Brazil -The land of football

I talked earlier about their referees. What makes them what they are is the crowd, especially when teams such as Vasco da Gama are playing at their home ground. The referee is booed, jeered and insulted anytime an infringement goes against the home team. 

If you add to that to the fact that Vasco, especially is always welcomed unto their pitch with explosives, then when the away team does not win they do not have to blame the referee for his obvious nervousness.

But they can be assured it is all tricks, the ultimate aim is to win, by all means. If the home team does not win, supporters only shout their favourite Beesha! and Ladrao! (Portuguese for “Eunuch” and “Thief”) and then go home peacefully to sleep.

Goalkeeping, coming now onto the pitch, is and has always been a problem in Brazil but they do not seem to care since their playing philosophy is, play and let the opponent play, just make sure if you score 4 if you concede 3.

The few good goalkeepers come from Argentina. Their defence is an attacking defence and this comes out very well when you see world cup hero, Junior and Leandro (both of Flamengo) move all out in the fashion of Eleven Wise’s Albert Nyarko beating everybody in sight to deliver a thunderbolt across the opponent ‘s goalmouth which will only need a tap to place in the net. 

The midfield is where you get most of your entertainment and you simply sometimes wonder at the movements of the team forward. Everyone is an actor in the drama and where you simply see how players such as Edmar (Flamengo) move to receive their passes.

The ball is simply juggled around the middle and the pass normally goes to the wings, then the wingers do their own thing.

The wingers such as Franco of Curitiba are strong, fast and sharp. They will receive a pass even if marked and whether you like it or not they manage to fly past the opposing defence and centre for the last goal-touch.

There is nothing these days in Brazil like striking in the fashion of the powerful 30 – yarder which makes its way straight into the posts mostly from players like Vasco da Gama’s Roberto and Santos’ Serginho (both members of national squad).

Rather, most goals are scored after the goalkeeper has been dummied with a dribble or pass, leaving him completely stranded and not blamable, obviously.

The asset with the players is the speed, imagination, quick thinking and, above all, stamina which makes them do things that cannot easily be anticipated by opponents.

Substitutions are usually planned, that is, two players on the reserve bench will almost always play by all means.

This is because the game has been planned from the dressing room and there are usually no serious injuries which take players out of matches. In one match between Flamengo and Fluminense, for example, the Flamengo left winger was detailed to wear out Fluminense right half back with his speed and he did this dutifully for 60 minutes of the game, running with him.

The Flamengo lad was substituted with Junior who overlapped freely bullying the tired defender to lay on the passes for three of the four goals scored by “Mengo”.

The referees do not insist that free-kicks should be taken at the exact spot that infringements are committed. This makes for a quick movement which can sometimes be very beneficial, sometimes unfair, depending on the distance but which can otherwise slow down the game unnecessarily as happens here and elsewhere. 

Talking about infringements brings to mind the players’ ability to fall without being hurt and also antics which convince the referees that a player is really hurt, only for him to get well immediately a free-kick or penalty is awarded. And that is when Vasco’ s free-kick expert Roberto stands right behind the ball and slots the ball home no matter what !

The Brazilians believe that stars make teams but will not feature stars who are off – form. This accounts for world cup man Serginho playing only once for Santos in their four matches that we watched.

Talking about Pele‘s Santos, I am sure Ghanaian fans will be sad to know that the club is now a shadow of its former self. It appears Pele took all the magic away with him. In their league match with Flamengo (who are poised to win the league this year and that will be for three years in a row), played in Sao Paolo, Santos lost 0-1. That was on a Wednesday.

The following Saturday, the two teams met again in the South American Cup semi-final, again in Sao Paolo. Santos lost 0-5.

The next Wednesday, the two teams met again in Rio for the return league encounter, Rio was all Flamengo and Maracana was packed full, ready for a goal harvest since Flamengo were playing at home. The game ended 2-2, Santos scoring first. 

Footballers live very prosperous lives and train, train and train again. How else could they survive a league which begins with 400 teams fighting it out for the Copa Brazil, playing on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday and during which time new players can be registered any time, any day during the week.

For the sporting press, it must be a very exciting life. They besiege players’ houses and hotels when they play away. They interview and film them on the field of play before matches, during the intervals, at the end and when they are leaving in the middle of a match as a result of injury or a red card.

They always have a question and the players always have an answer. See them dragging their equipment and wires all over place. And everybody understands, even the referees will give them time to do their own thing before calling for action. 

As for club colours, it is Adidas which takes the credit for making popular some combination of colours you would not dream of choosing for your team. The designs are simply super, especially for the red, white, and green combination for Fluminense and the red and white for America.

And for team – supporter affiliation the clubs use only two designs of jerseys all through the season. This, we were told, enables supporters and fans to feel more of a sense of belonging.

There is nothing like Asante Kotoko appearing sometimes in all-white outfit or Kumasi Cornerstone abandoning their black and white apparel for green and white.

The supporters will never allow that to happen, even though we have no supporters unions or Chapters and Circles, or Webs, always creating confusion and baying for the blood of a Club Chairman anytime a team loses !  A supporter is unknown to the players. He only goes to the field to cheer up his team to victory and goes back home!

Finally, ‘Ways and Means’, as we know in Ghana, is very much an integral part of Brazilian football. The difference between Ghana and Brazil is that the management of a club is not allowed to use a club’s funds to see any Mallam, Prophet or Pastor.

Individual footballers are, however, allowed to consult their family or clan shrines (a common part of Brazilian culture), personal spiritualists or whatever and whoever they like for personal protection and success !

As we left Rio on our 13-hour British Caledonian flight back to Gatwick, almost all the flight on the moonlit Atlantic Ocean, (to be followed by another 6 hours from London to Kotoka) the question that I was not able to answer was “For how many hours do these people sleep”?

They leave the stadium at 10 p m., go partying at the beach and club houses till 3 a.m., are seen jogging at 5 a.m., and still make it to the bus station at 7 a.m.  to catch the bus to work !

Writer’s e mail : africanus@africaonline.com.gh