the end, it worked. The car was in one piece when we returned, and the “parking attendants” who had got some money at the beginning got a little more on our way out. It probably totaled about $3, but apparently was well-worth it. San Pedro Sula Tip: If you’re going to go to a soccer match, it helps to pay the Parking Attendants. Even though they don’t look (and probably aren’t) official, you should give them some money and promise them more if your car ends up in one piece. Also, 4-wheel drive may be a good thing to have for the parking lot.

Estadio Olimpico. They just don’t make them like this anymore…. By Owen Main

At the game, I wanted a jersey. Marathon’s jersey was vertical stripes of green and darker green. I am 6’2” and weigh 230 pounds and they didn’t really have a jersey big enough for me. It was a little downer, but I put on the “XL” one anyway and swallowed my fat pride. San Pedro Sula tip: an XL shirt in San Pedro does not equal an XL in the US.

At the game, the only thing I could find was Pepsi or Coke. There was no bottled water. It was hot and muggy, I sweated through my shirt, and what I really needed was water. The closest thing to water was Powerade. San Pedro Sula tip: If you’re going to a soccer game, be ready to stay up late!

After the game, we went to a restaurant/bar. Salva Vida, a local brew, is the beer of choice for many Hondurans. Sometime around 11:00, the power went out. Not just in the bar — in the city. At least in that neighborhood. We sat, continued to hang at the bar. Our host ordered a beer by candlelight. About 10 minutes later, the power came back on. A fitting end to a sporting night unlike any you’ll find stateside. San Pedro Sula tip: If the power goes out, don’t panic. Sip your Salva Vida and it will come back on soon enough. Probably.

Home-Field Advantage Prediction: Strong

Game Prediction: 2-2