Brazil won! After a disappointing 0-0 draw with Columbia, Brazil got it going against Ecuador amidst a delirious homecrowd at the Maracana Stadio in the heart of Rio de Janeiro. Watch the video.
To get on with my never-ending, continuously, long-winded diatribe about soccer (which my dear husband, the yankee that he is, doesn’t approve of). What? I let him host football (the other kind!) parties at home. Order and ply him and his buddies, food and beer. And the most important thing of all, I keep myself out of the way and find other things to amuse myself while he watches Da’Bears uninterrupted. He will never find a better wife than I am. Ha! (Luvs ya loads, honey)
I have talked expansively regarding soccer’s state of popularity (or lack thereof) in the US. Unless it was the World Cup, soccer’s coverage is relegated to Bilingual TV. However, there are several soccer channels offered by DirecTV to soccer-crazed people like me. There’s Setanta Sport, Fox Soccer Channel and Gol TV just to name a few. To get my soccer fix, I convinced my husband (yes, he spoils me) to subscribe to the above mentioned channels. For about a year now, I have been following and watching the best live soccer coverage on the planet. To quote my better-half, “we can rival any Irish pubs in the area and give them a run for their money”.
I was able to read an article that my favoritest soccer “god”, Kaka, will grace the cover of British Esquire in their November issue. In my excitement, I called my little pet, NiXXi, and go to Borders with me so I can get my copy. As I was about to pull into the parking lot, she casually mentions, “It’s only October, you know. If it’s a November issue, you won’t be able to get it until next month”. Argh! I felt like an idiot. Wait. I am an idiot.
With disappointment, I still decided to go in and browse. I immediately made a beeline to the magazine stand and look what I found!
with the following article:
I won’t bore you with the whole magazine, I will just bore you with excerpts I’m interested in. Here are some scans for you to enjoy:
No. 3 is Ronaldinho
No. 2 is Cristiano Ronaldo
and the top spot goes to: Kaka
Say it ain’t so! Two Brazil-liants occupy the top 3 spots in the world of soccer. This invokes the question, “Is Brazil a shoe-in for the 2010 World Cup finals?” Nobody will be able to predict what’s going to happen between now and 2010. The current Brazillian roster was accused of being sluggish and ”not serious” enough during their qualifiers and got a draw against the Colombian team. They went into last year’s World Cup as the heavy-favorites while the French team was written-off (although both Zizou and Thierry Henry were onboard). The Brazilians were eliminated in the quarter finals by the same written-off French team. The Froggies went onto the finals against the Azzuri. Zidane got booted off in the final game. And the rest is history.
The current roster for the Seleção is far from the best. They have a lot of ups and downs. An even bigger challenge is the seemingly insurmountable task of doing better, living up to the hype of their glory days. Football for the Brazillians evokes the mystery of the past, especially the 1970s heroes. It’s an emotional rollercoaster-type love affair for the nation whenever they play. They play a beautiful game in the most beautiful way. Everybody’s second team at the World Cup.
Brazil for 2010. Brazil for the motherfuckin’ win!
