Brazil and The Beautiful Game
How I fell in love with the World Cup
When I was 11 years old my family moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. My first thoughts were very naive. Are we going to live in the jungle like Tarzan? Would be have TV? Do they speak English?
Shortly after arriving in Rio all my fears suddenly started to disappear. I realized that I was in for a great adventure and started to embrace Brazilian culture, learn Portuguese and enjoy the incredible beaches, mountains and urban environment of a large city.
Just a year and half later we found out that we were going to move back to the US earlier than expected. My father’s job status had changed with a corporate buyout and we were going to leave paradise.
But before we left we were able to enjoy the 1982 World Cup held in Spain. I had played soccer in the US but had never heard of the World Cup, mostly because the US had not fielded a team in recent years.
Brazil’s team was the favorite to win that year. Not because of their history but due to the fact that one of the local clubs, Flamengo had won the world club championship earlier that year and several of the players were on the national team including one of the best in the world at the time, Zico.
Leading up to the World Cup was similar to Carnaval but different. Instead of parades and parties, there were decorations all over the city. Streets were painted, large green and yellow banners hung from buildings spanning several stories. One guy even painted his car in green, yellow and blue with a large 82 on the hood.
The first game they played the USSR and I was pumped. The Soviets were the “enemy” all the years I lived in the US and now my adopted home country would play them in the Cup. The very first goal scored by Brazil sent off a huge cheering across the city that you could hear in our apartment, followed by firecrackers galore. Brazil would go on to win that game and all the games in the first round.
In the second round they faced Argentina, their biggest rival with Diego Maradona, one of the top players in the world. I remember the newspaper’s front page that morning was a drawing of Maradona and Zico standing toe to toe. Maradonas “big hair” made him as tall as Zico with the intention that this matchup was huge.
One of my fathers co-workers was from Argentina and we drove across Guanabara Bay to Niterói to watch the game at his house. The match was incredible with so much passion. Maradona was ejected from the game for kicking Joao Batista in the groin. I can still see the slow motion replay in my head, never forgetting what a cheap shot that was.
Brazil won and next faced Italy. This was the game of the Cup so far. Italy like Brazil had a very strong team lead by Paulo Rossi and Dino Zoff. Rossi had been banned from playing a few years before due to his involvement in a betting scandal but FIFA had reinstated him for the 82 cup.
Rossi scored first and got the Italians off to a 1-0 lead. By the 12th minute Brazil tied the score. Rossi scored his second goal and a breakaway strike shot and Italy was up 2-1. Again Brazil evened it up at 2-2 in the second half.
But on a bad corner kick, Rossi got the ball near the Brazilian goal and scored his 3rd goal of the game, a hat trick. Italy ended up winning and Brazil was done.
All the joy and excitement came to a crashing end. I remember looking out of our apartment and seeing the guy with the painted car. He was starting to paint over the “2" in 82 to a “6" referring to the next Cup to be held in 1982.
I remember riding my bike to the athletic club and some Brazilian kids saw me and said “Italiano!” thinking I was Italian. I quickly shouted, “no, no eu sou Gringo,” which is what they called Americans. I quickly assured them that I was not happy about the outcome of the game and my allegiance was to Brazil.
All together it was an experience I would never forget. Since then I’ve watched every World Cup and rooted for Brazil as passionately as the first time and maybe a bit more. I’ve been able to see them win 2 Cups in the past 10 years to bring their total to 5, the most of any country.
Today is the start of the 2014 World Cup or Copa Mundial as it’s known in Latin America and Brazil is the host country. The first time since losing the final game to Uruguay in 1950. My passion for the Copa and Brazil has grown over the years and I look forward to watching the games with my children, who are Brazil fans like their father!
BTW, my apologies to Cariocas and Brasileiros everywhere for using the terms “soccer” instead of futbol and spelling Brasil with a “z”. This post was written for Gringos!
