Sao Paulo State Twin Stars

September 1, 8:00 p.m. local time.

Brazil welcomed Ecuador at Morumbi Stadium in Sao Paulo.

Two hours before kickoff, the streets outside the stadium were already jammed solid.

A sea of people in yellow jerseys clogged the entire Morumbi Avenue.

Some held up posters of Chen Anno, some carried national flags, while others painted their faces in Brazil's yellow and green.

All of Sao Paulo was boiling with excitement for this night.

All seventy-three thousand-plus seats were filled, without a single empty one.

On the South Stand, an enormous TIFO slowly rose before kickoff.

The massive TIFO nearly covered the entire stand.

At its center was an image of Chen Anno in Brazil's number 10 shirt, holding the FIFA World Cup Trophy.

Surrounding that image were several smaller pictures of Chen Anno:

In a Sao Paulo shirt, a Borussia Dortmund shirt, an Atletico Madrid shirt, and a Liverpool shirt.

The four photos, from four different periods, traced the complete journey of a boy who had left his hometown and climbed all the way to the top of the world.

At the bottom was a line in Portuguese: "Anno, welcome home."

When Chen Anno saw the enormous TIFO from the players' tunnel, he froze for a moment.

In that instant, countless scenes flashed through his mind.

When he was seven, he had carried a football into the Cotia Training Center for the first time, with his father cheering from the sideline and his mother handing him water nearby.

Sao Paulo's heat waves, Dortmund's yellow storm, Madrid's sunshine, Liverpool's sea breeze.

He had walked this road for more than a decade.

But this would forever be where he had started.

His eyes stung slightly.

"Yo, never thought our Annuo could be this sexy," Neymar said, appearing beside him at some point with