You can’t beat fun at the ol’ Portuguese futebol estadio. And no, I didn’t know any of these three creatures.
Whenever someone starts a sentence with “There’s nothing worse than,” they’re always wrong.
There’s nothing worse than forgetting where you left your car in a department store parking lot. Well, what about bubonic plague?
But there really is nothing worse than having someone tell you about their vacation. Other than maybe a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, a major marine oil spill, or an airline passenger bringing pizza aboard your flight.
That said, I’m giving you a slice of vacation travelogue today. But it’s not about vacation, so please don’t wish a quake upon me.
Earlier this week, I returned home from a vacation in Portugal that included nearly a week in the Azores, an Atlantic Ocean island chain about 900 miles west of the mainland. We stayed on the largest of the nine Azores, Sao Miguel. Soon after planning the trip, I learned a Portuguese Primiera Liga (the nation’s top-tier) soccer match was scheduled for Monday night, Oct. 26, in Ponta Delgada, pitting local club CD Santa Clara against SL Benfica.
It was a chance to live out a bucket list thing for me, to sit in the stands of a European soccer stadium with a group of singing, chanting locals and hopefully be welcomed into their group as a guest who came to share in their camaraderie and fun.
Even better from my point of view, Santa Clara was a considerable underdog. It plays in a 12,500-seat venue that’s a slightly glorified version of Cedar Rapids’ Kingston Stadium. It contains the same lack of modern amenities. Its average home attendance this season was bumped to 3,997 after a crowd of about 10,000 attended Benfica’s visit.
Estadio de Sao Miguel in a quieter moment. (Photo from CD Santa Clara’s website)
Benfica plays in a 68,000-seat coliseum and is averaging 60,844 for its home league appearances. It has 38 Premiera Liga championships. Nothing changes much in Premiera Liga. Benfica and Sporting CP, both of Lisbon, rule the roost along with FC Porto. They have the money, the fan bases, the money, the talent, the money, the stadium sizes, the money and the population centers. And the money.
The other 15 clubs play for scraps. One is Santa Clara, in its third season back in Premiera Liga after getting itself promoted from Portugal’s second tier. It finished in 13th-place last season, three spots above the relegation line. The 16th-place team at season’s end competes in a playoff to keep its spot in the league, while the 17th- and 18th-place outfits get shoved down a tier.
However, Santa Clara entered the match we attended with five wins and three draws in its eight 2026-27 outings, a wonderful start. It was in fourth-place and on the heels of Benfica in the league table. (That’s “standings” in soccer-speak.)
Surely, I thought, that would have the good people of Sao Miguel packing the place in support of their men, and two of the spectators would be Iowans who would help roar for the Azoreans.
The more I read about it online, though, the more I sadly found there were more fans of the front-runner powerhouses in the islands than of the home team. That had to have been altered after Santa Clara got off to such a great start this season, or so I hoped.
Then we got to Estadio de Sao Miguel in Ponta Delgada. Before the match, the vast majority of the fans gathered outside the stadium to buy a Sagres beer or two (it wasn’t sold inside the venue, nor was much else) wore Benfica garb. Many, I’m guessing, were transplanted mainlanders.
Pregame warmup on the grounds of Estadio de Sao Miguel
Given how we rarely saw anyone wearing Santa Clara shirts or caps as we traveled across the gorgeous island, though, there probably more of those frontrunners than I would have liked.
I bought tickets online thinking a game of such importance would be a hot ticket. It wasn’t necessary. We entered the stadium after a more-rigorous security check than you see at most American sporting events, though the setting was serene compared to stadiums in Lisbon or London or Leipzig. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t loud and ntense.
Our tickets happened to be in what is called an end zone in American football. That section contained what I estimated as 98.6 percent Benfica fans. My wife had purchased a Santa Clara T-shirt that afternoon to support our new team. She kept it hidden under the rain jacket she wore in the stadium, not wishing to alienate our neighbors and catch us a flood of flak.
There were songs. And chants. And song-chants. All game long.
In the hour before the game began, the public-address system played nothing but familiar rock music. Pearl Jam. Foo Fighters. Twenty-two minutes before game time brought the opening chords of a little ditty that may be familiar to a few of you Iowa Hawkeyes football fans.
That’s right, it was AC/DC’s “Back in Black.” It didn’t get the same response it does in Kinnick Stadium as the Hawkeyes leave their dressing room and Swarm through a tunnel to their playing field entrance.
The match commenced, and nearly everyone around us began what was two solid hours of songs, chants, and song-chants with the exception of halftime, when many headed for the portable bathrooms inside the stadium. This was my bucket list vision come to life. Dozens of different songs were sung at high volume with high passion. Not being fluent in Portuguese, we didn’t understand the lyrics to any of them other than this smash hit:
We didn’t chant along to that or the other songs, and not just because we don’t speak Portuguese. We were outsiders, and no one cajoled us to join them.
I came upon the realization that as nice as it was just to be a fan and take in the atmosphere after a working life as a sportswriter, I wasn’t going to sing silly songs for two hours. Or even two minutes. Especially when I don’t know the words.
So my wife and I just sat and listened, as if we had a choice. We very quietly reveled in Santa Clara scoring on a penalty kick as our plucky club took a 1-0 lead that became the halftime score.
Class will tell, though, as snobs say. Benfica tied the game in the 62nd minute, took the lead six minutes later, and deftly stayed in control the rest of the way for a 2-1 win. Santa Clara would not go unbeaten this season. We were disappointed. Our section was quite the opposite.
And I think I got my fill of being amidst singing soccer fans for, oh, the rest of my days. What we did appreciate, however, was Benfica’s players trekking toward our section after the match to show appreciation to their supporters.
Everyone else in the stadium was allowed to leave while all of us in our section were kept inside. If there was going to be a disturbance to quell, the local policia clearly decided judging by the way they cleared the aisles of fans during the game and by their numbers in the section after it, it would be quelled quickly and efficiently.
No such disturbance occurred. Finally, we were released back into the public, and many happy Benfica fans returned to the beer stands.
To my untrained eye, the soccer was very good. It was great fun to watch in person. Benfica is 19th in the latest UEFA (Union of Europe Football Associations) rankings with good reason. Santa Clara is 135th, but sure seemed to play skillfully and without fear of the dynasty it gallantly tried to outplay.
Sunday, the Azoreans made one of their 17 annual five-hour round-trip flights to the mainland for a league match against, and dispatched of Maritimo, 2-0. Don’t let one loss beat you twice, you may have heard coaches or commentators say. Our men did not.
On Sunday, we’re — yes, we’re — back home to play Gil Vicente as we try to continue our — yes, our — winning ways. I wish I could be there, and not just because you can get one of those beers outside the stadium for just 1.25 euros ($1.40 U.S. dollars).
Alrighty then. My writing schedule here has generally been weekly, with essays going out on Tuesday mornings. But I think I’ll do more, at least some weeks, and on a variety of things.
I hate it when something I sign up for online ends up clogging my email box, so I’ll try not to send you stuff every 20 minutes.
If you have comments or suggestions on what you want to read about or just what’s on your mind, don’t hesitate to leave them here or send them to mikehlas1@gmail.com. And if you know anyone else who, for some godforsaken reason, might want to get these columns? Please do me a solid and forward them, and bless your hearts.
Now sing along with me this one time:
