Last week the Gumboot updated you on Team Canada’s current status at the Homeless World Cup in Brazil. Now, without further adieu, Team Canada head coach Alan Bates gives his final dispatch that details the final leg of our journey. Here is Alan Bates final update:

Day 9

Well, today is our last day here in Rio. A lot has happened over the last three days so I’ll try to get you caught up before we have to leave for the airport.

For pictures from a triumphant Day 9, see:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=494628&id=852065453&l=3e0b843e07

I knew Day 9 was going to go well when we actually left the hostel on time. After our Canada cheer and a quick trip on the Metro, we arrived at the Mellow Yellow hostel for breakfast. The meals there have been really good. Breakfast has generally been cheese, ham, eggs, and hotdog slices in somekind of sauce. Hotdogs in tomato sauce seems to be the classic version, but you wouldn’t believe how many different delicious hotdog concoctions there can be (for dinner as well as breakfast). Our hostel serves a slightly less refined version of the hotdogs in tomato sauce, so we generally made the trip to Mellow Yellow for the higher quality version.

Our first game of the day was against Switzerland. I’d scouted them a bit over the first few days of the tournament and they’d had some nice results: 7-1 over Greece, a win on penalties after a 3-3 tie with Hungary (who beat us 6-1), and 12-1 against New Zealand. I thought we could play with them though. Taking a page right out of the Coach’s Corner playbook, I used our pre-game huddle to ask the guys if they knew why we didn’t have names on the back of our jerseys (true answer is that we didn’t know who all the players were going to be before they made the jerseys). Don Cherry-esque answer I gave the guys: Because you don’t play for the name on the back, you play for the crest on the front. That got a combination of cheers and laughter and I don’t know if it helped or not, but it was fun to say.

Whether because of the Don Cherry-like address, the tomato sauce slathered hotdog bits or some other unknown variable, we came out flying against the Swiss. Our team defence was even better than it was against Mexico. Every time we lost the ball in the other team’s end, someone was right back to put an end to any Swiss opportunism. We were sacrificing the body as shot after Swiss shot was blocked in one fashion or another. There were some rockets that got through our defence, but they would only get so far. With his performance of the week and one that would redefine his level of play for the rest of the tournament, keeper Kevin King stepped it up big time. He was hitting the deck, stacking the pads, flailing out arms, whatever was needed. Switzerland would manage only one goal against him. Unfortunately, the Swiss defence was equally resolute.

In close games like this, you always look to the character players. Having already secured our first win with a hat-trick, Richard Mountain left nothing to chance when he unleashed an unfaltering one-timer from the left side of the net that would send us into sudden-death penalties. With his previoius penalty performance fresh in my memory, it was an easy decision to give Robert Milton the nod for our first shot. It was a decision that wouldn’t be second-guessed as he answered the call by putting it in the upstairs left corner where mother keeps the Toblerones. In the only ending that could do justice to his performance throughout the whole game, Kevin King then came out to the top of the crease, made himself big and gobbled up Switzerland’s only chance to keep the competition alive.

We were ecstatic with our second win of the tournament. It could be argued that New Zealand was a team we should have beat, but this was different. If I knew who any of the Swiss guys were, I think I’d be able to say they have a more skilled team on paper than we do. It was a real gutsy performance with a deserved result. Between games, we celebrated our big win with refreshments at one of the boardwalk kiosks and even did a little congo-line dancing when some musicians stopped by provide some entertainment and take an unreasonable amount of our money.

Our second game of the day was against India. In a familiar pattern, we played another good game against a team that was just a few steps ahead of us in skill and experience. Jeremy Isaac continued his good form with a couple of goals to keep things interesting in an 8-2 loss.

Having taken care of business at the tournament, it was time to hit the beach in Ipanema. We jumped through huge waves, played some football with the locals, caught some rays, and bought some ridiculous items from the roaming beach vendors. Ipanema was followed up by a veritable feast of a selection of fine meats and other delicacies courtesy of Paul Gregory, the head of Street Soccer Canada.

