Brazil’s national soccer team has been taking in the sights and sounds of South Korea ahead of its friendly match with the Korean national soccer team.
With the surprise appearance of stars like Neymar da Silva Santos Jr., better known as Neymar, eyewitness accounts of the players meandering around the country are popping up one after another on social media.
The Brazilian soccer team, including Neymar, visited N Seoul Tower on Friday, just one day after touching down in Korea. That day, the Brazilian Football Confederation released a video on their official social media account showing players on the Brazilian national team touring around Mount Nam.
Before boarding the cable car, they took a commemorative photo, looking like ordinary tourists.
The following day, on Saturday, the team visited Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Neymar enjoyed rides such as the Columbus Adventure and T Express, and posted photos and videos directly to Instagram, writing, “A day of laughter and adventure.” Neymar has about 174 million Instagram followers.
Even the sun setting wasn't enough to end the soccer players’ fun. Neymar and other players reportedly visited a club in Gangnam in the early hours of Sunday morning. Neymar entered the club around 1 am that day and left at 5:30 am. He reportedly spent more than 12 million won (US$9,700) at the club, some of the money having gone to pay for champagne.
The reason why the players have been so active and going on so many outings is apparently to overcome their jet lag.
Brazilian media Globo reported, “The Brazilian Football Confederation's technical committee is concerned that if the players stay at the hotel, they will nap [due to jet lag] and may not be able to sleep at night.”
The friendly match between Korea and Brazil is scheduled for Thursday, June 2, at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
By Lee Jun-hee, staff reporter
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]