Back to 2 a days - sort of

Having now settled in our cabana paradise, and reaching just beyond the midpoint on our trip, it was time for us to again get into official preseason mode with a two-a-day, kind of. After waking up to another breakfast equivalent to that of any we would be accustomed to at home, we loaded up the bus and got a light workout in prior to our match against Clube Esporte Buzios that took place later in the afternoon. Nothing fancy to be honest, just a light kick about to get our legs moving on what is an extremely hard and bumpy field.

After training, we walked back to our hotel to shower and get some lunch in Buzios. Everyone again scattered for different locations but anticipated the match to come as we made our way back to the hotel for some down time prior to preparing for the match at hand.

As we made our way to the match, we walked away from our cabana paradise to the realities of people who have to live in the predicament they are in day in and day out. For that reason, this game in particular, was one that became more and more special to us as we finished up. But anyway, our start to the match was again slow, giving up a goal within the first 7 minutes as we were unable to maintain possession, and by an errant pass, leading to their goal on a breakaway. Truthfully, very little happened over the next 33 minutes (apparently officials in Brazil have no idea how long a half of football is), as we went into halftime down 0-1.

Disappointed with our slow start, the old football saying that "Football is a game of two halves" again held true. We came out flying, storming the field with hard tackles and high pressure to obtain the ball and attack their goal. The forward tandem of Evan Atwell and Chris "Flash" Campbell won the ball and Chris broke down the left touch line to slide in a cross where Evan "the Hyphonator" Cantu-Hertzler, at full speed, got to the far post to slam the ball into the upper right corner to bring the game even once again at 1-1.

Buzios heads' dropped, our ears pinned back and went full speed towards goal. Not more than 5 minutes later, Will Stamell won a ball at the midline to play a ball into Flash who then played it into the channel for a cross. The ball sprung free as he pounced on it and slammed it into the bottom right corner for the lead and the match, 2-1 to Oberlin.

As we traded shirts with the Buzios team, it became apparent as to how grateful they all were for the shirts as both the team and some young fans immediately tossed them on and headed back home happy. We headed back for the hotel for dinner and then some R & R in town and on the beach.

We play our final match tomorrow against Rio das Ostras as our days in Brazil are coming to a close as we prepare to challenge for a NCAC and NCAA Championship, getting back to Oberlin on Sunday.