Last night was the final of the Brazilian soccer championship. One of Rio's 4 teams, Fluminense, was in the final against Friburguense (from Florianopolis, I believe). A rabidly 'Nense Brazilian buddy, Rafael, took a handful of us gringos to a down-and-dirty Fluminense fanclub to watch the game. It was, in a word, ridiculous.
We drove to Zona Norte (GASP - leaving our little protected haven of Zona Sul???) to the clubhouse of a Fluminense fan group called "Young Flu" (Haha...) to enjoy a good old fashioned churrasca and cerveja while watching the game. The place put frat houses to shame.
Bar: check.
too-small TV: check.
pool-table: check.
2 chairs I wouldn't touch in a hazmat suit: check.
bathroom that made me feel dirty even though I can pee standing up: check.
bucket the size of a small jacuzzi full of ice and beer: check.
about 75 fanatical and drunk Brazilian men: check.
Everyone was incredibly friendly - which still catches me off-guard, even though Cariocas always are. I don't think I've ever been told "fica vontade!" ("help yourself!"/"feel free!") so many times from so many people in such a relatively short period. The even more impressive part was how the three gringo girls (one of whom has blond hair, blue eyes and doesn't speak a word of Portuguese)were not attacked like that cow that was lowered into the velociraptor cage in Jurassic Park (man, does anyone else remember that scene? That was gruesome!) by the aforementioned 75 drunk testosterone-fueled Brazilian guys.
Well, the game itself was pretty uneventful. Fluminense scored a goal in the first 3 minutes of the game, and the next 87 minutes were pretty full of not-scoring. But holy crap. When minute 90 ended and Fluminense was still up 1-0... the place exploded. Screaming, hugging, beer flying through the air. I won't lie - I ran for cover! Or at least I tried, but kept getting pulled back in by some jumping, hugging, screaming Young Flu.
When we finally succeeded in making our exit, we headed back to Zona Sul to some (predetermined?) main intersection in Leblon which had apparently been decided on as the ideal location for a post-victory street-party. And then to Gavea, for more of the same. Mind you, this is at about 2:00am at this point... and no one's showing any sign of slowing down!
Basically, what I'm trying to say in this blog entry is... Brazilians REALLY like soccer. And I wish I had brought my camera last night!
I'd also like to congratulate Peter Fiek for calling the outcome of the game 'cause he'd "heard of" Fluminense before. Hahahaha.
I found this on youtube, it's the Young Flu fan club at a Fluminense vs. Flamengo game in the Maracanã (also a good general illustration of what futebol games are like in Brazil!):
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário