Fidelino lives on the east side and has had black and white blood since before he was born.
Yesterday he woke up earlier than usual on Sundays and, at six in the morning, he was already wearing his immaculate white shirt, with the Corinthians badge over his heart and the name of Doctor Sócrates on the back over the number 8.
Fidelino spent a good part of his meager salary to buy the mantle he considers the most valuable item he has in his closet and which he wears only once a year, always in early December, to honor the idol who has been dead for ten years.
When he wore it as a first ritual before going to the stadium in Itaquera, next door to the house where he lives, there was not a shred of rancor in Fidelino’s soul.
There remained the bitter memory of another December Sunday, in 2007, when he woke up with the certainty of the faithful that his alvinegro would not fall, in Porto Alegre, when he faced Grêmio.
The frustration with the draw that relegated the team was only diminished by the indignation when he saw a photo of Grêmio and colorados embracing in celebration of the Corinthians fall.
Inter, at the same time, lost to Goiás to keep them in the first division and helped to overthrow Corinthians, in a game that to this day has a hat from Parque São Jorge, which he swears was handed over by the gauchos, in revenge for the loss of the Brazilian title of 2005.
Whether it’s true or folklore will never be known. Fidelino has since repeated to anyone who wants to hear that he will never embrace a rival to celebrate the fall of another rival.
Without anger, but with a feeling of revenge, he marched to the stadium with a ticket acquired with great difficulty to see Corinthians play for the first time in that marble palace he knew from a distance, inaccessible to him.
On the way he met a solitary walker in a blue, black and white shirt, one of those who will always go on foot.
Seized by the solidary admiration of a true fan, he felt sympathy mixed with pity. He recalled that Cássio played for Grêmio, like Dida, another goalkeeper, in addition to Capita William, played by Adilson, and he was in doubt whether he really wanted the opponent’s disgrace or whether he would limit his supporters by qualifying Corinthians to Libertadores.
He approached Lupicínio, yes, the namesake of the author of the gremista anthem, extended his hand, awkwardly wished him good luck and accompanied him in silence, without falsehood or demagoguery, to the point where they parted, each one to the side of your people.
A suffering people who see in football, in the passion for the team, the means of belonging greater than even the feeling of Brazilianness.
Corinthians and Grêmio have the Musketeers in common, as a symbol of one for all and all for one, although they were each for themselves, because that is how they demand reverence for the game.
And the game repeated the 1 to 1 of 2007, practically ensuring the Grêmio relegation, although without sticking to the sword because, after all, Corinthians was not born to kill anyone and was limited to draw at the end, when one of its four Musketeers, Renato Augusto , scored another goal to prevent the Grêmio feat from winning the three points.
Fidelino returned home doubly happy: his team is in the group stage of the Libertadores and left a ray of light for Grêmio’s permanence in Serie A.
Lupicínio, always on foot, knows that hope is the last to die and regrets that he hasn’t got Fidelino’s address.
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