Valeu Sport!

Nathan Raff was without much question the biggest US-born fan that Sport Club do Recife has ever had. He started two blogs about the team, Country of the Future and the Lion's Roar. His last post before he died concerned the likelihood of Sport's winning the Campeonato Pernambucano (they now have the championship sewn up) and the team's upcoming participation in the Copa Libertadores.

I am not always reliable when it comes to sticking with projects over the long haul, so I'm making no promises. But I feel a lot of regret that Nathan will not get to see his team participate in Brazil's most prestigious club tournament. So I'm going to do my best, using the means available to me, to follow the cup as closely as I can and to chronicle the path of Sport through the early stages and hopefully into the knockout stage.

First, a little background. The Copa Liberatadores, or "Liberator's Cup," is a South American championship much like the Champion's League in Europe. Top club teams from the various South American countries (and, for some reason, Mexico) are invited to participate in the cup. Sport is included in 2009 because in 2008 they won the Copa do Brasil, Brazil's national championship tournament.

Yesterday evening Sport played its first match of the group stage against Colo Colo, Chile's top team. The group stage consists of three home-and-home ties. Away victories are priceless in any home-and-home tie situation, and Sport came away with hard-fought 2-1 win.

All of Sport's scoring action was thanks to their star forward, the sublime Ciro. In the seventh minute a ball came into the box from Wilson and onto the head of midfielder Paulo Baier. He gave the ball just the barest graze with the top of his head, which was apparently not what anyone - except Ciro - was expecting. Two defenders and the goalkeeper were wrongfooted as the ball trickled tantalizingly across the left half of the six yard box. It looked as if Christian Munoz, the goalkeeper, would get there just in time, but instead Ciro knocked a quick left-footed shot effortlessly over him and into the open net.

Later in the first half ("primiero tempo" in Portuguese) Colo Colo lost possession in the midfield and the ball was quickly hit forward to Ciro, setting up a dangerous 2 on 2 break for with Wilson. Riquelme, the Chilean defender marking Ciro, was completely undressed by a quick fake to the outside and suddenly Ciro found himself alone, dribbling toward the box at pace. The second defender had no choice but to cheat over toward Sport's best forward, now completely unmarked, and Ciro calmly hit a gentle right-footed pass to a wide open Wilson, who slotted it home for what had to be one of the easiest goals of his career.

Magrao's clean sheet was spoiled in the second half ("segundo tempo") when some lazy defending by a packed-in Sport led to a cheap goal by Lucas Barrios, but in the end Sport prevailed, notching the full three points at Colo Colo's facility.

Sport must now be considered one of the favorites to come out of Group 1, though there is of course a lot of futbol left to be played.