We then retreated to the hostel to get ready for a night out in Lapa. Lapa is a party district filled with restaurants, bars and clubs. The guys were looking pretty stylin’ and we had a fun time wandering through the festive crowds. In the end though, that environment proved a bit too much for a couple of the guys and we cut the night a little early. We needed to re-focus for Hong Kong in the morning.

Day 10

This update is coming to you from the airspace between Winnipeg and Minneapolis as Team Canada flies on the last leg of our trip home. There are still two days of Homeless World Cup excitement that I haven’t chronicled for you, so here’s Day 10.

As always, Day 10 comes with a selection of Sarah Blyth’s great pictures of the team and their growing global community of friends and fans:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=494635&id=852065453&l=5070291fa4
I forgot to mention in the Day 9 update that there was good news and bad news related to our victory over Switzerland. The good news was that it propeled us into a higher division for the playoff round of the tournament. The bad news was that it propeled us into a higher division for the playoff round of the tournament. The tournament had three rounds. For the first, each team ends up with a random selection of opponents as determined by a draw (Ireland, Romania, Cambodia, and Mexico for us). For the second round, teams are divided into a top half and a bottom half based on results (we were in the bottom half) and then teams are put into groups with only teams from their half who they have not yet played (we got New Zealand, Hungary, Finland, and Switzerland). For the final Cup round, there are are 6 trophies that teams compete for. The best 8 teams compete for the Homeless World Cup, the next 8 teams compete for another trophy, the next 8 for another trophy, etc. Beating New Zealand and Switzerland caused us to bid adieu to the cellar dwellers and move up into the Community Cup competition against India, Hong Kong, Sweden, Argentina, Switzerland, Greece, and our old friends Cambodia. With soccer superpower Argentina, tough previous opponent Switzerland, and an excellent Hong Kong and Sweden teams that I was surprised were in one of the lower cups, it was a group that we could be proud members of. As described in the Day 9 update, India was our first tough opponent in the quarterfinals and they dispatched us to the lower half of the Community Cup competition.

Hong Kong had a really good team including a very acrobatic keeper, so we were surprised to be playing them in our first game on Day 10. Everyone was excited to play Hong Kong. There are obviously lots of connections between Vancouver and Hong Kong and there was definitely an atmosphere that this was a special game for players and coaches on both teams. Many teams give somekind of gift to the team they’re playing before each match. We gave a set of Canada pins to each team. Hong Kong gave us a t-shirt and some festive-looking Chinese decorations. From the opening whistle, it seemed like we were again on top form. Our defensive tenacity was reminiscent of our game against Switzerland. We also had our share of chances, but Hong Kong’s keeper had (sometimes spectacular) answers for everything we launched at him. Continuing his excellent play, Canadian keeper Kevin King wasn’t to be outplayed as Hong Kong only scored once during regular play. They added a penalty marker that resulted from a miscommunication between our D and our keep for a tight 2-0 win. It was easy to hold our heads high after what was a great result against a very good team.

After nine games, our fate was limited to either 7th or 8th place in the Community Cup and 39th or 40th place in the whole tournament. Standing between us and that coveted 39th spot… Cambodia. The Cambodians were the perfect matchup to end the tournament with. As our neighbours in the hostel next door, they had become very good friends of ours. The language barrier was easily toppled by good spirit and a common understanding of what the Homeless World Cup is all about. This was also true for our interactions with other teams. Smiles, high-fives, cool handshakes, soccer ball juggling, laughter, and hugs are pretty universal. In addition to the friendship factor, the Cambodians were also the one team that we all felt we hadn’t played to our potential against. We just didn’t show up that morning. So, we couldn’t wait for a chance to redeem ourselves.

