Being fans of both teams was a challenging yet exciting experience for Santos. He’s been a Flamengo fan since he started kicking a ball as a kid in Brazil, but has followed Chelsea for over 20 years now. Santos believes Flamengo “played the best match I’ve ever seen them play,” which led them to beating Chelsea, who later went on to win the World Cup, allowing Santos to experience the best of both worlds.
As soon as the match concluded, Santos, his wife and friends had dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse and made the 12-hour trek home.
“It was definitely tiring, but I would do it again for something that I was very passionate about,” Santos said. “It’s cool to be a fan when I’m usually the player in my world. I’m sure there’s plenty of Bears fans that come from all over, like we go play in L.A. or Vegas and half the stadium is Bears fans. So it’s really cool to be on the other side and just feeling that passion that I see from our fans.”
Back home in Florida, Santos and Inara spent the rest of the summer soaking in quality time with Daniel and Alice.
Now having a pool in their backyard, one of Santos’ favorite memories was teaching Daniel and Alice how to swim. Watching them unlock a passion for swimming over the course of a few weeks was a “special experience” for Santos.
Daniel also took a liking to fishing over the past year and polished his skills with his dad over the summer, learning how to cast bait, take a fish off the hook and now, catch fish.