Brazil mourns fallen football team in pouring rain

In a driving rain, the small Brazilian city of Chapeco held a massive funeral Saturday for its football team, tragically wiped out in a plane crash in Colombia. The bodies of 50 players, coaches and staff from the Chapecoense Real club were taken on a funeral procession from the airport to Conda Arena, the stadium where just 10 days ago the team were thrilling their fans.
Draped in the club's green and white flag, the coffins slowly wound their way through the city, as family and fans braved the weather to watch with a mix of sobs and cheers. Soldiers unloaded the coffins onto the pitch when they arrived at the packed stadium, where the city was expecting a crowd of some 100,000 people - half its population.
Chapeco is in mourning for its little team that could, cut down at the height of its glory. The unsung club was having a fairytale season until the charter plane flying it to the biggest match in its history ran out of fuel and slammed into the mountains outside Medellin on Monday night, killing 71 people.
There was imposing silence at the stadium as the funeral cortege arrived, broken only by cheers of "Champions!" whenever the screens showed images of the procession. Soaking wet from the rain, his eyes red from crying, mechanic Rui Alonso Thomas watched the procession with his 10-year-old daughter, who was draped in the Chapecoense banner. "We would have been here rain or shine. Our dream was finally becoming reality. It was so close. There's just no explaining it," he said, choking back tears. "Chapeco will take a long time to get over this. But I plan to keep coming to the stadium."
"Chapecoense is in our hearts. It's our family," said Patricia Carraro, a 32-year-old cashier. Earlier, fireworks lit up the sky over the stadium as two Brazilian Air Force planes transporting the team's coffins touched down at the southern city's airport.
The arrival was delayed by an outpouring of emotion at a refueling stop along the way, when locals in the Amazon city of Manaus flocked to the airport to pay tribute to the crash victims. Brazilian President Michel Temer met the planes upon arrival and attended the memorial alongside the coach of the Brazilian national team, Tite, and FIFA chief Gianni Infantino. The crash has left the football world in mourning. A minute's silence for the team will be held before every Champions League and Europa League game next week.