Let’s start with the club itself. You pronounce it IPA: kroo-zair-oh and the name refers to the Southern Cross. Cruzeiro, though, was originally called Palestra Itália. But after World War 2, when Italy became an enemy, the club had to change its name. Cruzeiro is the constellation of the Southern Cross, and can only be seen from the Southern Hemisphere, therefore, not related to Italy. The state and city Cruzeiro plays in is Minas Gerais (IPA: [ˌminɐzʒeˈɾajs]) state, which literally means General Mines, named by explorers who found various minerals there. Cruzeiro is located in the state’s capital, Belo Horizonte (IPA: [bɛloɾiˈzõtʃi], usually seen as Brazil’s number three city after Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo). The name Belo Horizonte is Portuguese for Beautiful Horizon. Cruzeiro’s current coach (manager) is Dorival Júnior and current chairmen is Alvimar Perrella and his brother Zezé Perrella, is one of the vice-presidents. Collectively known as the Perrella Brothers or as I call them, the Money Greeds. Cruzeiro plays in the Mineirão Stadium (which means Big Mineiro [Mineiro being the demonym of someone from Minas Gerais]). Mineirão is currently the second largest stadium in Brazil with a capacity of 75,783.

Players of note (players I’ll probably make reference to in the future):

Fábio – good but controversial goalkeeper.

Marcinho & Wagner – midfield maestros (sort of).

Araújo & Roni – goalscoring machines, at least when they are on.

Guilherme & Kerlon – promising young players, forward and midfielder, respectively.

Are you keeping pace? I have a feeling I lost you. Anyway, this will save me time from explaining who everyone is in future news post. Oh yea, by the way, the quiz is next week .