South America's largest city exploded with shouts of joy and deafening fireworks early Sunday as one of Brazil's most popular football teams won the Club World Cup over England's Chelsea.
Young boys and grown men screamed ''go Corinthians!'' as the final whistle blew, finalizing the Sao Paulo-based club's 1-0 victory in Japan.
Celebratory fireworks turned a normally quiet Sunday morning into a festival, and hoards of jubilant supporters flooded Sao Paulo's main thoroughfare, shutting sections of the street off to traffic.
G1, the website of Brazil's Globo television network, said celebrating supporters invaded the team's future stadium in Sao Paulo, which is under construction. The construction company was negotiating their exit from the site, the report said.
Fans wearing the team's black and white colors had packed bars for the match that started before 9 a.m. Brazil time.
They had beer for breakfast, danced on rooftops overlooking the club's headquarters, sang songs in tribute to Corinthians, hugged and cried.
Older ladies wearing the team's jersey pounded their chests where the Corinthian crest was stitched and lustily yelled ''champions!'' Kids screeched at one another across the expanse of high-rise apartment buildings, extolling the win.
''This is a totally special moment, I don't have the words, reality hasn't sunk in,'' said Rodrigo Salvador, a bleary-eyed 29-year-old who set off booming firecrackers on a residential street in central Sao Paulo with a group of friends. ''We're on top of the world!''
