Brazil and Football

Brazil and Football
Opinion
by editor Wong Yang

Credits: The Telegraph

"Football is my life". In the case of Brazil, this phrase cannot be used anymore. Not when life, with the bus fare hike affecting your daily expenditure and you  have to worry about your child not getting an education, presents so many challenges. No, this term is just too dreamy, almost completely unrealistic. (unless you're Neymar) What's happening in life is just too serious for a Brazilian to just live in the garden of football.


Yet we thought that a Confederations Cup and a World Cup would provide some temporary shelter for the stressed Brazilians, because football has shown just how it could be the great escape for people from all walks of life facing challenges. And in a footballing nation like Brazil, we knew that nothing would be a more welcome escape than the two football events. But how "great" an escape can it be, when the event itself is a reminder of the challenges you face? Outside, Brazilians protest because of the staggering cost of the football stadiums. And here you are, without a job and bearing a sick mother at home without medical treatment, standing in one of the expensive stadiums that the money the Government spent to built it could have been used to revive the economy and to improve healthcare. How "great" an escape can it be, with signs exclaiming "We don't have schools and hospitals, but we have football stadiums!" penetrate the protective shield of the football world that you imagined to exist.

Tasso Marcelo - AFP/Getty Images

We would think that national pride, sparked by the brillance of Neymar, could bring people out of their problem-filled lives, and into full celebration. But it did not happen. Not even when Dante, Neymar and Fred got on the scoresheet to bring Brazil to a 2-4 triumph over the Azzurri. The celebration could only have been temporary, because protests continued outside 
the stadium, reminding Brazilians of their nation's slow economic growth and poor infrastructure.

AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko

Now we understand, that football can't be Brazilians' life. 
Because when Brazilians meet football, reality also has to face the Beautiful Game.