82,000 Fans Pack Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

You might think that there’s nothing much about a Brazilian soccer stadium packed with tens of thousands of fans (82 thousand to be more precise), except that all of the 82 thousand people at Maracanã last night - Saturday, Nov. 07 of 2009 - were rooting for the same team, and it was not Brazil's national soccer team.

Vasco da Gama, a 4-times National Champion in Brazil has always been one of the principal soccer teams in Brazil and they had never been demoted to the infamous 2^nd- Division Soccer in Brazil until last year. A league feared by the biggest soccer teams in Brazil because of the odd conditions of the competition and the thousands of miles of travel in order to play the matches against soccer clubs deep in the Brazilian countryside where many times you can only get to by bus, which makes it tough to win and Vasco did it last night as they returned to the elite of Brazilian soccer.

Vasco was demoted to the second league on December 07 of last year. This was a hard blow to many people in Brazil since Vasco is believed to have, perhaps, the greatest number of fans in that country, about 25 million.

But last night they made history as a triumphant Vasco da Gama beat Juventude Soccer Clube, 2 X 1, as Vasco regained access to Brazil’s Elite Soccer League one month before the end of the competition and virtually conquered the championship since there are only 4 games to go and they’re already 7 points ahead of second place Ceará Soccer Club.

Fans packed Maracanã to root for Vasco, and it was not a championship final match.

The game marked the return of Vasco to the Elite of Brazilian Soccer.

The Maracanã stadium packed with more than 80 thousand people all rooting for the same team. This is unprecedented in world soccer history.

Children and their families cheered together in celebration to Vasco’s remarkable comeback to the Brazilian 1st League Soccer.

Carlos Alberto - Vasco’s Midfielder – is the biggest star of Vasco.

STATS:

Place: Maracanã stadium, Rio de Janeiro

Date: November 7 of 2009

Referee: Nielson Nogueira Dias

Flagsmen: Erich Bandeira (Fifa) e Ubirajara Jota

Fans: 81.904

Yellow Cards: Aloisio

Red Cards: Juninho

Goals:

VASCO: Adriano - 28 minutes of first half; Carlos Alberto - 23 minutes of second half.

JUVENTUDE: Irineu - 17 minutes of second half.

VASCO: Fernando Prass, Paulo Sérgio, Fernando, Titi e Ramon; Nilton, Souza(Alex Teixeira), Allan e Carlos Alberto(Magno); Adriano e Élton(Aloísio)

Coach: Dorival Júnior

JUVENTUDE: Juninho, Bruno, Douglas, Irineu e Bruno Telles; Xavier(Jorge Felipe), Walker, Lauro e Léo Dias(Gustavo); Zezinho e Marcos Denner(Mendes)

SEE MORE ABOUT VASCO DA GAMA HERE: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-359986