Road to Rio | Road to Rio: Algerian fans keep the faith by enjoying the party
Belo Horizonte has a student-like atmosphere while Brasilia is almost all about the Colombians
With 21 minutes left on the clock, it seems like the footballing gods are smiling on Algeria. Paired against tournament dark horses Belgium in their opening game, the North Africans have surprised everyone by taking a 1-0 lead, the players marking the moment with a team celebration that resembled a synchronised prayer at the corner flag.
Gathered in an upper section of the Estadio Mineirao, the three or four thousand Algerian fans have been offering up their own songs of praise, chanting relentlessly and dominating the atmosphere in the stadium just as they had in the streets of Belo Horizonte the previous evening. But an equaliser from Belgium takes the wind out of their sails, and by the time Dries Mertens hits a late winner for the Europeans, they sit as silent and stony faced as statues in a long-forgotten temple.
The Brazil-Mexico game later in the day has brought the locals out in force, and the streets are filled with boisterous fans drinking canned beer and wickedly strong caipirinhas from street carts dripping with melted ice
Carlos, the philosophical Ecuador fan sitting in the seat to my left, shrugs as the Belgian players celebrate. "God does not play football" is all he says. Whatever blow this defeat has dealt to their footballing faith, the Algerian fans are over it by the evening, joining their more reserved Belgian counterparts and thousands of other football-shirt-clad revellers in a square in the city's Savassi area. The Brazil-Mexico game later in the day has brought the locals out in force, and the streets are filled with boisterous fans drinking canned beer and wickedly strong caipirinhas from street carts dripping with melted ice.
Chants erupt periodically as supporters of various stripes show off their devotion, and fans of other nations join in enthusiastically while clouds of smoke from cigarettes, joints and the occasional flare drift over our heads.
A group of students from the local university tell us proudly that Belo Horizonte has the most beautiful women in Brazil, and while it's a claim we hear in just about every city we visit, it's hard to argue as pretty girls in Brazil shirts light up the crowd like fireflies. Couples embrace brazenly and uninhibitedly wherever we look and there's a bacchanalian spirit in the air that is positively infectious and unmistakably South American.
