From Krakow, I traveled for 5 hours by bus through the beautiful rolling fields of Moravia, one of the historical lands of the Czech Republic , before finally arriving in the country’s second largest city Brno.
I thought I’d got lost trying to find my hostel, so I asked the first person I saw for help . This turned out to be the one and only Kleber Buriolla, a splendid looking Brazilian chap with marvellously stretched and decorated ears and heavily tattooed, almost from head to toe. He gave me a big wide smile with his gold teeth and pierced lips, said he was staying at the same hostel and that I was actually stood right outside it. He unlocked the main door for me and showed me where to go before before disappearing .
After a right good cup o tea, I grabbed my ball and headed out into the warm air and cool vibe of this medieval, gothic and modern mixture of a city. I’d been walking for about 45 minutes when I bumped into the walking art form that was Kleber the Brazilian again . I joined him for a pint before explaining my mission . He jumped at the chance of a game .
We headed out into the heart of the city before plonking the jumpers down in Minoricka Street, close to the central bar area . After a few passing grumps with very serious faces had declined to play, we managed to convince four young random locals to join us . They were partners Martin Vynazal (28) and Lucie Vachoua (27), Jolana Kantorova (21) on her way to work and Natalia Felinity (25) who was out for a stroll. A 3 v 3 with Natalia and Lucie on Kleber’s side.
Natalia kicked off her flip-flops and Kleber ( known in true Brazilian style as Klebinho to his mates back home ) did the same. Lucie was worried her shoes would get ruined and didn’t want to play at first . Ten minutes later she’d turned into a ferocious, tough tackling midfield enforcer shouting her team forward.
MartIn and Jolana were combining well for our side and we took an early two goal lead. . That’s when Klebinho came out of the nets and stared to show some samba skills, dancing in and out of tackles, laughing all the while . They pulled a goal back, but we replied almost immediately. They scored again to make it 3-2 but we sealed victory when the all action Jolana nipped in to put away Martins cross . A bright and breezy, joyful game of footy with some lovely young souls from Brno and Klebinho