Dale Timão!
Corinthians Almost Four Times Champion
There’s a song that the Corinthians soccer team fans sing, and it goes like this: â€Corinthians my life, Corinthians my story, Corinthians my love.†Well, it sounds a bit like my own song. Twenty-six years ago I got married to a Brazilian in Belgium, as I wore a white dress wrapped in a huge Corinthians flag, the flag of the ‘people’ of Brazil. Today, after 26 years, I no longer have the husband, but no negotiations accepted – I kept the country and the team.
It is a very important date; The São Paulo Soccer Club will be hosting today the Corinthians versus Ponte Preta game, which will take place in front of 70,000 confirmed Corinthians fans, against 200 from the opposite team.
Coincidentally, a friend of mine invited me to join his group of friends when he heard about my enthusiasm in watching the game live at the stadium. Here I am, gladly accepting his invitation without any hesitation. The only thing that scares me is that I had happened to hear that he is part of the Gaviões da Fiel (The hawks of the Faithful) which is a … how can I describe it…. a group with a very hearty and intense way to support its team, sometimes with such a passionate devotion that goes beyond anything and anyone in their life… but whatever, I read in the newspapers that 1015 policemen are in the streets protecting the population around the stadium–by the way, near my house I might as well go then.
Everybody is nervous. We are 2 hours in advance and apparently we are late. It’s ok, I am already used to this ritual so I follow the flow. You must know that to go on a game like this in São Paulo, Rio or Goiás, you must have a small kit. Sunglasses, hat and sneakers are very important, but it is extremely important to bring a as small and as old as possible AM radio to be able to listen to journalist Silverio from Bandeirantes radio station screaming and yelling in details every move and breath of every player in the field. All you wear or bring to the stadium must be black or white, or if you wish, carry the team’s logo; By the way, you must not make mistakes, like wearing “wrong†colors that might suggest a sympathy for the other team, and still wish to sit around. It is your choice to carry flags with you. Obviously they will be sold to you on the way to the stadium.
My ticket for the blue sector, entry number 6, is carefully kept tight in my hands while I listen to the numerous recommendations of my friends – who are not happy anymore to have invited me, since I have a camera in my hands and besides, they do not want to ‘nurse’ any tourists. Specially if the game becomes tense or very loose, whatever… After all, we are about to be champions of the Brazilian Soccer Championship for the fourth time.
Now I am here, and in the middle of the Gaviões the ’batuque’ of the Brazilian drums are very close to us, It’s almost 4 o’clock pm, it’s 23 degrees centigrade and the sun is really striking hot against all. Who cares, you really think you are in Monaco on a boat, or in Capri with slaves turning the ombrelloni in your way to protect you from the shade?
A man is running before the game starts to sell some shade for 5 Reais, when I look at him I realize it’s a piece of bent cardboard, and the only thing worthy is that he is really risking his life because he is in the middle of about 10000 impatient and anxious Corinthianos one last minute before the great team appears in the field.
This is it!! Wartime. Betão, Gustavo Nery and the famous Carlos Tevez, number 10. Almost 70% of the fans shirts have number 10 on their backs, and all the other players’ names are mentioned out loud by the delirious crowd as if they were saying Gods names. The Iranian Kia Joorabchian, president of the MSI, invested 140 million in the team, obviously knowing what he was doing. I could not hear any player names from the opposite team.
Ponte Preta unfortunately manages to shoot one score and I do not feel comfortable. My astrologist would say it’s Mercury retrograde, the energy of my fellows around is not one of the best, many mothers of players of Ponte Preta must not feel that good too, their ears must probably be whistling.
After the interval, in the second part of the game, a penalty is on the way. I see men praying, kissing crosses, and all of the sudden they all look at me: let the’ baby’ take a picture of the beautiful penalty we are going to see. I felt a big responsibility, like that was my duty, they all made room for me to be comfortable to shoot the picture and I was scared, so I also prayed the ‘Ana Becoah’ an easy Jewish prayer.
We missed it, but fortunately we scored 3 x 0. We are now closer to the ‘tetra’ next week, after a game with Internacional.
My heart is pounding with joy while, as part of one of the biggest emotions of the game, I watch the enormous Gaviões flag opened on top of all of us, under the immense blue sky with yellow and red colors… The very special group and its energy: the Gaviões. A man by my side, who is in tears, asks his girlfriend to marry him…
After a small pause I look up, in the middle of all that chaos, and I thank God for existing, for turning me into a Brazilian, and into a Corinthiana.
Salve o Corinthians.
Amen
