Chapecoense: A beautiful dream that never got a chance to come true

"The pain is hard to take. Chapecoense was the biggest source of happiness in the city. Many in the town are crying" - Chapecoense VP Ivan Tozzo.

"Vamo Vamo Chape."

The reverberation thundered through the Chapecoense dressing room, players banging on their respective stalls, belting out the words of their club's chant in perfect harmony. It was joy, pure and unbridled, brought on by a surprise victory over San Lorenzo in the Copa Sudamericana semi-final last week. Chapecoense, from the small city of Chapeco - inhabited by a mere 200,000 people in southern Brazil - was heading to the Sudamericana final.

Related: Chapecoense's fallen 'warriors' remembered in touching video

Vanquishing continental heavyweights along the way - including prestigious Argentine mammoth Independiente - this modest club, toiling in the fourth division of Brazilian football back in 2009, was slated for its marquee moment.

The final against Colombian power Atletico Nacional beckoned. This unlikely accomplishment was, truly, a real-life fairy tale in a sport where that phrase is so recklessly thrown about.

The players, young and old alike, bounced up and down like children free of any care, unburdened by the camera that was catching their every scream and goofy facial expression. Nothing outside that little room, decked in the club's bright green colour scheme, could impinge on this moment.

What came next, of course, was devastation.

As it turns out, that tune, sung with the unmistakable euphony of victorious footballers, will be the lasting memory of a club that never got to realize its dream. Never even got the chance.

Related: Plane carrying a Brazilian soccer club crashes in Colombia; 71 dead

On Tuesday morning, Brazil, and the world, awoke to word that the British Aerospace 146 plane carrying 22 members of the Santa Catarina-based squad had crashed into the Colombian mountains en route to Medellin, where the first leg against Atletico Nacional was set to take place.

The flight, en route from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, was carrying 77 people in total. Only six emerged from the wreckage; three of whom - defenders Alan Ruschel and Helio Zampier, and goalkeeper Jakson Follmann - were in that room celebrating some six days ago.

The latter, who had his right leg amputated and will almost certainly never play professional football again, is one of the lucky ones.

Related - Father of Chapecoense goalkeeper: 'Miracle of God' my son survived plane crash

What would have been a beautiful moment for Brazilian football - and could have been a historic one, too - was cruelly, unfathomably taken away; the story halted before it reached its anticipated conclusion. The pages of this fairy tale now simply trail off.

This dream, with this group, will go forever unrealised.

That dressing room, euphoric a week ago, was desolate Tuesday. Players lit candles, turning what was so recently the scene of manic celebration into a shrine to commemorate the teammates taken from the world far too soon.

(Courtesy: Invictos)

Striker Alejandro Martinuccio, one of a small contingent who now makes up Chapecoense's squad, wasn't on board the ill-fated flight. Oft-injured, the 28-year-old stayed behind to continue rehabbing his latest ailment.

"It's a very difficult moment. I woke up with the news. I'm very sad," he told La Red, according to beIN Sports. "I've been recovering from an injury and I didn't travel. I got injured a month-and-a-half ago and that's why I wasn't on the plane.

"This is a wonderful club, with some first-class players. ... All I can ask for is that you pray for my teammates who were on the flight."

The football world obliged, coming together in unison.

Heartbroken fans gathered outside the club's stadium, Arena Conda, their eyes welled with tears, many wearing the kits of their heroes, to mourn the incomprehensible loss. Teams from across the globe paid their respects, some offering prayers, and others, like Sao Paulo and Benfica, offering to loan players in a bid to help Chapecoense rebuild after the tragedy.

Related: 10,000 Chapecoense supporters attend vigil for plane crash victims

Atletico Nacional, the would-be opponent in a final that will never be played, has asked CONMEBOL to award the title to the Brazilian club.

Touching as the solidarity was, however, it won't alleviate the agony. Nothing ever will, in truth.

Instead of joining the likes of esteemed peers Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Universidad de Chile on the list of Sudamericana champions, Chapecoense, the "biggest source of happiness" in its city, will now forever be mentioned alongside names like Torino, Manchester United, and Zambia.

The elation of that distinctive chant, "Vamo Vamo Chape," will be an enduring memory for many. But the lasting image could have been so much more. It could have been the realisation of something truly special; of an aspiration, initially thought impossible, becoming reality.

"Before they got on the plane they said they were going to make this dream come true," club director Plinio David de Nes Filho told Globo TV on Tuesday.

"And this morning the dream ended."