For some reason, we weren’t a good defensive matchup against the Cambodian attack, despite a good effort. I think they scored the same number of goals against us as they did in our first meeting. However, the game was close most of the way and there was a completely different feel to the game. One main difference is that we were relentless in counter-attack. Threatening in every game throughout the tournament, Jeremy Isaac scored to bring his tournament total to six. As if one goal-machine wasn’t enough, Peter Chow scored twice to equal Jeremy’s team-leading finishing. The third man to work the scorekeeper was Frank Studdhorse who put his shot well out of reach of the Cambodian keeper to bring the number of different outfield players on the team to score during the tournament to six out of a possible seven. Frank’s goal was followed by a big grin for which, in addition to the abilitly to work the statement “Sandwich!” into any conversation, he has become globally known. The only non-keeper who didn’t score in the tournament was co-captain Patrick Oleman, which is surprising given the quality of his shot that he’s been perfecting for months. It’s not like he didn’t contribute offensively though. Like Gretzky, Patrick’s primary contribution moving up the field is play making. Add this to his ferocious defence and leadership on and off the field and there’s no mystery why I started him on the pitch for all 10 games. Although we played Cambodia to a similar scoreline as in our first encounter, we were proud of our play. Any real sports fan will tell you that the same score does not mean the same game.

Two great games were followed by an experience of a lifetime. One of the volunteers at the tournament was a man named Zezinho who has the chaotic architecture of Rocinha Favela tattooed all over his body. Zezinho lives in Rocinha, but also lived in Canada (spending time in Toronto and Vancouver) for four years and has a love of hockey. He took an immediate liking to our team and was eager to give us a tour of Rocinha. He actually has a business (Favela Adventures; http://favelatour.org/) doing this for tourists from around the world. Rocinha is the largest favela in South America with over 300,000 inhabitants.

The chaos of the favela makes it a really beautiful place. Homes are stacked on top of each other up the side of the mountain. “Sidewalks” change form and height in front of every building. Businesses range from mechanics to beauty salons to dentists to restaurants to convenience stores. Motorcycles (many part of a taxi service) race up and down the winding roads. Electrical wires make unbelievable tangles at every makeshift utility pole. We took a small bus up to near the top of the favela and went to a large building that looked like a combination between an airplane hanger, a nightclub, a shed and an indoor soccer pitch. There, we had a great game against some kids who generally had an easier time against us than Ireland did. We all played barefoot and that definitely takes some rapid callous growth to get used to. After the game, we made our way to a rooftop with spectacular views of the entire favela with the skyscrapers of Rio and a large golf course as the ironic backdrop. Again, the random structure of the favela is surprisingly beautiful. We then made our way down some alleys between homes that are an incredible labyrinth to a place where we had a great chicken dinner. It cost 25 Reais (about $15) for about 15 people. In the rest of Rio, it would have been that price for each meal. Our next stop was Zezinho’s apartment where we were treated to a small fireworks display from somewhere else in the favela while we sat on his roof.

On our way down the rest of the hill we had another “unique” experience which was passing a large group of members of Rocinha’s drug gang. In the middle of restaurants, shops, and people going about their daily business, including a little girl with a bubble-making toy, there were 15 to 20 guys with assault rifles/machine guns. Some of them were on motorcycles, some were just standing around, and some were taking cover behind poles and pointing their weapons up the hill as if they, us and the bubble-blowing girl were under heavy fire. My understanding is that favelas are generally under the control of either a drug gang, a militia that extorts money from the businesses or the police, and that residents much prefer the drug gangs to the other two possibilities.

Our tour of the favela ended with us coming across a Capoeira demonstration at the bottom of the hill. Having trained in several different martial arts including Capoeira, Daniel Errey had a go at partnering up with one of the locals. He didn’t look out of place and the local group had fun dancing with/facing off against him.

An interesting thing about our trip to the favela was that the experience was lost on a few of our guys. Most had a great time and learned a lot, but a few simply had no interest in being there. One player had to be taken back to the hostel at the very start of the tour because he was tired and anxious. Another could not understand why we would want to be in such a terrible place, a thought that many likely have about the Downtown Eastside. The lesson for me was that despite unbelievable poverty in the favela, the average kid there has far fewer problems in life than what people with addictions, developmental disabilities, and severe mental illness face no matter where they are.