Football
ESPN staff 7y

Chapecoense prepare for friendly vs. Palmeiras as rebuilding continues

CHAPECO, Brazil -- Journalist Rafael Henzel, one of just six survivors of the Chapecoense air tragedy, said he will broadcast Saturday's friendly match against Brazilian league champion Palmeiras for Chapecoense, as the club and town prepare to play football again for the first time since the crash almost two months ago.

Henzel was one of just six passengers of 77 to survive, and he went back to work at the radio station just over a week ago as the Brazil club and town of 200,000 rebuild. On Saturday, Chapecoense's 20,000-capacity Arena Conda will host the team's first match as silence and mourning are slowly being replaced by boisterous fans and hope.

"The stairway at the Arena Conda is very steep, but I have extra motivation to be in that stadium again and see players wearing our shirt, the fans. It won't be that stairway that will stop me," Henzel told The Associated Press after his morning show on radio Oeste Capital.

Henzel has worked at Chapecoense matches since 2012, and is the voice of the team from the remote, southern Brazilian city of Chapeco. After 20 days in a hospital, seven broken ribs, multiple scars -- one over his right eye -- and worrisome pneumonia, Henzel went back to work at the radio station just over a week ago.

Now he's making his second return -- what he calls "Rafael 2.0" -- in the match , preparing to once again get behind the microphone at the tiny stadium. His left foot is in a cast, but that won't stop him.

"When I woke up at the crash site, I became aware of what had happened," he said, recalling the crash. "Initially, I thought I was dreaming but then, shortly after, you start to realize that the plane had crashed."

The three surviving players hope to play again, in one fashion or another. And all three are expected for Chape's debut on Saturday. Defender Neto, who spent more than 10 hours in the plane wreckage before being rescued, recently took his first steps without support.

He's already visited the club and will be an inspiration for Chape's new players in a busy season.

New coach Vagner Mancini said the job makes him "a better human being, but it's the most challenging to face."

We have to build a team, a coaching staff and a club infrastructure in a season in which Chape will be in demand," Mancini told The Associated Press.

"I understand now that the city was so affected because the club and the city are run like a family," he added. "The players we brought are cut from that cloth, but we have to reach a higher level now."

After the crash, Colombian club Atletico Nacional, which was to face Chape in the Copa Sudamericana final in Medellin, awarded the victory to the small Brazilian team.

That means that Chape qualified for South America's No. 1 tournament for the first time, the competitive Copa Libertadores. The team will also try to defend its title in the Santa Catarina state championship, try to stay up in Brazil's top-flight competition, and play in a pile of fundraisers, including one against Barcelona.

"We have to assemble a competitive team at the same time we need to hire someone to handle passports, contracts," Mancini said. "The club used to handle this well, but like a family run business. Now we are at a different moment."

Chapecoense had almost nothing left after the crash: six players that did not travel on the ill-fated flight, two physiotherapists, one goalkeeping coach, one doctor, one data analyst, one nurse and a few club officials.

New chairman and club co-founder Plinio David de Nes Filho, a wealthy local businessman known as Maninho, is leading the charge to bolster club finances. Former players like Nivaldo Constante, who played as a goalkeeper until the tragedy struck, are approaching players that can help.

And Chapeco Mayor Luciano Buligon is working as a kind of ambassador for the club and the city.

"Our weekends were about three things: family, church and Chapecoense," Buligon said. "It has been hard to get the city back on track because the wounds are still very open. But we are slowly moving on. On Saturday we will start getting a part of our weekends back."

Not everyone is happy.

Rosangela Loureiro, widow of crash victim Cleber Santana, said she is upset because his belongings still have not been returned to the family.

"I feel sadness and rage. No one is doing anything to bring their belongings back. I plead with them to soften our pain and make us get the memories that we will hold dear for the rest of our lives," she said on Instagram last week.

Other widows have complained about damages not yet being paid by the club. Chapecoense directors say they are doing the best they can as they try to rebuild.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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