The numbers are dismal in Blogland. Even in the USA, maybe in your next lives, folks, the talk of the town seems to be the World Cup. I live in Mexican Santa Monica, so what do I know about the USA ? My shrink thought the USA team stood a chance. This is not basketball, it's futebol.
The English brought football to Brazil over a hundred years ago. They brought with them the passion, rules and regulations that make this a sport that can be practiced practically anywhere, even without a ball. Pelé used oranges he found in the streets, others used ""bola de meia" a whole bunch of socks wrapped together. Brazil, now claiming over 180 million Brazilians is quite well-known for its uneven wealth distribution. Futebol is a way out, and a legal one.
Some factors changed futebol in Brazil. Most players leave, some even before they are eighteen, like Robinho, formerly from Santos. On the other hand, quite a few players are creating futebol schools for the kids. Cafu, Roberto Dinamite, and many others have their safe havens for children who could be involved in drug trafficking. These "schools" become even more important as soccer fields disappear, giving way to "progress" aka greed.
These succulents go to Ronaldinho, whose jolly playing makes us, hum, jolly? To the sound of "Brazil," any version is good...
Brazilians are versatile, especially the less privileged, who have to make do with whatever they have. No fields, beach sand. No beach sand? Footsal, the indoor soccer, a recent hit. Exodus to Europe? A promise to many poor boys, a dream to be worth 47 million dollars, like Ronaldinho Gaúcho. That seems to be better than an untimely death in a favela at the hands of bandidos.
And what does Beckham have to do with all this? It's simple, my friend. Beckham is the closest the English got to their disciples, the Brazilians, who inserted sambain futebol. Bekham comes from a less privileged part of England, its industrial north, the berth of the Industrial Revolution. A school dropout at sixteen, a mega star whose potent curvy kick inspired Bend it Like Beckham a man who married into R&R stardom, Beckham kissed good-bye to the dreary English rain. The Mancunian may not have known hunger; he knows of it. Ronaldinho knows of loss, his father's passing when he was six.
And this goes to Beckham, at the sound of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the UK
Moral of the story: Fellow Americans, let's heed Bill Clinton, go on a diet, donate our gizmos, and maybe we will learn about playing futebol, I mean, soccer
World Cup
futebol
Ronaldinho Gaúcho
Beckham
origins futebol
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