The sun came up. People went to work. They drove taxis, opened grocery stores, clicked on their computers to handle legal and financial matters. Doctors healed the sick. Social workers tackled the problems of the vast poverty in this country of some 200 million. Life went on. Guess what didnt happen? Cities didnt burn. Mass riots didnt erupt. As far as we can tell, no soccer fans threw themselves off buildings because their beloved Seleção was embarrassed by Germany, 7-1, in Tuesdays World Cup semifinal. In the cruel light of day, it still feels strange to write Germany 7, Brazil 1. That kind of result doesnt happen at this level of soccer. Brazil last lost a competitive game on home soil in 1975. If I were a native, Id be shaken, at a loss to describe the debacle that went down in the mining city of Belo Horizonte. Make no mistake: The defeat to Germany, to borrow U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmanns favorite phrase, was a real bummer. The people here love their footy as much as any country loves any sport. The government declares holidays when the national team plays. Streets empty, and I mean empty—like you can pitch a tent in the middle of a main thoroughfare and not get hit. Still, dont buy the narrative that this loss is going to leave some indelible national scar on a country so desperately trying to thrive in a lot of areas that have nothing to do with soccer. That idea is rather demeaning to the Brazilians Ive met, who just might be the warmest collection of souls Ive come across. There was the woman at the eyeglass store here in São Paulo who refused to accept money for the eyeglass case she gave me after I had lost mine. There were the college students in Natal who offered me a tour of the city and a ride back to my hotel in the middle of the night when there was no media shuttle in sight following the U.S. win over Ghana. There was the rabbi who, 30 seconds after meeting me, insisted I go to a Sabbath dinner at one of his congregants homes. (I did, and the matzo ball soup was awesome). There are countless souls who have stood patiently with me on the street, waiting as I fumbled through my pocket Portuguese dictionary, searching for the right word to complete a dumb question, when surely they had something better to do. Ive been here a month. That hardly qualifies me as an expert in Brazilian culture. My sample size is small and somewhat limited to hotels, restaurants, soccer stadiums and running paths next to beaches in Rio, Natal, Recife and a few other host cities. I know about the crime and the intense poverty. But I also know this is an amazing, diverse country. Fly four hours into the Amazon from São Paulo, and the people look completely different from those in the countrys commercial center. In Salvador on the northeast coast you might as well be in West Africa. In every city, people of every shade of black, brown and white skin populate areas that are rich and poor. Its a country of stunning physical beauty and vast natural resources. Rush-hour traffic makes Los Angeles arteries look like country drives, a sure sign that the place needs some infrastructure upgrades but also that there are a lot hardworking folks who want to make tomorrow better than today. In other words, Brazil is a lot more than a canary jersey and an obsession with soccer. The collapse against Germany will surely spark some national soul-searching about how Brazil cultivates and develops its next generation of soccer stars. The country has a huge talent pool to draw from, but accidents dont happen in sports anymore. Winning at the highest level today takes not just talent but money, training and a cohesive strategy. When you think about it, a 20-something Brazilian in one of those ubiquitous yellow jerseys said to me in a bar last night, its kind of funny. I mean, seven goals. Its funny, right? Im going to bet that Brazil as a whole is going to be just fine after this. Bummed out for a bit, sure, but ultimately fine. In a lot of ways, it already is. Matthew Futterman
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 14:31:33 +0000
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