Friday 21 August 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO: a statue and a stadium




So our journey is winding towards an end - and here we are in Rio, the last big destination. The plane sweeps right into Guanabara Bay as we arrive, and even though its dark we start to get the feeling that we really like this city.

The next day we make the obligatory trip to the top of Corcovado mountain to see the statue of Christ. After jostling a bit with a trainload of other tourists (many of whom want photos doing the same crucifix pose as the statue), we get a clear view of the Sugar Loaf mountain and everything Rio has to offer.

More than any other city we've been to in Brazil, there are lots of beautiful old churches, monasteries, palaces and plazas. But just as exciting for me at least is a visit to South America's biggest football stadium.

The Maracana will play host to the World Cup Football final in 2014, but we can't stay quite that long, so instead we went to see local club Flamengo playing. Their current team includes a few World Cup winners, like striker Adriano, who has returned from playing in Italy because he was overweight.
In the crowd there's a full samba band playing throughout and giant banners of former great players like Zico and erm, Homer Simpson... The game gets off to a good start with an early goal by Flamengo winger Emerson, and everyone is excited - as you can see from the video.


But then in the second half - disaster. Flamengo seem to forget where the goal is and play a very un-Brazilian type of football that consists of passing the ball between their defenders. They pay the price by conceding two goals, and incur the wrath of the crowd. Our understanding of Portuguese is still very limited, but I don't think the goalkeeper's mother would like some of the names being given to her son.

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