2 minutes agoConfusion, chaos, and survival. How Chapecoen is facing two years after tragedy.
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)If you believe in any power Chapecoense can lead this afternoon, now is the time to appeal to it,” Rafael Henzel asked that fans fill the stadium from his cabin to the radio. While Chapecoense was preparing to play the last match in Brazil's Serie A struggling to avoid falling to [...]
While Chapecoen was preparing to play the last match in Brazil's Serie A, fighting to avoid the fall for the first time since they were promoted in 2013, a record crowd of 19,992 fans headed to Arena Conda for the crucial match against São Paulo, writes Periscopi.
It was the equivalent of one of every 10 people from Chapeco, a small agricultural town in southern Brazil, deciding to participate in the match.
Many came after hearing Henzel's calls, the club's favorite commentator.
The atmosphere was incredible.
As Henzel spoke of confidence in the moments before the start of the match, he was aware that Chapecoen had not been so close to falling by the league since their promotion.
The club, once also called Brazil's Leicester for their estimates, was just a point over the drop zone after trying to find their best shape throughout the season, Periscope follows.
But the 45-year-old anchor was confident that his favorite team would still be part of Brazil's Serie A.
Henzel is a miracle.
He is one of six survivors of the tragedy that destroyed Chapecoense in 2016, after 71 people, including 19 players, died in a plane crash on the road to the finals of Copa Sudamericana, Medwell, Colombia.
Sunday, however, he was back at work. Climbing those stairs known to take his place in the press booth and start broadcasting a 90 minute full of excitement.
Falling out of evil would be a serious problem for the future of Chapecoen.
Chape, as the club is known, has had 54 lawsuits against them from the families of the victims. They have already reached an agreement to resolve eight of the compensation cases by arranging for payments to be made in installments over a period of five to 10 years.
Agreements with victims' families are not near to completion, which has forced the team not to bring other players closer.
Going down one category below would be lethal to Chapecoen, because by estimates, television income would be falling from the sky. Twenty-eight million dollars a year ago at 5.7 million dollars and $7 million is $1.43 million.
The stadium was taken up to celebrate, as Chape achieved a minimum victory over Sao Paolo to continue his journey to Serie A.
É SÉRIE A!?
Confirma um pedac do que está but vir dos betidores da permanência!
YOU NTOS A GENT E MUDA O JOGO!
Obrigado torcedor! ! #VamosChape #Brasileirão2018 #MudaOJogo Pic.twitter. com/ K46 1 JMuxRZ) Chapecoense (@ChapecoenseReal) December 3, 2018
The weekend event's <x0) atmosphere reminded me of what happened on November 23, 2016, when goalkeeper Danilo made an excellent reception in the semifinal against San Lorenzo to confirm the 0-0 draw and our place in the finals of Copa Sudamericana”, recalls Henzel.
At the same time, the other two survivors of the Alain Ruschel accident, who played 18 times this season after an eight-month recovery process, and Jackson Folkmann, a former coach who has a prosthetist on his feet and now works as club ambassador, went around the field, carrying the Chapecoen flag.
Three showed that despite the confusion outside the field, Brazilian club history is still open to new chapters./Periscopi
