Seleção-Part 2

Yesterday we shared about the Seleção. They had a practice yesterday to get ready for tonight's game.

Fans were allowed in to see the practice if they took a kilo of a non perishable food (beans and rice typically are the foods of choice here).

Again, just to let you know how big a deal soccer is here.......here is what it looked like for a practice:

I heard almost 30,000 people showed up on a workday afternoon just to watch a practice. Pretty amazing.

Two other reasons why we are excited about the game:

The first is this guy in the blue shirt. His name is Alexandre Pato. He used to play here for our team (the greatest team in the world) before being sold to AC Milan. That is the sad part of Brasilian soccer. We have some of, if not, the best players in the world but we have to sell our very best players to Europe because we need the money and they have the money. Anyway, he is back home and will be playing again on Inter's field. He's an incredible player and he's only 19.

The other reason we are excited is that this guy (in the blue shirt with the ball).....

Kaká will be playing. He was voted the best soccer player in the world in 2007. He has been hurt but he is back and will play tonight. Garrett, Anderson and I are excited because he is so good and will make our team better. Benay, Bronwyn and Ansley are excited because they all think he's cute. If Benay has a soccer boyfriend it is Kaká.

The best thing about Kaká is that he is a very strong Christian brother of ours. We've heard him share his faith in remarkable ways. He is definitely a light for Christ to this country. Here he is last year celebrating his team's victory in the FIFA Club World Cup in December of 2007. All my life I've heard athletes praise God with words and actions during games, only to see them in interviews later using God's name in vain. Kaká is the real deal.

Garrett has been praying to be a professional soccer player regularly since he was 7. His role model is Kaká. He wants to use soccer as a ministry like Kaká does. I pray God blesses his request. The sports world, and the world in general, needs more Kakás.