Elpenor was one of Odysseus' comrades, and happened to be the youngest. This was labelled as part of the road of trials for that fact he had to mourn about this, thinking this was his fault. He had to overcome this.
Your correct answer would be "They could barely look at Neto and Jesse as they explained that they loved football too much to give it up." This part in the excerpt explain's how Neto feel's about his fan's. He could tell that they didn't really care much about the football team. Hope it helps. :-)
