Brazilian team’s season of glor y ends in tragedy
CHAPECO, Brazil (AP) – For the players on the humble Brazilian club from an out-of-the-way city known for its agribusiness plants, these were going to be the games of their lives.
Chapecoense was having the best season in its 43-year history, heading to the first of two matches in the final of the Copa Sudamericana, the continent’s No. 2 club tournament. The once-downtrodden club and its itinerant players were enjoying the heights of soccer glory.
It all ended suddenly late Monday night on a muddy Colombian hillside. Their chartered aircraft crashed south of Medellin, killing 71 of the 77 people aboard, including most of the team. Three players were among the survivors.
The tragedy stunned the southern city of Chapeco and its 200,000 residents, and fans gathered in silence Tuesday to mourn outside the team’s small green-and-white concrete stadium.
“The city is very quiet,” businessman Cecilio Hans said. “People will only believe once the bodies start to arrive.”
On social media, haunting last photos showed the smiling players boarding the flight to Colombia for the first of two matches against Atletico Nacional.
In one photo, the team celebrated a last-minute save by goalkeeper Danilo only a week ago against Argentine club San Lorenzo. The save guaranteed Chapecoense a spot in the final – and ultimately cost Danilo his life in the crash.
“Now I wish he would have conceded that goal,” said 17-year-old fan Rubens Vieira.
The club, known as Chape, was in the midst of a remarkable run. As recently as 2009, the club was playing in Brazil’s fourth division, but it won promotion to the top league in 2014 for the first time since the 1970s.
Victories over San Lorenzo and Independente – two of Argentina’s fiercest squads – as well as Colombian club Junior took the team to the Copa Sudamericana finals, the equivalent of the UEFA Europa League tournament.
On Sunday, Chapecoense nearly defeated famed Sao Paulo club Palmeiras, which won 1-0 to claim its first Brazilian league title in decades. Chape had gained admirers for its stout play against Palmeiras, and everything was set for today’s showdown in Colombia. The second match was to be a week later in Brazil.
Hans remembered that about a decade ago, “this club nearly disappeared. Then businessmen started to help.”
Few of the players had an international profile, and none had any appearances with Brazil’s glitzy national team or time with top European clubs.