Over 90 thousand people in one place, representing more than 35 million fans in Brazil and supporters in all 6 continents. All for 1 passion expressed in 2 colours, with a 114 year-old tradition. 17 years of expectation to be defined in 90 minutes. Being number 1 was the goal, for the 6th time. 6 was also the date of the 12th month in 2009. Only 3 points away, maybe just 1 goal...
Numbers really can't say it all...
Congrats to all Flamengo fans all over the world. I was one of the lucky 90 thousand.
My team may not be the best in the world on the pitch all time. But there's no other team in the world with supporters like ours. We lost a match that we should have won on Wednesday. But we got 80000 people helping them yesterday. The video tells it better than I can. But still, you'll only understand once you go and see us at our home, the Maracanã stadium.
Give a kid a ball, see what happens... Soon enough you don't even need a ball. A bottle, a tin... anything will do.
How do you explain something that can bring people together from the whole world (even if not all of them) independent of their gender, social status, ethnicity, religion, etc?Going to a stadium where for at least a couple of hours it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, your background or anything else, you are together.
A sport that has stopped war and promoted peace throughout history.
Not sure if you can explain any of that. It's just football.
I love sports in general and I know all of them have loads of problems too... But still, there's something about football that goes beyond...
UPDATE: Helene shared in her comment the link to a cool NGO which has a lot to do with my view on how football can be great. I suggest you to check it out and see if and how you can help.
Ok, so maybe this post is a bit in delay as the next ones will be too... But I still have to share my experience at the Ullevaal Stadion.
It all started with a trace of hope. My friend Hugo from Costa Rica was on the waiting list for the Norway vs. Netherlands World Cup Qualifier match here in Oslo as the tickets were sold out. But as he went travelling he couldn't go. So he wrote a letter saying that I could pick them up if they were available plus I had copies of his ID, my ID, etc. But of course, that didn't work. All the tickets were sold out and with no hope for getting them....
However, being by the stadium, seeing all the fans, knowing that there would be a good game just there, I couldn't miss that opportunity. So yes, I have to say I bought overpriced tickets with a guy by the stadium. I really don't like that stuff, but this time, I just had to...
I got there and I saw my tickets were just by the corner kick, just two rows from the pitch. Too bad it was cold and rainy... But the best was yet to come. I was actually sitting in the same section as a big group of students that were the most active supporters in the stadium!!! So we were cheering during the whole game "HEIA NORGE!!!!"
The game was actually quite ok, and Norway put up quite a good fight against the Netherlands, when the game as still 0-0, we had quite a few very close opportunities, but it was a shame that on a foolish mistake of the Norwegian defense, Van Bommel scored the only goal of the match. So yeah, we lost 0-1. But it was still a very cool experience.
And it felt so good to defrost my feet when I got home...
HEIA NORGE!!!!
PS: Sorry about the generic pictures, but I didn't have my camera with me there..
Porque a vida, às vezes, se assemelha demais a um espetáculo. E, sendo assim, eu não quero ser a platéia, mas a atriz principal. O diretor, obviamente, está lá em cima.
O Arquibar FC foi criado para fazer o impossível - explicar o inexplicável. Mostrar porque uma conversa entre um vascaíno, um flamenguista, um tricolor e um botafoguense nunca tem conclusão.
After 4 years of AIESEC... after travelling in Mexico, Brazil and some of the European countries... after severals national and international AIESEC conferences... after hundreds of people from different nationalities that I have met... I finally dec
Over 90 thousand people in one place,
But the best was yet to come. 
I was actually sitting in the same section as a big group of students that were the most active supporters in the stadium!!! 
"HEIA NORGE!!!!" 
HEIA NORGE!!!! 
WIDGETIZE