Friday, September 26, 2008

Training in the Stadium


Our drive to training today featured lots of traffic, which seems about par for the course in Rio. We drove through Leblon and Ipanema, two of the most famous beachside neighborhoods in Rio. Even through the thunderstorm you can see that these are the places to be. We detoured away from the beach and just blocks from the sand the streets are lined with Cafes and boutique stores.Unlike yesterday, today we trained at the Maracanãzinho, the venue where we'll be playing our games. Some roof leakage aside, the venue looks great and there should be quite the atmosphere for the games.
Under FIFA regulations, our training session can only be an hour long so the team had to quickly get down to business. The focus was on defensive situations and the bulk of the training consisted of one team trying to hold the lead while the other team pressed for an equalizer.
Driving back to the hotel involved less traffic than the ride there and the guys are looking forward to dinner in the early evening before the having the rest of the night off.

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