GOOOOAAAL!

14:34 / I  am starting this blog as Brasil are about to play Chile in the second-round knockout stage. Tim has stopped crying over England's loss yesterday and as proud as I am of the All Whites three draws, we are ready to support our newly adopted country. A pinch of green + yellow, big dollop of fireworks and horns, half a dozen caprihinias  and a whole lot of football makes a pretty good party (actually to be fair, a meeting of more than 2 people here is a party!)

Life stops for the Brasilian WC games here... the hours leading up to the KO sees the streets of Sampa filled with traffic as people are rushing to get home, or to a bar to watch the game with their friends, family and colleagues. As soon as play starts the streets are empty but you can hear in the distance the local commentary on TV, the occasional bast of fireworks and the rise and fall of excitement / panic as a goal is almost scored or a player has fallen over a blade of grass.

17:40 / Brasil won 3-0. If, or should I say, when, Brasil is playing in the final we will probably be in the second best place to watch it if not watching it in the stadium.

It's been in the news recently about the exclusion of Morumbi Stadium from the World Cup in 2014. Sao Paulo is one of the most important cities in Brasil and I'm not sure what a Brasilian WC would be like without the tournament being staged here in Sampa. There is alot of work that needs to be done here in order to stage the World Cup - infrastructure, security, lack of English speakers, traffic, the cost of living (its alot more expensive here than I imagined - some restaurants are NY / London prices!). I hope that the CBF can get their act together in time... imagine watching Brasil win in Brasil! Wahey!

Note to the CBF... if you need a super geeky, super organised english speaker with football organising experience email me!