Guilherme Minglini Barbosa 2025-09-15T17:11:48Z
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Rain lashed against the cafe window as I frantically stabbed my phone screen, heart pounding like a halftime drum. My beloved River Plate were minutes from elimination in the Libertadores quarter-finals, and every "live" update site I'd trusted had betrayed me - frozen timers, spinning wheels of doom, that soul-crushing "connection lost" message. I could feel the espresso churning in my stomach as strangers around me erupted in cheers for God-knows-what goal happening somewhere in South America.
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Rain lashed against the cafe windows as I frantically swiped between three browser tabs, each refusing to load the River Plate lineup. My knuckles turned white gripping the phone - another Libertadores knockout stage slipping through my fingers like water. Across the table, Marco's impatient foot-tapping mirrored my panic. "They're singing the anthem already!" he yelled over the downpour, pointing at his own frozen screen showing pixelated players standing motionless in Buenos Aires. That's when