Brazilian club soccer player slams Patriots' planes after Intercontinental Cup defeat
Brazil is slowly changing the way soccer clubs are managed. Right now, there's a new trend of moving away from associations and selling teams to owners. Botafogo, a club from Rio de Janeiro, recently won the Libertadores Cup being owned by American owner John Textor. He is a friend of New England Patriots' owner Robert […]
Brazil is slowly changing the way soccer clubs are managed. Right now, there's a new trend of moving away from associations and selling teams to owners. Botafogo, a club from Rio de Janeiro, recently won the Libertadores Cup being owned by American owner John Textor.
He is a friend of New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft. And after winning the Libertadores Cup and the Brazilian national league in a few days, the team had to travel to Qatar to play the Intercontinental Cup — a yearly version of the Fifa Club World Cup.
But Botafogo lost 3-0 to Mexican club Pachuca in the quarterfinal match and was eliminated from the competition. Well, the Patriots' airplane was perceived as one of the reasons.
Argentine defender Alexander Barboza classified it as 'weak.'
"It's a bit sad. I had dreamed of lifting three more trophies, but it wasn't possible," Barboza said about the Intercontinental Cup sequence. "No body can handle that. There were too many games in a row. The trip was long, over 15 hours. The plane wasn't the best, it was a weak plane. And that took a toll. We tried to play, we had goal opportunities, but it didn't work out. The year was incredible for everyone, for the fans, and for the club."
The New England Patriots have two Boeing 767-300ER planes, known as the "AirKrafts". They use the planes for team travel and other purposes. The Patriots are the first NFL team to own their own planes.
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