So, I wrote this blog post on Friday night in Word. The internet at the hotel isn’t working in the room even though they
gave us the password. I don’t know
what’s going on, but none of us can connect. So I'm posting this from the lobby, and it takes forever to upload pictures, so I'll add more later.
Anyways, the trip down here went fine. I sat next to Diego and Gabriel on the
flight from Orlando to Sao Paulo.
They really enjoyed the games available on their personal entertainment
system in the back of the seat in front of them. Diego found the time to point out to me every time he won a
hand of video poker against the computer despite his reckless playing
style. He either won it all or
lost it all fast. That’s what happens
when you continue to bet despite having a 2-7 off suit in the hole.
We had very little time in the Sao Paulo airport. We made it through customs, checked our
bags again, and made it to the gate in time to catch the last bus to our plane.
While waiting to pick up our bags in the Salvador airport,
who do we see but Cruzeiro, the team we play tomorrow. They have some big boys on their team,
but size is the least of my concerns for tomorrow. I’m worried about how we play together, if we’ve had enough
time to gel and play as one.
A bus was waiting for us to take us to our hotel. We drove for about 15 minutes, and they
dropped us off, a nice hotel, small soccer field on the side, fancy lobby. But no sooner had we gotten our bags
into the lobby than they realized they had taken us to the wrong hotel! Apparently this hotel is for the
Brazilian U17 national team.
So, we put our bags back in the bus and then proceeded to drive around
for 20 more minutes, making 2 u-turns in the process before the driver finally
found the hotel we were actually staying at. And who else should be staying there too, but Cruzeiro!
The hotel rooms are small, and we’re crowding three people
into each room.
But the views make up for it.
The beach is gorgeous, but a little dangerous due to all the
rocks and strong surf, so the players aren’t allowed in the water during the
afternoon when the waves are stronger.
We have added 6 Brazilian players to our team, and I’m still
trying to learn all of their names.
Unfortunately, only two of them speak any English, and only one of them,
Matheus, really understands me. So
I had Matheus translate for me as I explained our formation and tactics. I had no to paper to use, so we did
this on the beach where I could draw on the sand. Probably the coolest chalkboard session I’ve ever done.
The food has been pretty good here at the hotel. The beef and onions at lunch was very
good, and rice and beans is good too.
It seems they will serve rice and beans at every meal. There’s also some kind of
cilantro-pepper salsa at each meal that is insanely hot. They served us some kind of fruit juice
that was a little bitter and not very sweet. Everyone was kind of disappointed until one of the staff
assigned to us pointed out that we were supposed to add sugar to it at the
table. Within seconds everybody
was pouring sugar packets and the sound of drinks being stirred was louder than
any conversation.
Now I’m sitting in the hotel room trying to figure out the
best way to approach tomorrow’s game from a personnel standpoint. I need to make sure I have cover on the
bench at every position, but at the same time I want to start the strongest
team possible so that we can keep the game competitive for as long as possible. There has been somebody
setting of fireworks outside the hotel.
I’ve heard that the 3rd of July is a Brazilian holiday, so
maybe someone’s starting their celebrations early.
That’s gonna do it for me. I’ll do my best to get internet tomorrow so I can post this
and the result of our first game.
