As I nervously chewed popcorn the Brazilian National anthem played on the Television.
“I don’t know if Brazil has the team to win this game,” Cicero, the owner of Nevada Ranch said.
Sitting in his living room we stared deep into the television. Brazil vs Chile, the first game of the knockout stage. After a shaky beginning to the World Cup, all Brazilian fans were nervous for this match, but no one expected to suffer as much as we did.
After 90 minutes of play, the game was still 0 – 0 and we were having heart attacks. Beer was spilled, nuts were thrown at the television, swear words were yelled out frequently. Nothing seemed to help. Brazil could not score a single goal! And this continued during extra time.
“I cant watch this anymore, I feel sick,” Gustavo, Cicero’s son said as the players prepared for the penalty kicks.
With two huge saves by the Brazilian goalie and one strike to the cross bar by Chile, Brazil won the game and moved on to the next round. We yelled and jumped up and down as if the living room had somehow transformed into the stadium.
“I need to sleep, Im drained,” Cicero said as we all sat slumped on the couch.
Emma and I watched the next game in the town of Ribas – Brazil vs Colombia. Due to the last game’s suffering, we were all extremely nervous. As I arrived at the ranch where the horses would rest, a crowd of Brazilian fans welcomed us dressed in green and yellow. I had enough time to shower and the game started. As we drank beers and ate meat we watched a better team than last game’s. Brazil played with confidence and won the game fairly easily. The final score was 2-1 Brazil.
With this win to boost our confidence, we met the best team of the tournament, Germany. With years of experience playing together, the squad had already shown in previous games how powerful they were on the field. Due to a second yellow card we did not have our captain, Thiago Silva. And a horrible injury in the game against Colombia had taken out our best player Neymar Jr. away from the tournament.
In the town of Agua Clara, we were invited to watch the game with a beautiful family. Once again everyone sat in front of the TV nervously watching. As the game began we never expected what we were about to see… Within the first 19 minutes of the game, Germany had scored 5 goals. Everyone sat silenced starring at the TV, hoping that this was somehow a sick joke. No one understood how this could of happened.
“I went to the bathroom to pee and it was 0 – 0, when I came out it was already 4 – 0, thank god I didn’t go number 2,” the host of the house said as we all broke out into laughter.
With 2 more goals scored before the end of the game Germany massacred Brazil 7 – 1. I have never in all my years of watching soccer seen anything like this. Watching this game was like seeing a spaceship land in front of me – completely out of this world.
What had started as a party ended like a funeral. As we sat there drinking our sorrows away everyone trashed Brazil’s coach, the players, the politicians… But nothing helped. Nothing made what had just happened okay. Brazil, the land of soccer got taught a lesson by the technical skill and hard work of the German’s in our own home.
