Brazil has been knocked out from the ongoing World Cup already, but for many soccer fans the Brazil national team is synonymous with the game with its long line of legendary players starting with Pele through Neymar who played his last World Cup recently.
The role of Los Gatos in 1994 World Cup held in the US is not very well known though. During the 2022 World Cup, by word-of-mouth I learned about that fascinating side story which led me to dig the details from newspaper coverages of that time - mainly from the NY Times.
The town’s mayor then, Randy Attaway, who facilitated the Brazil’s cup winning team in Los Gatos was happy to meet with me and narrate the entire story when I contacted him. We met at Wine Cellar and talked over drinking wines - him Chardonnay and I some house red. This New Times story pretty much summarizes what I heard from him during that meeting.
New York Times has run this story recently, recouting the memories of Mayor Randy Attaway and the Los Gatos locals involved in hosting the Brazil team in their cute town, where I live also now, in 1994. The story can be read here https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7403545/2026/07/05/los-gatos-brazil-world-cup-1994/
I had started writing Sevens then, and I decided to incorporate this story also in the storyline that required major changes in the novel’s plot. The result was a work more tied to World Cup’s local legends and celebrations. Look at the excerpts on the website if you haven’t had a chance to read the novel yet.