The US enters the field.

247, with news agencies – A basketball player in his spare time, President Barack Obama, during his short visit to Brazil, was playing a bit of football, so to speak, but only the soccer ball. He practiced some ball juggling with boys in Rio de Janeiro, received an official Flamengo jersey from Patrícia Amorim, the club's president, and made reference to this Sunday's Rio de Janeiro derby in his speech at the Municipal Theater. "I heard there's a Vasco game coming up soon, Vasco vs. Botafogo." "Botafogo, right?", he said, to the delight of the audience, including Flamengo and Fluminense fans. Diplomacy and pleasantries aside, the Supreme Court President of the United States seems genuinely committed to supporting the two major sporting events that Brazil will host in the next five years: the World Cup in 2014 and the Rio Olympics in 2016. On Saturday in Brasilia, Obama stated that his administration is working to ensure "that American companies play a key role in the exchange of information and technology, as well as participating in building the infrastructure for both events." The promise, which is contained in a protocol signed between the two governments, began to materialize this Monday. In a meeting with business leaders at the headquarters of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP), the president of the US Eximbank, Fred Hochberg, announced the creation of a R$ 1 billion financing line for Brazilian companies involved in projects for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The funds must be used to purchase products from the USA or services from American companies. The Eximbank is the US equivalent of the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). Loans for the World Cup and the Olympic Games, however, represent only a portion of the investments that the institution intends to make in Brazil. In addition to the $1 billion, the US bank will lend $2 billion so that Petrobras can also hire US companies or buy US products. According to Hochberg, Brazil is among the nine nations that the credit agency considers priorities for investment. Despite this, it is one of the countries where the bank's operations are growing at a slower pace. He hopes that the US$3 billion injection into the Brazilian economy will be the start of a more vigorous growth cycle for financing in Brazil. "This should only be the beginning for financing to Brazilian companies to reach a much higher level," he said. In addition to financing, the U.S. has committed, through a memorandum signed on Saturday by Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota and Ambassador Thomas Shannon, to providing Brazil with its expertise in the areas of planning, strategic development, infrastructure, security, tourism support, and "commercial projects for the benefit of the entire population at any level of society, in an environmentally sustainable manner." They certainly have the know-how for this, after all, the country hosted the 1994 World Cup and two Olympic Games in the last 30 years: in Los Angeles (1984) and Atlanta (1996). The cooperation includes visits to US cities that have hosted major international sporting events, the promotion of public-private partnerships, trade missions in both countries, and workforce training through programs such as English language learning. According to the memorandum, both the World Cup and the Olympics represent "an opportunity to contribute to the strengthening, prosperity and diversity of the Brazilian economy" and will leave as a legacy "sporting, social, cultural and educational benefits". In this sense, the document signed by Patriota and Shannon states that these events are also an opportunity to "promote the elimination of racial and ethnic discrimination, the advancement of women, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability."