Haha loved the posts lads, and the concern! Thank you and sorry!
But yes gentlemen, I am alive!
But only barely lol. The past few weeks have been exhausting to say the least! The Group Stage took its toll on me, completely worth it, but I'm not sure I want to see a plane or airport ever again
Happy to have things settle down a bit now and be able to spend more then a night or two in each city I visit - glad to be back enjoying the country around me
Time has not been on my hands, nor has Internet with the masses of people here trying to use it too!
To be honest I'm not even quite sure where to start
I'll start with general observations - before the Cup started the mood I felt around the county wasn't all that joyful... At times slightly hostile... Since the Cup has begun, that has all seemed to change! Most people are happy and more than willing to help out
Including extensive conversations in Portuguese that I can not understand most of lol. And even when I say that I do not understand, they insist on getting their point across - all with smiles
Australians have been welcomed with open arms, including people wanting photos in the streets - especially young children lol. And after our display on the field (minus most of the Spain match) we have earned the respect of many Brazilians - including jokes of swapping Fred for Cahill with us
Many Brazilians have said that if we were luckier in the group draw, we would of progressed
The stadiums have been magnificent - with my personally visited favourites being Cuiaba's or Brasilia's... Brasilia's was jaw dropping, simply stunning. Cuiaba's had a lot of character and I loved the grass hills in the corners.
The Chile match was so much fun - nothing but love and excitement shared between the two sets of fans. Although the Chile supporters were incredibly arrogant before the match - acting as if they would absolutely demolish us.. Wish I could of gone to the game with such confidence rather then an underlying feeling of absolute fear lol. But, us Aussies sang loud and proud, even after going down 2-0 within 20 minutes... I felt sick to my stomach, not sure what to expect for the next 70... So when Timmy climbed high, the atmosphere was electric and the Chilean supports were dead silent until their late 3rd goal
It hurt, but pride filled my blood and the vibe of happy times between the two fans continued into the night
The people of Cuiaba were fantastic too - I had been warned by other Brazilians of the city's unsafe nature, but all locals seemed to be backing Australia for the win so they were just excited to have us there! Within an hour of being in the city 3 different locals wanted to help us get to where we needed to be! And I lost count of how many cars saw us and slowed down just to give us the thumbs up or peace sign or yell out "Australia" with a huge smile
A day I will treasure for a very long time! And I could tick a World Cup match off of my bucket list!
The Netherlands match was even harder to swallow... To have had the lead... To have played so well... To have Leckie not put away that chance and then Ryan butcher a save down the other end on the counter... I'm sure everyone back home knows exactly how I felt... On the plus side - Timmy's spanker! I was down the other end on the side line but was lined up perfectly behind him as he lined up and put it away - just wow! I like the word line lol
That goal was the talk of Brazil for the rest of the week! Anytime I told someone I was Australian, the next response was Cahill's name
Made the loss easier to take... Only slightly tho. My match day experience was a unique one, and another to be treasured! I did not interact with any Dutch fans outside of those sitting around me (they were basically silent except for their 1st goal celebrations and 3rd goal celebrations - in between they were nervous!) bcoz I attended the match with Brazilians
Cow and I home stayed with a Brazilian friend I met in Germany (will write more on this below) so we road tripped to Porto Alegre with my friend Mauricio, his father Antonio and a best mate of his Gabriel. Mauricio and Gabriel got tickets in expectation of our arrival, and we got Antonio a ticket as a present of thanks
3 hour road trip there, 2 hour back, got the local bus with them, watched the match with them... It was something special... Mauricio wearing the Socceroos jersey I gave him as a present with pride
So yes that is indeed me second from the left
Mauricio, Me, Juventude midfielder Fabricio and my mate Cow on the right. I met Mauricio in Berlin in 2011 and we quickly established our connection through our clubs - Juventude being Rech's first and home club
