what was the most impressive stadium you've ever seen a soccer match in?
while in brazil recently, i caught a sold-out game at rio's
maracana stadium. official capacity is now 93,000 but there were definitely more people there as all the aisles were packed too (sneaking in without a ticket was apparently easy to do). it was during the pan-american games, where the brazilian women's team beat the US. i went there to experience a cultural event, and the crowd provided one: two hours of dancing, chanting, booing and generally going nuts for the national team. the game itself was relatively boring (a 5-0 brazilian blowout, two of the goals were really pretty) but i wasn't there for the game really. the roar from the 100k+ crowd that followed each goal, and when the ref signaled that the game was over, was deafening. despite its age - or maybe because of it - the stadium still looks really good.
added bonus: it was a double-header, i got to see the canadian women win the bronze medal before the gold-medal game. even got my section to cheer for them when they received their medals during the awards ceremony afterwards
