There was supposed to be a soccer game in Medellin, Colombia, last Wednesday. Instead Atletico Nacional and thousands of its fans filed into a packed stadium to pay homage to the Brazilian club they were scheduled to play.
Before last week, few people outside Brazil knew much about Chapecoense, a hard-luck team of modest means and more modest talent. From the tiny town of Chapeco, in the southern state of Santa Catalina, the club had spent most of its existence in the lower tiers of Brazilian soccer, just struggling to survive.
But everything seemed to be come together this year.