We hit it off from there, with him inviting me to stay with him during the 2014 World Cup
I'm happy to say I was able to take him up on this offer!! We stayed in touch over Facebook, and when I stepped off that coach bus it was as if time had not past
A bloke I have only spent 5 days with in the flesh, but a bloke I can call a true friend for life
He lives in Caxias do Sul, north of Porto Alegre, where his family and friends embraced us as their own
Words can't do justice to how good an experience this was! A highlight definitely being an invitation to visit the Juventude stadium and club! A club rich with 101 years of history! They have had a lot of success in their time, but juniors are their main focus - having many names come through. They currently have 800 youth players on their books right now
They had a very impressive trophy room to say the least.. You could sense the pride as you walked around. Unfortunately we visited on a public holiday so Rech was not there
But a great experience even still
Included in those names that have come up through their ranks is none other then Melbourne Victory's Gui Finkler!! Which is a crazy story in itself.. When Mauricio first picked us up off the bus he said he was trying to get us tickets for the Spain match - a top fucking bloke! He said he was calling his friends cousin, Gui Finkler.. "Have you heard of him? He plays in Australia".. "Gui Finkler?? From Melbourne Victory?? Are you telling me that THE Gui Finkler is trying to get me tickets to Australia vs Spain right now?!" LOL mind blown!! What's even crazier, we parked the car at the Porto airport and bused to the stadium from there - in the distance I saw Victory shirts, one with Finkler on the back. I pointed it out and said "see man, he is loved and respected very much in Australia" - Mauricio responded in his broken English "ah yes, Gui" which sounds more like Gee in Portuguese pronunciation... Turns out he was standing right there! The person wearing the shirt was Finkler's father
A Victory man but a great guy and player I respect. We went up and had a chat, Mauricio says "do you want a photo?", I said "I guess, why not?" Lol which probably didn't help my chances for a ticket! We chatted for a bit, talked about our clubs rivalry to my Brazilian entourage, we took his number and he said I can't promise it but i'll try - which was more than he had to do in the first place! (I don't know if news has broken in Aus yet but he said he got a 2 year extension at Victory). He said to call at 6pm tomorrow and would try and get player family tickets who did not make the trip - was hoping he'd ask Dario, Leckie or Eug to increase our chances lol. We called for the next 4 nights, him saying to keep calling back as he was still trying. Unfortunately on the last night he stopped answering our calls lol - showed his true Victory colours
- but I was grateful for him trying at least
We travelled to Curitiba anyways in hope of finding Spain tickets - along with a shit load of other Australians doing the same. But, after a long story cut super short, WE DID IT!
Cow got a spare ticket at face value from some lovely Guatemalans and I got mine from some Glory lads from Perth - cost me a bit but better then the $1,000 USD that a bunch of Spanish people where trying to get!! The match was difficult to watch, but the atmosphere was still good - until the 3rd goal at least. Happy to say I attended all three group matches though
And to watch players of such calibre in the Spanish squad was a pleasure and joy. Ended up chatting to the Brazilians next to me for most of the second half
The last match we attended was Portugal vs Ghana, a match with so much promise yet such little delivery. With Portugal needing 5 goals to progress and Ghana 2, you'd think they would both play with intent.. Instead they played majority of the match too scared to concede that they rarely looked like scoring (although the Ghana keeper did make some great saves to deny Christiano Ronaldo about 5 solid chances). I was surprised by the amount of long balls that seemed like hit an hope passes... Still, I've seen a Ronaldo goal in the flesh
nothing of quality lol, but I have! The Bahraini referee I think was poor... I like a ref letting a match flow, but he let SO many fouls go, TOO many. It was a rough match... Honestly wouldn't be surprised if he had money on the US progressing! Even as a neutral I was angered by many of the decisions.
Gonna leave it there for a bit lol - plenty to read
I'll put a bunch of photos up to share once I'm home in 3.5 weeks
If you have questions, please ask
It's hard to recall such a hectic 3 weeks!! Lol
Again, thanks for the concern lads, feeling the love