RIO DE JANEIRO — The locals here in Brazil will tell you Flamengo is the biggest soccer team in the country. It doesn’t take long to see why.
Their modern facility is surrounded by green Rio mountains. The streets to get there are thin and winding, littered with everything from small restaurants, to auto body shops, to even an antique store. Flamengo’s home contradicts all of that. It’s big, modern, and even guarded by high walls and a giant black vulture, as contradictory as that would seem to the club’s name.
Despite being thousands of miles away from The Star in Frisco, the Cowboys felt right at home on Friday at Brazil’s equivalent in advance of Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens.
“That’s what we’re used to,” Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said.
Which is noteworthy, considering they won’t be used to a lot this weekend.
Schottenheimer said Friday this week has been circled on the calendar for many players. It had to be, because it’s so unique. A 10-hour flight is not a normal road trip, especially when the Cowboys are the home team in this case. Their first day in Rio de Janeiro wasn’t normal, either. The Cowboys took off on a red-eye flight in Dallas and landed Tuesday morning.
Schottenheimer said each player was briefed on sleep options and strategies for the flight well beforehand. How did that work out?
“I don’t know,” Schottenheimer said, “because I was asleep. Hopefully they were sleeping because I was knocked out.”
There wasn’t time early on Friday to rest, either. The Cowboys arrived at their hotel shortly after noon. Quarterback Dak Prescott said they dove into at least one piece of Brazilian culture immediately by eating a couple different cuts of steak. After that, they took a handful of team buses to Flamengo’s facility where they did a short practice in helmets only and their alternate jersey walkthrough apparel.
There wasn’t much to glean from the portion of Cowboys practice open to the media. The most notable thing might’ve been the amount of international media in attendance, including from multiple areas of South America. They filled the sidelines at practice. They overloaded a crowded Flamengo press conference room. One group from Argentina told The Dallas Morning News that Brazilian steak may be known for its reputation, but if they wanted better, they should go to Argentina sometime.
From an on-field perspective, the most notable thing might’ve been George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb kicking the soccer ball around during a punt period. Even kicker Brandon Aubrey, a former first-round pick in Major League Soccer, joined them to see how they were doing in his first professional sport.
Flamengo did a good job preparing for the Cowboys' arrival. They turned one of their practice fields into a football field. The field, itself, was well kept — a hot topic this week as concerns have flared up over the state of Maracanã Stadium’s field. Flamengo also had players on hand to do jersey swaps with Cowboys players. Prescott, Lamb and Aubrey all ended up with personalized Flamengo red and black striped jerseys.
Overall, it felt like a Cowboys practice in a Brazilian setting. It was a beautiful one, too. Brazil may be known for its beaches, but the mountains deserve notoriety. One Cowboys staffer commented during practice that the mountains made for a Jurassic Park-esque setting. It felt even more like that when the buses left, the rain started coming down, and the fog rolled down over the hills.
For the Cowboys, Friday’s practice and Saturday’s walkthrough at Maracanã Stadium will likely be the extent of their Brazilian immersion prior to Sunday’s game with the Ravens. Both Schottenheimer and Prescott called this week a business trip. Both the Ravens and Cowboys plan to spend their time in Rio mostly in their hotels. The Cowboys brought plenty of playing cards and even have rooms designated for video games for the players. Both options should not only pass the time before kickoff, but also be competitive.
Prescott was asked multiple questions about playing in Rio by local media and what that means to him. He said he hopes to see the Christ the Redeemer statue on the way to the game. He even expressed disappointment that it might not be in view on the way to the game or during it.
“I’m definitely looking forward to coming back in the offseason when I have time,” Prescott said, “and really dive into the culture and all the beautiful places here.”
For now, however, their focus is on the game, because that’s what they’re used to doing.