The yellow of the national team is rare among fans for Brazil during the 9 de Julho occupation

A screen, 80 plastic chairs and countless beer glasses made up the scenery set up in a room at the 9 de Julho occupation, in the central region of São Paulo, to accompany the debut of the Brazilian team in the Soccer World Cup, in Qatar, this Thursday (24).

About 60 fans, many visitors, gathered in the space, where rice, beans and dried meat with pumpkin were served. With more capacity than expected, a second room was opened during the game break for the broadcast and was soon filled to capacity.

Despite being a game for the Brazilian team, green and yellow were a minority and competed mainly with white and red, colors, coincidentally, used by the Serbian team.

“It makes you want to root for the red, wow”, said publicist Fernanda Ferreira, 24, before the start of the match.

The opponent of the game, which started at 4 pm (Brasília time), was little known to many there. “You have to respect the big guy”, repeated a fan, in reference to striker Mitrović. Brazil’s attacks raised the crowd.

Even with the excitement and the united atmosphere of the match, the fans took every opportunity to talk about Neymar, at times with the right to offence.

“We’re rooting for Bolsominion. It’s a contradiction, it’s complex,” said plastic artist André Ribeiro, 33. He was referring to the fact that Neymar declared his vote for Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the defeated presidential candidate, in the second round of the last elections.

On the other hand, Vinicius Junior was, at first, the most celebrated, a position inherited by Richarlison after opening the scoring in the 22nd minute of the second half. Eleven minutes later, the player from Tottenham, from England, increased the score for the Brazilian team.

The 9 de Julho occupation, now home to more than 500 people, is housed in a building that housed the INSS (National Social Security Institute) and remained empty for over 20 years until it was occupied in 1997.

Displaced several times in the following years, it was recovered for the last time in 2016 by the Movimento Sem Roto do Centro and became one of the symbols of the fight for housing in the capital of São Paulo.

The place, coordinated by Carmen Silva, who is also the leader of the movement that founded the occupation, has a thrift shop, carpentry shop, collective kitchen —which usually receives famous chefs—, cafeteria, living room, library with toy library, art gallery, court , community garden and parking.

This Thursday, the occupation program included, in addition to the broadcast of the match, a community lunch and presentations by members of Teatro Oficina.