W C Special 2 - Nuts about Brazil
This is a "play on words" as we say in English. Of course Brazil is home to that healthy and famous food, Brazil nuts. However nuts about something means fanatical or crazy about it. The Brazil soccer team has many fans. It is not unusual for soccer fans to have a second favorite team. A few seasons ago in the English Premier League, that was my team, Blackpool FC, after reaching the top flight from a modest sized town with a modest budget and playing attacking football. A heroic 39 points was not enough to stay up though it would have been most years. At international level, Brazil is surely most fans 2nd team, especially at a World Cup where their own nation did not make it (Brazil has qualified for every World Cup, hosting it once before in 1950, where they lost in the final to Uruguay). Brazil is my 2nd team, after England.
Will more fans be wearing this shirt?
I had the pleasure of watching them in the Parc des Princes at the 1998 World Cup in Paris. The boys from Brazil played Chile in a very competitive Round of 16 (the stage at which England went out to Argentina 4-3 in penalty shot out) with Brazil winning 4-1. They did not go on to win the trophy as home nation France secured the Cup in the final, beating Brazil 3-0. However, Brazil have won an amazing 5 World Cups between 1958 and 2002. Fast forward to 2008 and I was in Singapore when the Brazil national team for the Olympics played a pre-Olympic game against the Singapore national side - again I saw Brazil hit four goals, including the one being celebrated in my photo below.
Brazil score v Singapore - photo by watching Colin Speakman
Soccer is in the DNA of Brazilian youth and played in the streets and on the beaches and every youngster dreams of being the next Pele or Oscar. So if you ask me for my tip to win the World Cup, it would be the host nation - like Argentina, England, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay before - host nations regularly do win - familiar climate, fan base, the relaxation of not having to qualify. Of course there is the pressure from the weight of expectation, especially when some locals have mixed feelings about the sacrifices to be the host nation! Winning would help!
By ColinSpeakman
International Educator, Economist, goal of helping to increase understanding of China by the West
(Opinions of the writer in this blog don't represent those of China Daily.)
Australia had a bumpy ride through the Asian qualifying groups, losing to Oman and Jordan, En route to finishing second behind Japan to seal a world cup place. >详细>>
