Wake Forest Brazil Blog:
Photo Gallery from Club Santos
Days 1&2 Gallery
Coaching Staff Blog from the first two days in Brazil
Adams Reports on Day 3 Events

Tuesday, May 13: Visit to Club Santos
Greetings from Brazil! We have had a great start to our trip, spending our days and nights exposing our players and ourselves to the culture of Brazil and specifically, the Futebol. Before going on about the trip, a brief explanation about the history, our goals and our hopes for this trip: This is a trip that that has been a goal of our head coach, Jay Vidovich long before any of our players or our staff arrived at WFU. Jay's childhood included several years as a teenager in Sao Paulo where his father worked in the South American branch of the Ford Motor Company, it was here in Brazil that he would see and become a part of the passion and the skill that one day he would want to share with his players. When the trip was finally approved a few weeks after our National Championship victory, many thought that it was an "award" for the Championship, or a "soccer vacation" for the National Champions, it is not even close to any of these ideas. This is a trip that we are lucky enough to be able to take our players on because of the help of our athletic department at Wake Forest as well as many families and friends of the WFU soccer family. This trip's goal is to continue to help answer the question that we constantly speak of in our offices, on our practice field, in our halftime talks and in our academic center...How Can Wake Forest Soccer Get Better?

It is with this question in mind that we have come to Brazil where the game of soccer is embedded in the culture and our hope is that our players are exposed to things that they can benefit from as a person: with a chance to learn about a different culture, as a player: who can learn about a different type of player, and finally as team: with an opportunity to learn about a different type of soccer/futebol that, quite frankly, is better then any soccer that is being played anywhere in our country. Thus far, the trip has been very beneficial. Our trip started when we attended two games at two of the most famous stadiums in the world on the same day! Both the Pacembu and the Morumbi stadiums happen to be in Sao Paulo, kind of like going to Yankee Stadium for four innings in the Bronx and then heading over to Shea Stadium to catch the last three innings in Queens. The atmosphere at these places is electric. It's fun to look at our players faces when they walk in to these types of atmospheres and instantly their eyes get big and smiles hit their faces. It's what they have all watched and followed from a far for so many years and finally they are here. As soccer people, despite the growth of the sport in the U.S., most of us players and coaches have found ourselves in an argument defending our sport from those who speak of how boring soccer is and how much better American Football is; when they come to a stadium and an atmosphere like this they are a part of a crowd that all have a passion for the most popular sport in the world: Soccer, Football, Futebol.

The facilities have been excellent and we have gotten the group together for some good training sessions and as of now, two games. Our first a 3-1 win against a University team that were National Champions of Brazil, and just a few hours ago a 4-1 loss to Santos Futebol Club. Santos is one of the most famous clubs in the world with their most famous player also being the world's most famous player; Pele. Pele signed a professional contract at Santos when he was 16 and scored over 800 goals for the club. There is a museum and stadium tour that we learned about the history of the club, it's players and it's past championships and accomplishments. The boys went into their locker room which included a prayer room with rosary's and religious pictures and relics, confirming the notion that in Brazil, Futebol is a religion. After a great lunch, we played Santos at their training facility. Our guys played very well against the 18 and 19 year olds who are all fighting for a professional contract that will get them out of the poverty that so many of them live in. The game was quite even and after we missed a penalty kick in the first half, Santos went into halftime 1-0 up. The game ended 4-1 with our players certainly earning the respect of the Brazilian team. The coach of the team started the game talking on his cell phone disinterested with the game thinking that this game would be over by halftime and he could play all his reserves, but we played well and both teams had chances. In the end the skill and ability of the Brazilians won out, but our guys learned so many great lessons while earning the respect of the entire club. In the words of Evan Brown, "Yeah they were pretty good, they never had a bad touch all game long, and when they did and I tried to step in and win it, the guy would touch the ball over my head or through my legs."

The exposure to the culture is another part of the trip that I think is so important and wonderful. As we travel on our bus the laughter and banter that we are so used to on our bus trips often stops and the guys as well as the staff stare out the window seeing the beauty of this country. We have been through mountain ranges and are now down on the beach and throughout it is absolutely beautiful. The other thing that the guys watch with concern on their faces is the poverty of this country, realizing how lucky we are to have running water and cell phones. We will try to expose them to this first hand tomorrow when we take the group to a children's club in one of the poorest parts of the country. The boys spent the past few months collecting old but usable gear and we will help hand it out as well as spend the afternoon with the children. This intense opportunity will be great for all of us as we continue to learn about this culture and these wonderful people. All the guys are safe and there's plenty of laughter to go around. Look forward to seeing everyone when we return.

So it has been a great trip so far and in many ways we did not come down here to win games. We came down here to get better, learn about a different culture and be pushed in hopes that we can take these experiences here in Brazil and take them back to our lives back at Wake Forest. All of the guys are safe and there's plenty of laughter to go around. Look forward to seeing everyone when we return.

Carson

A couple of notes:
•Jay's Portuguese is quite good. I must admit I had my doubts, but the guy chats with all the locals, talks to the coaches and is quite close to being fluent.
•Marcus Tracy finished his first semester of Portuguese this in May and isn't so bad. We had a Brazilian train with us a couple of days back and he translated Jay's instructions with ease.
•Ike Opara arrived a day late to Brazil after spending the previous week with U.S. U-20's in Manchester, England. Ike captained the U.S. Squad in games against Manchester United and Bolton before taking the 20 hour trip from Manchester to Sao Paulo.
•The food is fantastic. Despite the daily runs of the coaching staff, we all may come home carrying a few extra pounds...
•A few of us caught some American TV last night. Dr. Rosenbaum watched House with some of us giving us the `scoop' on the show and its validity.