VICENTE DATTOLI / AIPS: Soccer may yet have to win the hearts of fans in the United States. However, the Club World Cup, which FIFA is organising in the United States as a test for the 2026 World Cup, could help change this situation.

Little by little, some matches have seen the stands fill up, especially where Latino immigration is highest – and for a very simple reason: the parties that Brazilian and Argentine fans are throwing in the stadiums and on the streets of the cities.

This Saturday, Fluminense fans invaded Times Square. It is impossible to say how many there were, but the songs of love for their club, accompanied by musical instruments typical of those used in samba schools in Rio de Janeiro, drew attention – in addition to the huge number of flags.

Pictures: Enzo Dattoli

It is also important to note the huge number of children, which ended up involving even more Americans (and other tourists) who passed through the most famous square in the world.

If on Friday night, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Americans were impressed by the party thrown by Boca Juniors fans during the match against Bayern Munich (the Argentines didn’t stop singing for a single moment, despite the defeat), Fluminense fans managed to provoke some unusual reactions when they invaded Times Square. Even the city’s normally serious police officers gave in to the madness that was provoked, which even included climbing statues to place flags of the Rio de Janeiro team in the hands of those being honored.

Those typical double-decker tourist buses, when passing through the Brazilian crowd, would stop for a few moments so that their passengers could take photos – and, in some cases, someone would stand up and also show off a shirt or flag. The streets of New York were decorated with green, maroon and white on Saturday morning.

Another important event, which will certainly be repeated exhaustively next year, was the reunion of many immigrants with their country of origin. In this specific case, people wearing Fluminense fan shirts appeared in New York, Orlando, Boston… Brazilians who left their country in search of a better life and rediscovered, through football, the nationalist feeling that never ceases to exist.

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