Rocinha organizes first party to accompany the selection, sees defeat, but keeps hope

Despite the 1-0 score for Cameroon, the atmosphere was festive in Rocinha, in Rio, during the entire match in Brazil this Friday (2).

Considered the largest in the country, the favela located in the south of Rio de Janeiro has around 70,000 inhabitants, and for the first time, the residents themselves organized an event to accompany the national team games.

This Friday, around 5,000 people gathered on Via Apia, at the entrance to the community. On site, there were large tents to protect the public in case of rain – the afternoon was sunny and very hot.

Unlike Qatar, there was no shortage of beer in Rocinha. There were more than 250 boxes to handle the event, which also attracted street vendors selling various snacks.

“The idea is precisely to encourage local trade. Everyone comes together and collaborates with what they can to put on this show for ourselves”, said Ricardo Santos, one of the organizers of the event.

The lack of a goal by the Brazilian team also did not discourage those who prepared looks to cheer. There were no other colors to be seen besides green and yellow. At the local feirinha, it was possible to find the shirt of the Brazilian team of all types and sizes. The demand was so great that traders couldn’t handle it.

Salesperson Evelyn Silva said that the stock set aside for the World Cup ran out in two days, even before Brazil’s debut. “We didn’t expect it to be like this. The people really got excited. For today’s game they didn’t have it either, we had to bring more. It gave a very big boost to sales”, she celebrated.

The stalls still sold accessories, flags and even the cup.

With or without six, caretaker Francisco de Oliveira has already secured two trophies for the favela. The idea of ​​buying the replicas, according to him, is to encourage his daughters Elisa and Júlia, aged 4 and 3, to support Brazil in their first World Cup.

During the break and after the match, the party featured DJs and a pagoda group —made up of musicians from the community— who enlivened the crowd, still hopeful for the next games.