Day 12 by Brad

After eating breakfast at the hotel buffet the team decided to all go to the beach even though the weather was less than favorable. We are all from Seattle, we can handle a few clouds, but unfortunately we were unable to swim this tim ebecause the waves were considered too dangerous. so instead, we decided to play beach soccer. It was hard to pass the ball around on the loose sand, but both teams were still able to play a very competitive game. Fernando was impressed with Geena's great defense, Fernando was also impressed by the goalie skills of Scott Long and Adam Lehman. After the beach soccer game, some of the kids decided to go to the street market to buy some last souvenirs for family members and friends back home. Then we went and got lunch at the mall. The food mall is the only place open on Sundays....but most of the boys were able to eat MacDonald's which was so good!!! Then we went back to the hotel and shortly after went to the game between Fluminese and Internacionale. The game featured a match up between the first and fifth place teams in the league. The atmosphere was electric and the stadium that holds 190,000 people was packed. This was the last game at this stadium before they close it for remodelling for the 2014 world cup; it will be the venue for the finals. Fluminese dominated the competition, scoring two goals in quick succession in the first half to take a commanding 2 to 0 lead in the half time. The second half was more of the same and a final goal in the 59th minute silenced any hopes of a comeback. The final score was three to zero. It took a long time to exit the stadium and the entire team was hungry for dinner. After stuffing our faces with dinner and then ice cream, the team stayed in the hotel for the rest of the night. (Mom note: and they had a great time playing soccer in their hotel rooms until well past midnight, and a few had slumber parties on their last night in Rio!)