Futebol!

Portuguese love their soccer (or futebol) teams. When I first arrived everyone asked, “So what club are you?” and I had no idea what they were talking about. Everyone still asks what my club is, but now I can answer. My family is Sporting Clube de Portugal so that’s the club I cheer for. There are different levels of soccer teams. The team in Santarèm is in a lower level because they aren’t very good. The three best teams are Benfica, Sporting Clube de Portugal and Porto. Benfica and Sporting are based in Lisbon and Porto is from Porto in northern Portugal. Yesterday, Benfica won the Portuguese League Crown for the 32 time. Before the Benfica game started, they were predicted to have a 94% chance of winning. Before the game started cars were honking in the streets and it sounded like fireworks were going off. After it was official that Benfica won, Benfica fans rushed to their cars and paraded down the street. They were honking and waving Benfica flags out the windows. The honking continued until after 11 p.m. In school today, Benfica fans were running down the halls with red scarves. In class, one guy laid out a red Benfica banner on his desk. The Sporting fans silently sulked. Sporting and Benfica are like the Yankees and Red Socks rivalry. Everyone will unite in June during the World Cup to cheer on Portugal.