Congratulations!

In the hangover of the Olympics and the aftermath of the Eurocup, brilliantly fought by a small but brave country called Portugal, most of you may not have followed – I guess there’s more important news than what I will mention now – the local representation of Benfica gave a great performance at the AFC Cup. Similar to the Uefa Europa League playoff stage, winning one match and almost drawing another one against the host team in not so faraway Kirghizstan. They were scarcely 13 minutes away from making history. Without knowing yet the results of the other playoff groups, it was already a great achievement, possible only because the leaders have a project: making the football in Macau more than an amateur league without conditions to practice or even to play. Projects like this should have visibility. For instance, the matches should have been broadcast live by our TV channels. What Bernardo Alves, who is following in the footsteps of his father Mr. Leonel Alves, Chairman of the Casa do Benfica de Macau, Mister Henrique Nunes, my good friend and also professional colleague, Daniel Alves, as well as Carlos Silva, among all the other staff, and, of course, the players have done is put Macau on the map of Asian Football. In my layman’s view, what Macau football should aspire to is to have teams in the Chinese League (whether first or second division). Of course, the government needs to create conditions for that to happen. The example of Monaco, which is also a gaming destination, could be followed (the principality has a team integrated in the French League). Macau could negotiate with the Chinese league to have one or two teams integrated in the National League. The same could happen with Hong Kong. Thus, the so-called integration slated to occur in 2047 and 2049 would have its sportive side. This idea may have already been explored but I guess these days everyone in the Macau Government is more interested in having the gold medallists of the People’s Republic of China in Macau than taking time out to think about the future of the professional sport in the Region. Hopefully, the officials may also have some time to find a solution for the announced Uberexit. The life of everyone that used the application changed for the better. Notwithstanding this, I’m sure the Macau Government’s solution is to have a better quality taxi service, supervision of well behaved taxi drivers, and all other themes that serve the Macau public. In a nutshell, all that makes me sometimes ask myself what I’m doing in this place…