Venezuela: Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets yesterday, but this time they were not crowds calling for the removal of President Hugo Chavez, or indeed his retention.
This time it was not political agitation that motivated the manifestation but South Americans' other passion: football. The cause of celebration was Venezuela's historic 3-0 away victory on Wednesday over Uruguay. The scoreline converted a distant World Cup dream into a real possibility. "At last we have something to celebrate," crowed a breathless Maria Escarra as the final whistle sounded on a game which saw Venezuela walk all over the highly respected Uruguayans.
Venezuela's victory, their third successive win in the South American qualifying round, saw the team move into third place, level on points with Brazil.
Citizens jumped, cried, cheered and ran through the streets as the capital city exploded with firecrackers and car horns. In a country where people hurry home after dark, anxious to shut their front doors behind them, total strangers hugged and kissed each other.
Last week no one knew the names of the players, but today goalscorers Gabriel Urdaneta, Hector Gonzalez and Juan Arango are national heroes, their names ready to grace the history books, alongside independence hero Simon Bolivar.
Venezuela's world ranking has leapt from 120th to 54th in the past two years, still below their real merit. For the first time in two years of permanent political agitation Venezuelans switched off the news and talked only about football, a huge relief in a country bitterly divided by political conflict.
Five members of the Venezuelan team play for Caracas FC, the runaway leaders in the national league.