Image: Mashable/Sam Laird
RIO DE JANEIRO â€" Midway through the second half of Spain and Chile's World Cup Group B match here at the legendary Estádio do Maracanã, the venue's public address man announced an official attendance of 74,101.
But it felt as it someone had taken every last one of Chile's 17 million citizens, bathed them in testosterone, injected caffeine into their veins, implanted adrenaline chips into their craniums and dumped them inside the stadium.
La Roja didn't let its fans down either. The team powered to a 2-0 win over the defending champions, knocking Spain out of the World Cup, ending a truly special era of Spanish football and locking up a spot in the tournament's knockout stage â€" all with one group-play match still to go.
The fans chanted the traditional cries of "Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!" and "Vamos Chilenos" while rooting for their squad to beat Spain â€" the European side that won the last World Cup, the 2008 and 2012 European championships and entered this year's World Cup ranked first in the world.
They erupted even further when Eduardo Vargas scored in the 20th minute, and when Charles Aranguiz did so again in the 43rd to produce the final result. Chilean players returned the favor with a shirt-waving, arm-raising show of appreciation to the stands after the referee's final whistle blew.
Such a tremendous show of passion from the South American side's supporters was easy to see coming before the match. Chile jerseys outnumbered Spain shirts 10 to one outside the Maracanã before the match. The chants began on the subway to the stadium hours before kickoff. Several dozen Chile fans broke through a stadium barrier to storm past bewildered security guards before many of them were detained in the media center.
By halftime, with the score already 2-0 and the Maracanã established as a frothing cauldron of partisan support for Chile, even impartial observers had the distinct sense that Spain was cooked. As if to only make the sense of impending doom appear more epic, the ominous storm clouds hovering over the Maracanã intensified by halftime.
"Spain is done," said a French journalist smoking a cigarette on the stadium rim at halftime â€" an easy prediction that, indeed, proved correct.
Chile moves on the knockout stage and a possible date with host Brazil in the round of 16, while Spain is left with memories of one of the greatest national footballing generations the world has ever seen â€" a generation whose skills vanished following a crushing 5-1 loss the Netherlands last week to open Group B play and then Wednesday's shutout.
As Spain's players exited the pitch, its fans were left to mourn and ponder what might have been.
Meanwhile, Chile â€" and its legions of raid fans here â€" can legitimately dream of a Cinderella run through the knockout stage that begins June 28.
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