The streets of Brazil have been hinting at the arrival of the world cup for the last couple of days. The illegal T-shirt salesmen have been slowly appearing on every corner and the colourful flag has been creeping into every bar and house.
Finally yesterday the world cup party arrived. All businesses, offices and shops closed down at 2.00 as Sao Paulo’s streets became locked up with flag totting cars and their horn honking drivers as everybody rushed home or to the nearest bar/square to catch the game. The local traffic agency CET reported 174km of congestion across the city at 15.30. The pavements too were littered with people in yellow, many heading for the packed subway lines which saw 350,000 more people than usual pass through its gates in the two hours before the game.
I sat in the traffic for while as myself and a few friends headed to a samba bar which fortunately, unlike many others, we arrived at in time to sip a couple of chilled beers pre-game. The atmosphere inside was a mixture of real excitement and tangible nervousness and as the game kicked off became electric and it felt great to be amongst these dancing, drinking Brazilians. As the half wore on though the nerves took over and it needed that golaco from Kaka to final settle them.
The second half didn’t offer the show that we are so used to but the three points were celebrated in some style never the less. Post game the tables were all immediately removed from the floor and the whole bar swung their hips to the live samba band, assisted greatly by the flowing cold beer.
In football terms two things happened during the match that clearly displayed a nations thoughts. Firstly the chant of “gordo” (fatty) aimed at the lame and uninterested Ronaldo echoed loudly throughout the bar from very early on. Significantly the biggest cheer of the evening was reserved for the man who replaced him, Robinho who is still considered by many as a local boy who tries to play the way Brazilians should.
The papers here have echoed the supporters’ views as they are full of reports lamenting Ronaldo’s weight problem and his apparent lack of interest in the game going on around him. Juca Kfouri, one of the most famous reporters, out of respected refused to even award him a mark out of ten. However it’s only fitting that the goal scorer and future of Brazilian football should have the final say and Kaka has been held up here as the present hero of a slightly mis-firing “magic quartet”. One front page ran with the headline “Kakasier” showing this countries love for a player who appears to be growing in stature daily.