Penta Campeao!

A huge part of Brazil’s culture is its great football style and players! Brazilians are known for preforming and putting on a show when they play football! Even though in the world cup of 2006 they didn’t play

so well, I can only hope they will take these four years, get better, and win the next one in South Africa. I think it is because football has become a sport too focused on money, some players don’t seem to play with their hearts anymore like their precedents did in the 1960s and 70s. They get paid so much they start to think like celebrities instead of athletes, who play for their fans, who play because they love the sport, not because it is their job or they have to.

Fortunately Brazil has earned its 5 stars on their shirts, with their best teams getting what they deserved in 1958,1962,1970,1994, and 2002. The only time I have been in Brazil during a World Cup was in 2002, when in the final they beat Germany 2-0.  I was in Sao Paolo and it was pure madness! On ‘Paulista’ a street for offices and

galleries, people were jumping on cars, dancing in the streets, I had never seen anything like it, and had never felt so proud of being part of something, everyone was so happy together! It did not matter anymore what your job was or where you lived or came from, in those last minutes of the last match of the World Cup, everyone was biting their nails, sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for overtime to finish to let out all the anxiety the exciting tournament brought with it.

Maybe having a passion for football really is part of  a Brazilians DNA, along with knowing how to samba and adding ‘inho’ to the end of every word. But I love the atmosphere at football matches, watching everyone so passionately looking at their favourite 11 men running around after a ball, and feeling such ecstasy when their team wins, it’s great! I went to a match in Munich for the last World Cup, to see Brazil vs. Australia, even though the match was not a very good one and fat Ronaldo did get sent off, 80% of the fun was actually being in city. It had become football central, everywhere you looked you saw people dressed up and painted in their pride and flag colours, singing their national anthems and partying in the streets! Even though I have been to Munich now, I can’t say I know the city. In a time like that, you don’t go to find the nearest museum or go see the sites, instead it was watching one match after the other at the pubs watching the Germans chug down their huge pints of beer and eating massive sausages, and I loved it!

In 5 years Brazil will have the honor of hosting the 2014 World Cup. I can only imagine with the positive energy, music, dance and drinks that this beautiful country already provides, it will be a world cup to remember! Now we just have to get through this one,hopefully change it from 5 stars to 6!

Here is a short video that they used in the 2006 World Cup to advertise Nike:

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