Yesterday was a long and very memorable day for all of us. We gathered at the LifeSkills Centre across from Oppenheimer Park to a very warm sendoff by volunteers and fans. In characteristic fashion, Kailin See, Sarah Blyth, and lots of other PHS volunteers put together a great event including a hot breakfast, haircuts, and matching track Air Jordan DMP suits and bags for the whole team. We were looking slick by the time we stepped on our bus.
Like a post game Canucks dressing room, the room was filled with media from radio, TV, and newspapers interviewing players. Kurt Heinrich has done an amazing job with keeping our media contacts informed and has created a real buzz in the city about the team.
The highlight of the morning was team co captain Patrick Oleman’s uncle Tom performing a traditional Stlaltlium ceremony to send us on our way in the perfect mindset, telling our guys it’s time to “stand and walk like men”.
We were then followed to the airport by a CTV crew from the show First Story and were met there by another TV crew from CityTV. Fortunately, everything went smoothly at all the airports that we went through. It was a very long trip from Vancouver to Toronto, Toronto to Sao Paulo, and finally Sao Paulo to Rio. Imagine doing that on your first day of air travel ever, as was the case for a lot of our guys.
The ride from the airport to our hostel was a big eye opener for all of us. The scenes included sprawling favelas of makeshift housing along the highways and young men dodging cars in the middle of very chaotic traffic trying to sell popcorn to motorists. It wasn’t lost on the guys that the popcorn sellers probably don’t get a cheque on the third Wednesday of every month.
We had a good team dinner at a burger joint around the corner from our hostel and everyone was ready to crash after that.
It’s now the morning after Air Jordan Fusion 5 our arrival, and today has already provided lots of fun. We’ve been joined by Vancouver volunteers Daniel Errey, Sarah Blyth, and Kailin See. Wendy Perkins from Toronto is also in Rio now and we’re looking forward to getting our fresh new unis from her later today.
Team Korea is also staying in our hostel and the highlight of the morning has been an exhibition game with them at an urban graffiti encircled soccer court nearby. I was impressed with our skill and sportsmanship in a friendly 3 0 win.
As I type, the guys are out playing again with the local kids in the alley/street outside the hostel. They’re learning a lot of sweet moves.
Day two started with a meeting to comment on successes and address problems that we had on day one. Let’s be honest, this kind of trip was never going to be without its challenges. I think we’re lucky to be here a bit early to work out little things and bond as a team.
If you just want to see some photo highlights from today, click
We then went for salad and pizza washed down with guarana before returning back to the Alpha Hostel to wait for our uniforms. I can’t really describe in text how excited the guys were about the unis: home and away professional looking jerseys, shorts, socks, Air Jordan 5s new shoes, and tons of flags. Paul, Wendy, and Michelle from Street Soccer Canada did a great job getting it all together and to Rio. There were expletives and tears, both out of happiness.
After taking some pictures at the hostel, we went to break in the new gear by playing with kids that the players have befriended. We mixed up the teams and had a great game. The kids have awesome skill. A little more size and you could see them really tearing up a soccer field. Some other guys who were standing around joined in the game, too. It was a bit like those hockey commercials we have where a ball hockey game just spontaneously erupts out of random people on the street.
We finished the night Air Jordan Spizike with a casual dinner at the hostel and are looking forward to finding out who our competition is in the first round tomorrow. are all staying near us. The guys want to play the best teams. We all feel it’s just going to be so cool to play teams from other countries. It doesn’t really matter who the individual guys are. Just the fact that they all flew here from some other nation to compete with us is awesome.
Daniel Errey got day three off to an energetic start by taking the players to the beach for a workout. There’s nothing like a run on the beach and a quick dip in the Atlantic to get you going in the morning.
After the players grabbed a quick breakfast, we took the metro over to the far end of Copacabana. Air Jordan 18s The metro is free for all Homeless World Cup participants. The cold rain that greeted us in Copacabana made us feel right at home. Despite the weather, we had a great walk along most of the length of the seawall. Highlights included huge waves and intricate sandcastles.
We ran into a lot of teams on our way to the match venue and enjoyed shaking hands and meeting them. Once there, we were surrounded by other teams, many of them chanting or singing. Somehow, “go Canada go!”, just didn’t live up to the soccer/football chants of some of the other nations, so we had to break out both the national anthem and an awesome First Nations warrior chant. Five of our eight guys are First Nations. We’re representing Canada old school!
We registered and got our picture taken and then were given new shoes, shirts, shorts, socks, and a team pair of goalie gloves and a ball. This was all courtesy of Nike. There was a bit of a delay for the HWC lunch, so we decided to do our own thing and went to a buffet where you pay by weight. It was thoroughly delicious.
We then returned to the hostel to dry off a bit and get ready to go back for the draw. While most guys were getting ready, I went with our goalie Kevin to try to get him a jock/cup somewhere. This mostly involved me walking up to store clerks, pointing at my crotch and getting a lot of confused looks. I think I know what they’re called now for when we try again tomorrow.
It was very exciting to find out who we’ll be playing in the first round. On Monday, we play Ireland and Romania and on Tuesday we play Cambodia and Mexico. I think it’ll be a tough group as the other teams look good. For the full group lists and schedule, see the Homeless World Cup’s Web site.
After the draw, we went out on the beach to practice free kicks (we’ve got some sneaky ones), corners, and moving the ball out from our goalie. That was followed by a barefoot scrimmage and a round of coconuts.
We wandered around Copacabana a bit more, going to a street market and then watching the local team Botafogo play on TV in the Brazilian league at a cafe. It was then time for dinner at the HWC headquarters at a hostel called the Mellow Yellow. The food was actually really good. Mmmmm, butter chicken.
Since getting back, we’ve just spent some casual time at the hostel. The guys are really coming together as a group and we haven’t even stepped onto the court yet.
Tomorrow will include a parade, the opening ceremony, and the first day of games. Unfortunately we don’t play, but that will give us a chance to scout the opposition and get a feel for things.
The Homeless World Cup festivities got into full swing on day four with the parade and opening ceremony. We had a great time during the parade, which travelled right down the boardwalk along Avenue Atlantica in Copacabana. We were lead by a Brazilian childrens’ drum group, which led to lots of dancing, including co Captain Patrick Oleman busting out some traditional First Nations dancing. We also brought out the national anthem and the First Nations warrior chant that has become one of our trademarks.
At the end of the parade, everyone filed into the competition venue for the opening ceremonies. Co captains Kevin King and Patrick Oleman took turns waving the Canadian flag as part of the ceremony. Unfortunately, the ceremony was a bit of a bust because the sound system wouldn’t work which meant that nobody could hear Mel Young (the president of the Homeless World Cup) or another guy who I think was the mayor of Rio. I guess I’ll never know, but I was impressed with his support for the tournament anyway.
Games got under way pretty soon after the opening ceremony and it was hard for all of us to watch and not play. We learned a lot watching the other teams, though. Fortunately (unfortunately?), we learned a lot from Ireland and Mexico (both in our group) who dished out the biggest smackdowns of the day with twin 14 0 wins (vs. Romania and Cambodia respectively). The best teams have amazing skill and also have really effective systems for defending.
Even though we didn’t play on day four, we built on our fanbase significantly by cheering for other teams and putting on a formidable display of good cheer. Our favourite teams have included Korea, Poland, Cambodia, and the Philippines. We’re the official cheering section for these and several other teams. Usually Canadian soccer fans are so reserved compared to in other places, but not here. We’re so loud that other countries try to recruit us to cheer for them before games.
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