Day 1

We flew in the night before to São Paulo, so during the day we acclimatized from the long flight and had a look around the city, had a team meeting and then went to a sports bar to watch the Copa America.

 

Day 2

We collected our training kit then we all hopped into a bus and traveled about an hour and a half outside of São Paulo to the Red Bull Academy. It was in the middle of nowhere in a jungle but the facilities were amazing.

We had a training session and were shown around, actually, this team plays in the Brazilian second division.

We then played one of the top Street football teams in Brazil and we beat them in the first game they beat us in the second game, in the third they beat as 1-0 with a goal in the last seconds.

 

 

Day 3

We left São Paulo for Santos FC the famous club of Pele, Neymar, and Robinho. We toured the club’s museum and digital interactive display and went to the pitch where Neymar scored that famous Puskas goal - it was an amazing feeling being at their Villa Belmiro stadium.

Just being on the side of a pitch that has seen the likes of Pele and Neymar score amazing goals. They even have a museum just for that Neymar goal where you can see the boots he wore and you can watch the game on replay.

Then we went to the most amazing hotel I’ve ever stayed in, the Sofitel. It was six stars. This was our base for the rest of the tournament.

I've never seen a hotel so incredible. 

 

 

Day 4

We started with a very cool beach training session and then we had the Red Bull global marketing team making a small story around our team

We were taken to the Neymar Institute And this was our first look at where the tournament will be held, and on the surface, we had a three-hour training session there.

What I remember was the staircase at the Institute, it was built around Neymar’s career moments with these amazing murals.