Men's Soccer Blog From Brazil: Coffee Farm and Second Match

The Penn State Behrend men's soccer team is taking part in an international sports tour of Brazil from May 17-26.  The following blog was sent by Penn State Behrend men's soccer players Zach Herd, Jerry Tortella, and Jake Gamble, and is the third in a series of short updates from the team trip to South America.

Third Blog Entry: Coffee Farm and Second Match

Today we woke up to beautiful weather and a knock on the door from Coach Perritano.  We started the morning with a "non-disciplinary" run around our resort.  The run lasted approximately fifty minutes and concluded with an ab workout by the pool.  After our morning run we enjoyed another delicious breakfast at our resort restaurant.  Following breakfast, we all met again to prepare for our trip to a local coffee farm.  The farm was very interesting, it was located in a gorgeous area high in the mountains.  The trip started with a scenic three kilometer walk to the farm.  After our hike, we got to see a primitive process of producing coffee beans.  We also got the pleasure of watching the Banks brothers act as our mules and produce sugar cane syrup.  The trip to the farm was highlighted by the best weather we have seen on our trip thus far.

After our trip to the farm and a relaxing day around the resort, we traveled to a new city to host another youth soccer clinic and play another friendly soccer match.  The clinic went smoothly and we all enjoyed interacting with the local Brazilian children.  We played several games with them through which we were able to overcome the language barrier.  The clinic was followed by our second soccer match of the trip, which ended up being an exciting game.  This team was much better competition than our opponent the previous night.  Though we started the game well, we went down 1-0 in the first half.  The beginning of the second half was filled with action, in which Garrett Gray was able to capitalize and even the score at 1-1.  The second goal came with about five minutes left, as Cory Neiderer played a beautiful through ball to Lance Sabol, who buried the ball in the back of the net.  The goal was met by cheers from the Behrend team and the local children, however the cheers were overpowered by the boos of the other local fans!  The game concluded with a 2-1 Behrend victory.  Following the game the Behrend players were met by the local children, they anxiously asked for autographs and any soccer gear we were willing to give them.

Tomorrow will be a transition day, we will depart our mountain resort and head to Sau Jose Dos Campos.  We are hoping to depart from our resort early and have time to visit the Sau Jose mall.  After the mall, we will head to our final game here in Brazil. We all hope to bring home another victory and conclude our Brazilian soccer careers undefeated!