Football provides outlet
Four hundred kilometres away, contrasting from the destruction and disaster sits the proud Atahualpa stadium, a site that has given Ecuadorians joy and happiness, the place where the national team won through to three FIFA Coins fifacoin-buy World Cups™ in 2002, 2006 and 2014. It was there, during the recent South American World Cup qualifiers, where a group of 16 young children were taken out of their tented community and driven up the mountains to take part in the pre-match ceremony, before the match between Ecuador and Brazil. The kids are victims of the earthquake, losing family members and their homes. It is football that provides some solace from their circumstances and a charitable group called Futbol Mas provided the means and transport to take the youngsters to live an experience that will be with them forever.

It’s a long and winding road from Manta to the capital city Quito, and for many of the kids it was the very first time they had ever travelled outside their home city. Their joy written all over their faces as they rode the bus for six hours, the day before the big match. On the morning of the game they stepped inside the stadium for rehearsals, all wide eyed and amazed as they took in the majestic structure sitting on the side of the Andean mountains. This was a real life dream. After the rehearsal it was time to rest and wait, later to be summoned to the player’s tunnel minutes before the game.

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