Story of Wallace & his #11 Coutinho Jersey
Wallace de Oliveira Rocha dreamed of owning an official Brazil national team jersey ahead of the 2018 World Cup. But at $250 Reals ($66 USD), it was too expensive for him to afford.
Hours before Brazil vs Switzerland, Rocha’s mom, Sandra Rocha, took him to a local seamstress in theirtown and asked if she could help. "Tia Neuza" (Auntie Neuza), as she is affectionately called, grabbed a piece of yellow fabric and sew a sleeveless tank with green trimmings and charged them $10 Reals ($2.75 USD).
For Brazil’s second game against Costa Rica on June 22, Wallace wanted to personalize his “jersey.” His mother had suggested he use his name, but Wallace already had one in mind: Philippe Coutinho.
Tia Neuza used a green marker to write “Coutinho” and “11,” the attacker’s national squad number, on the shirt. He went out and watched the game wearing his new jersey where he was then captured in a photo by Brazilian photographer Bruno Itan. After posting the photo on his Instagram page, it garnered thousands of likes and over a hundred comments in 24 hours. Many users tagged Coutinho in the hopes that the soccer star would see the photo.
The response gave Itan an idea: he was going to find a way to connect the boy and the Brazilian ace. Itan returned to Vila Cruzeiro the next day and tracked down Wallace. He then launched a social media campaign, asking users to share the photo with the hashtag #Wallace11 and to tag Coutinho.
“I want this photo to reach Philippe Coutinho so that he can see what an inspiration he is to kids in the favelas and to send a motivational message to Wallace, or who knows, maybe an autographed jersey,” Itan wrote in the post.
Within four hours the photo had traveled 10,000 miles across the world and reached Coutinho in Moscow. "I got the photo! I sent you a private message, please respond when you can,“ Coutinho commented in Itan’s post.
Itan told NBC Coutinho plans on meeting Wallace when he returns to Brazil after the World Cup. And despite being busy training for last Wednesday’s match against Serbia, Coutinho took a moment to thank the young fan for his support in a recorded a video message.
The photographer shared the video with Wallace during a surprise visit to the Rocha family’s home. Coutinho also sent Wallace an autographed jersey before Brazil’s Quaterfinal. (x)
On 27th July, Coutinho was back in Brazil and met up with Wallace personally, completing his promise and also giving him an officially signed #11 Coutinho jersey, bringing a beautiful close to this chapter.
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