Orlando City SC supporters paid tribute to the victims of the Chapecoense air disaster on Wednesday night, holding a candlelight vigil in support of the tragedy-stricken Brazilian club at the site of the Lions' under-construction new stadium.
The soccer world has been in mourning since Tuesday morning, when a plane crash killed 71 of the 77 players, staff, journalists and crew members on board the flight carrying Chapecoense to Medellin, Colombia to face Atletico Nacional in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final.
That game would have taken place on Wednesday evening, and members of Orlando's Iron Lion Firm and The Ruckus supporters groups marked the occasion with a quiet march down Church Street before posting banners of unity and support in front of their club's future home.
“It hit very close to home,” The Ruckus member Fawner Mazo, a Medellin native, told the Orlando Sentinel's Alicia DelGallo. “It happened to Chapecoense, unfortunately, but it could have been Orlando City, it could have been the US national team, it could have been Colombia.
“We as fans, we put ourselves in their shoes and just feel the pain that they’re feeling right now. It affects us, it affects everybody who loves the sport.”
Read more about the moving occasion in the Sentinel's full report.
