Nearly four weeks after the LaMia Flight 2933 disaster which claimed the lives of 71 people on board, including 22 players on the Chapecoense football squad, the Brazilian club has been formally awarded the trophy for the 2016 Copa Sudamericana Final.
If you are a Real Madrid or Club America fan you better fear the deer, and I’m not talking about the Milwaukee Bucks.
Since the dawn of the FIFA Club World Cup over a decade ago, there have seldom been semi-final upsets. In most Club World Cups, the decision of who takes the trophy has featured the UEFA Champions League winner and the Copa Libertadores champion.
Still, Japanese side Kashima Antlers just joined Congo’s TP Mazembe and Morocco’s Raja Casablanca as the only three teams to knock out a South American representative in the semifinals.
Apparently Chapecoense player Neto has woken up from his coma following the team's tragic plane crash in Colombia. That's the good news. The bad news is what happened after he woke up. It will rip your heart out.
Per ABC News:
Upon gaining consciousness after almost two weeks, Neto asked who won the final of the Copa Sudamericana and why he was unable to play, team doctor Edson Stakonski said.
Oh God.
Danilo, one of 19 Chapecoense players killed in a plane crash that took the lives of 71 total, has been named Brazil's Player of the Year.
A goalkeeper, Danilo made a stunning save in the Copa Sudamerica semifinals against San Lorenzo to help keep Chapecoence in the competition. The team was on their way to the final against Atletico Nacional when their plane crashed into a mountainside outside Medellin, Colombia.
Boca Juniors retained their place at the top of the Argentine Primera Division table by defeating rivals River Plate in the Superclasico on Sunday. Carlos Tevez was instrumental in Boca’s success, scoring a brace and registering his sixth assist in 10 league appearances in their 4-2 victory at River Plate’s El Monumental stadium.
FC Barcelona have confirmed through their official Twitter page that they’ve invited Brazilian club Chapecoense to play in the 2017 Gamper Trophy, an annual preseason friendly match held in August at Barca’s Camp Nou stadium.
According to the club, the match “aims to help with the reconstruction of [Chapecoense]” following the tragic airplane accident which claimed the lives of 71 people, including 19 of Chapecoense’s players.
Chapecoense could not play in the 2016 Copa Sudamerica final because on the way there nearly the entire team perished in a horrible plane crash.
On the day the final would have taken place, 45,000 people went to Atletico Nacional's stadium in Medellin, Colombia to pay tribute to Chapecoense.
What is a buzzy soccer website to do when it runs out of hyperbole?
I mean, that's our lifeblood over here. No goal can simply be "good". It has to "melt your face off" or "bend space-time" or maybe even "make you piss yourself."
That is how goals are described these days, but, friends, we have no hyperbole for this one. It's all true. This is it.
This is the greatest goal we've ever seen.
Following the tragic events of the Chapecoense air disaster which took the lives of 19 of the club’s players, we now have some information regarding the three players who were rescued from the crash in Colombia.
31-year-old center back Neto, as confirmed by his father, is reportedly recovering well in the hospital.
One of the most heartbreaking stories to come out of an event that spawned many heartbreaking stories is that of Thiaguinho, the Chapecoense player who found out his wife was pregnant just days before he and 18 teammates were killed in a plane crash.
The video of Thiaguinho's teammates surprising him with the news is almost too much.