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Fuerza Albirroja!


"Albirroja" is the nickname for the Paraguayan national soccer (fútbol) team. The players have all flown in from their international clubs (many play on European or other South American teams) for tonight's big fútbol game(Paraguay vs. Bolivia), one of the qualifying games for the 2010 World Cup. Right now Paraguay's in third place in their bracket, behind Chile and Brazil and only the top four teams qualify, so tonight's win is crucial.

The entire country goes crazy during World Cup games, and even in the qualifiers, people shut down businesses, school and consider it an unofficial holiday. You'll find Paraguayan paraphernalia on almost every street corner, people grilling steak and drinking beer all night long.

Norberto is preaching tonight at church, at the same time the game is playing unfortunately, so it will be very interesting to see if we'll see anyone besides a few old ladies in the pews!
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Update: Paraguay won 1-0 and the church was full! It was a total win-win!

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