Eagles take on Packers in Brazil: What to know before historic NFL game in São Paulo
Stay with Action News and Brian Taff all week long as we give you the sights and sounds of Brazil's most populated city.
SÃO PAULO (WPVI) -- The Philadelphia Eagles are getting ready for their season opener in Brazil.
The game kicks off Friday at 8:15 p.m. ET against the Green Bay Packers.
Our team has already made the long, more than 4,700-mile journey. Stay with Action News and Brian Taff all week long as we give you the sights and sounds of Brazil's most populated city, São Paulo
The game will be the NFL's first in Brazil and in South America as a whole. It's also the NFL's first Friday game on opening weekend in more than 50 years.
READ MORE: Heading to Eagles game in Brazil? What to know about tourist safety
"We're excited about the opportunity to play in a neutral site and have a slightly different schedule of things that happen," said coach Nick Sirianni before leaving Philadelphia. "Like you have a big bye, like a mini bye, coming off of it. So, there are a lot of positives in it. It's also to spread the game to a new country, which is exciting."
Here's a full list of updates before kickoff:
Unique uniforms
The Eagles will debut a unique look for the historic game.
RELATED: Philadelphia Eagles to debut unique uniforms in Brazil game
The team announced it would be wearing black helmets, white jerseys and black pants for the matchup in São Paulo, with no hint of green anywhere on the uniform.
It's the first time the team will wear this particular combination in a game. The Eagles will be bringing back their black alternate helmets that debuted in 2022.
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Second-longest flight
The Eagles arrived in Brazil on Wednesday night after a 10-hour flight.
This was the second-longest flight any NFL team has ever taken to get to any game in league history.
So what might be the impact of that?
"The number one challenge is the long flight. This is the longest international flight that a Philadelphia Eagles team has ever made," said ESPN's Sal Paolantonio. "They talked about hydrating, some of them will need IV when they get here."
There was a walk-through at the Corinthians Arena Thursday, which is home to the Brazilian soccer team, SC Corinthians.
The Eagles are actually the "home" team in Brazil.
"I think ever since we've gotten here, it's just everything has been world class. The welcoming, the people at the hotel have been awesome, the locker rooms. We know how passionate this country is about their sports, and we're so excited to be here," said coach Nick Sirianni on Thursday.
According to reports published by the Eagles organization, American Airlines provided its largest plane for the international flight, allowing the team to get comfortable in the skies.
"They have to acclimate to a completely different environment. You know, football players, professional athletes, they're creatures of habit, creatures of routine. This is a major difference in their routine. It's something they will have to get used to -- playing in a different state stadium on a different continent," added Paolantonio.
Why did the NFL choose São Paulo?
According to Paolantonio, Brazil has the second largest NFL fan base outside of Mexico -- internationally -- and they really wanted to expand here.
"It's an extraordinarily rich and populous country and very sports-oriented. They wanted to do it in São Paulo because Corinthians Arena, Corinthians Stadium, has hosted the World Cup, has hosted the Olympics. It's a first-class arena," he added.
RELATED: Ron Jaworski's Eagles Week 1 preview: Birds in Brazil with new faces on and off the field
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has previously said this landmark, first international game in South America, demonstrates the ongoing expansion of our global footprint.
"Playing on Friday night of Week 1 is a unique way to highlight our international growth and ambitions," Goodell noted.
A taste of Philadelphia
If you stop in São Paulo, you just might find a taste of home.
Carlos Eduardo is a professional chef bringing the flavor of Philadelphia to Brazil
And, by the looks of the midweek crowd, they love it as much as he does.
Eduardo's love affair with the sandwich that now supports his family dates back more than a decade. Then, a young chef cutting his chops in American kitchens, he had what you could call an "aha moment."
"The first time I had a cheesesteak it was with my friends after work and the first time I fell in love with the sandwich," said Eduardo.
He decided then and there what his future would be.
"When I go back to Brazil, I wanna go back and open a cheesesteak shop to bring this great sandwich to all the Brazilians," he explained.
But to do it right, even with an audience that didn't know it, Eduardo knew it had to be real. He's been to Philadelphia more than 10 times just to try cheesesteaks.
In a city teeming with rich and complex cuisine, he's drawn to the simple sandwich.
Maybe he knew they would the first time he tasted one, but Brazilians appear to agree
Exploring the city of São Paulo
São Paulo is in one word, massive.
It's the most populous city in all of Central and South America. The metro area is home to 22.6 million people, almost three times as many who call New York City home.
