...first day (continued) into the second (beach soccer madness)

...the second half was much better. We started pushing the midfield up. In the first half they would have one or two deep center mid's, and one other guy always cycling through between the defense and midfield. Our mid's were dropping on the guy in between so they could switch the ball at will. By pushing up and having the outside mid's gambling on the switches we started to force them into the mistakes we were making in the first half. The second half we played them even or even ahead. I really enjoyed when their backs would get the ball look in all directions and have no where to play the ball. We scored late - 88th minute or so. Unfortunately, the ref kept the game going 7 or 8 minutes past time calling a dubious hand ball so that the home side didn't lose. That's what happens I guess...we count it as a win.
Bean met us at the hotel (!), we ate lunch and napped before going to Sugar Loaf. Two huge granite/gneiss mts. with cable cars going up. Great views of Rio all around. The lagoon in the middle of the city is huge. I hadn't realized how big it was. We ran down the mt. on the way back. Not so easy in the Crocs, but a lot of fun. The key was to keep going fast otherwise you'd slip. Had to wait for the flip-flop people who walked down.
Unbelievable night. First Brazilian steakhouse, the club. The waiters would come in waves with huge chunks of meat. They just kept coming, lamb, steak, ham, chicken...all amazing. The salad bar had sushi to boot. The club was a lot of fun. Some great stories for more private conversations - Justin and Pete especially. It was a three story building which doubled as a antique shop during the day. Everything on the walls was for sale. First floor dancing, the next two food and dancing and everything in between. Out late and slept well at night. Got to go to a game at the Maracana...I'll get to today later.