Chiefs’ Cairo Santos ready to get his kicks at Wembley Stadium

Growing up in Brazil, Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos dreamed of being a soccer player.

That dream wasn’t meant to be, but Santos will get the opportunity to play in the Mecca of professional soccer stadiums Sunday when the Chiefs play the Lions at Wembley Stadium in London.

“It’s great, especially in my position since I get to score a goal and put points on the board in a World Cup stadium, such an iconic stadium like that,” Santos said. “It’s been my dream to be a soccer player, and I couldn’t achieve that, but living this dream right now and playing in Wembley, I’m going to feel like Pele or one of the soccer players, playing in one of the coolest stadiums.”

That won’t be the only stadium Santos visits in England. He and punter Dustin Colquitt will attend a Barclays Premier League match featuring Liverpool at Chelsea on Saturday at Stamford Bridge in Fulham, England.

No doubt, Santos also will be keeping tabs on the Royals’ game as well. He and fellow Brazil native Paulo Orlando, a speedy outfielder for the Royals often used as a late-inning defensive replacement, have forged a friendship during the last year.

“It’s so cool, especially seeing how clutch he is when he comes in,” Santos said. “It was fun early in the year when he was getting all those triples and the walk-off he had in the middle of the season. I’m always rooting for him.”

Santos said he exchanges texts with Orlando as well as Sporting KC midfielders Paulo Nagamura, a native Brazilian, and Benny Feilhaber, who was born in Brazil.

“After our game against the Steelers, I went to the Sporting game last Sunday night,” Santos said. “I just wanted to support them. I’ve gotten to know two Brazilians on the coaching staff (head fitness coach Mateus Manoel and sports performance intern Hugo Santana) as well, so we’ve got a good group of friends here that we always root for each other.”

Prepared for a nonpartisan crowd

Games in London present something of an odd circumstance as a true neutral-site game. Fans seldom have much vested rooting interest in either team.

“There’s not exactly home-field advantage,” said Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, who played in London with the 49ers in 2010. “Certainly these are football fans in general, NFL fans, so I think anytime there’s a big play in the game, it will be loud, regardless of who’s it is.”

The stadium atmosphere has the feel of a college bowl game, where crowds are often divided, or the Super Bowl.

“Just in the sense that you have a lot of fans there for the NFL and not particularly one team or another,” Smith said.

Running back Charcandrick West, who had 110 yards and a touchdown in a win against the Steelers, hopes another strong performance might sway the crowd.

“We’re going to make them Chiefs fans,” he said.

Injury report

Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin practiced for a second consecutive day after sitting out the Steelers game last week and said he was “absolutely glad” to be back.

“It was hard, because, if we continue to take care of business and do what we need to do, that game could have a lot of implications down the road,” he said. “Me knowing that and having played in this league for a while, those are things that I think about. Not being able to be out there to help my team win was hard for me.”

Outside linebacker Tamba Hali, who sat out Wednesday’s practice to rest a swollen knee, returned to practice Thursday for the Chiefs.

Defensive end Mike DeVito (concussion), left guard Ben Grubbs (neck stiffness) and inside linebacker Ramik Wilson (ankle sprain) sat out practice for the second straight day.

All three players have been ruled out for the Lions game.

This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Chiefs’ Cairo Santos ready to get his kicks at Wembley Stadium."