It's also sprawling. The city alone covers 587 square miles, more than four times larger than Philadelphia. It's home to more people of Italian descent who currently live in Rome and has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan.
It is a lot of people, and by extension, a lot of things at once, teaming with a culture that seems to ooze from the streets but struggling under the sheer enormity of keeping up with the needs of its residents.
One in ten who live here makes their homes in high-density makeshift neighborhoods.
"You see a very vibrant, modern town in some parts of the town, and then right next to it you see the shafts, like the slums, people living in in cardboard houses," said Larrisa Lautert, who lives in São Paulo.
The Tiete River River is one of the city's two main bodies of water. It's among the most evident victims of its fast growth coupled with decades of corruption. At times, this river is a biological dead zone, unable to support any kind of life along with 160-mile stretch.
And traffic, well, that can be brutal.
While the population of São Paulo soared more than 10% in the last decade, the number of cars here rose by more than 110%. The result is gridlock.
But all of that is inspiring Paulistas, as they're known, to harness their power to build a better future, and they are doing that right now.
"You can find anything you want in São Paulo at any time because it's a city that never sleeps as well," said Lautert.
Tourist safety
Perhaps you heard a rumor circulating pretty widely on social media in recent weeks that Eagles fans coming here should not wear their green because green is the color of this city's principal rival in soccer.
Well, it's not true. The State Department and the NFL both disavow that, saying if you're coming, let your Eagles fandom fly.
RELATED: São Paulo beefs up security for NFL game between Eagles, Packers
But the fact that it persisted speaks to one of the city's most pressing issues: crime. But they've seen great progress by attacking it head-on.
In the neighborhoods that dot this sprawling city, the chasm becomes immediately clear in so many ways how São Paulo has two distinct groups: the haves and the have-nots, and there's little in between.
The richest 1% here owns a staggering 49% of the property, many of them choosing to fly over São Paulo's notorious traffic.
But on the ground, the poorest are largely relegated to places like favelas, where conditions are cramped. Luxuries are few in these areas, and crime, especially targeting tourists, is high.
Angela Kerwin, the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Overseas Citizen Services, said it is important to be alert.
São Paulo is a big city. So you need to have your kind of big city radar and antenna on.
But the crime that's long been associated with this place has changed in many ways remarkably so.
Despite this being the sixth largest city on the planet, violent crime has dropped significantly. Officials say it just reached its lowest homicide rate in 24 years.
Soccer is a way of life
On any given day, a different kind of football in São Paulo tends to overtake the town.
In Brazil, soccer is the king of sports and allegiances run deep. It's handed down from one generation to the next, including in one very literal sense.
"Parents always give their children a gift in Brazil. The first gift is a ball, right?" said one resident.
That first gift lasts a lifetime in giving back to the community that gives so much of itself to this game.
"It moves an economy. People here in Brazil are passionate about football because it generates entertainment and the economy. So people end up falling in love with it to the point where there's no way around it," another resident said.
Not only is there no way around it, in many ways, all roads lead to it.
In São Paulo, if soccer is king, then the arena is its castle. All roads lead to the Corinthians Arena, where 48,000 dedicated ecstatic souls fill the seats for most games.
The game's a communal and much-needed release.
The Corinthians Arena, where the Eagles will play, was built ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was honored before it was even built as the best architectural project in the entirety of Brazil. It's rectangular design is meant to get fans as close to the field.
The importance of religion
Brazil is home to the most Catholics anywhere on the planet.
Founded by Portuguese explorers, part of their mission was to spread Catholicism throughout the world, and they started at home successfully.
In 1970, this country was more than 90% Catholic. In recent years, it's reportedly fallen closer to 50 or 60%.
Part of the drop is due to the growing number of Brazilians raising their hands to count themselves as evangelicals.
Action News was at Sunday services at the evangelical church Tabernacle Brazil For Christ on the east side of São Paulo.
Professor Joao Chaves is a Baylor University professor who just returned from Brazil to study the spread of religion. Born in Brazil and converting to Baptist as a teen, he is amazed at how evangelicalism is being embraced today.
His research is looking into why what once seemed impossible is now reality. One reason, he says, more than 87% of the population now lives in urban areas, like São Paulo.
Chaves also points to a church structure that allows evangelical leadership to have a closer relationship with members and appear more focused on their needs.
Nonetheless, even as it changes, religion here is front and center in public and private life.
The story behind the Christ the Redeemer statue
The road to see the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is winding and steep.
But at the top sits an icon, not just of the Rio skyline, but of the faith at the foundation of this city.
But the story of why they built it on the Corcovado mountain is one most people are unfamiliar with. It's a testament to the humility of the highest order.
In 1888, Princess Isabel signed what's now called "The Golden Law." It's just 18 words that abolished slavery in this country. She did it while her father, the emperor, was out of Brazil. She was left briefly in charge.
The result? She was lauded as Brazil's Redemptress, having saved so many from a life of enslavement.
And so began the movement to honor her with a statue. As a devout Catholic, she declined, demanding any monument not give glory to her but instead give glory to the mercy of God.
Nearly 2 million people a year visit this monument, which rises almost 2,800 feet above the city below. In fact, there's so much global curiosity about it that in 2007, this was named one of the new seven wonders of the world.
And when you're here, it's not hard to understand why.
The statue stands 98 feet tall, not including the 26-foot pedestal on which it stands. The arms of Christ are outstretched as a gesture of welcoming, reaching 92 feet from finger to finger.
It's the largest Art Deco statue in the world. In fact, it's the largest ever built to date.
The history of capoeira
Action News met up with one Brazilian hard at work right now in Philadelphia, bringing his culture to Americans. It's called capoeira, loosely defined as the Brazilian outlook on life.
Inside a small studio at 12th and Race streets bordering Philadelphia's Chinatown, they're teaching something rather large.
Adenilson Jose Dos Santos is the man doing the teaching, having learned the lessons himself the hard way.
"I'm here today thanks to capoeira. Capoeira made the man I am today," he said.
Dos Santos arrived in Philadelphia after having moved out of Brazil. He landed in New York with no money and no housing. His culture, he says, is what sustained him.
That culture is now on full display inside a space called "Project Capoeira."
As he describes it, it's one part music, one part martial arts, and one part cuisine all connected by a mentality born in Brazil.
"It's a source of energy and everybody likes to feel that energy," said Jose Santos.
On the streets of São Paulo, it makes more sense. That energy flows through like the notorious traffic -- constant and infused into everything.
On these streets, capoeira isn't quite as hard to translate, it just is who they are, what they are, and why they are.
X blocked nationwide
Eagles fans who are traveling to the game should expect to not have access to Elon Musk's social media platform X while abroad.
A Brazilian Supreme Court panel has upheld the decision of one of its justices to block X nationwide, according to the court's website.
READ MORE: Eagles fans should expect to not have access to X in Brazil after country upholds nationwide block
The broader support among justices deals a blow to Musk and his supporters who have sought to characterize Justice Alexandre de Moraes as a renegade and authoritarian censor of political speech.
The panel is comprised of five of the full bench's 11 justices, including de Moraes, who last Friday ordered the platform blocked for having failed to name a local legal representative, as required by law. X will remain blocked until it complies with his orders and pays outstanding fines that as of last week exceeded $3 million, according to his decision.
Eagles player to watch
QB Jalen Hurts. Just how will the QB stack up in his first game under new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore?
The franchise quarterback, Hurts is entering his fifth year and has thrown for 11,764 yards and rushed for 2,503 yards.
Hurts and coach Nick Sirianni's relationship has come under scrutiny. Hurts has offered only lukewarm endorsements of Sirianni, at best, and the duo hasn't spent much time together on the field during training camp.
Part of that is Sirianni's development into a CEO-type of coach who has tried to oversee more aspects of the team during practice rather than just the offense. How Hurts responds if the going gets tough could decide Philadelphia's season.
Packers player to watch
RB Josh Jacobs. The 2022 All-Pro could have a heavy workload in his Packers debut.
The Packers placed RB AJ Dillon on injured reserve last week, and rookie RB MarShawn Lloyd has been limited in practice this week with a hamstring injury.
That could put more of a burden on Jacobs, who signed with the Packers after spending his first five seasons with the Raiders.
Jacobs had an NFL-leading 1,653 yards rushing in 2022 but tailed off last year, as he ran for 805 yards and gained just 3.5 yards per carry.
Injury updates
Eagles linebacker Devin White has been ruled out of Friday's season opener against the Packers with an ankle injury and will not be making the trip with the team to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
White was listed as a limited participant on Tuesday's practice report before being declared out Wednesday.
The 26-year-old White signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Eagles in free agency this offseason. He spent much of the summer working with the first-team defense, often paired with Zack Baun as the starting duo at the beginning of practice.
Check back for more updates before Friday's game.
ESPN and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
