When Diego Maradona was asked in 1998 who would win that year’s soccer World Cup being played in France, he said, “Countries organize the World Cup to win it,” thus suggesting that France would be the winner. And it was.
The same thing could be said for this year’s World Cup in Brazil. For most people, Brazil is favored to win the competition. History, however, may foreshadow a different outcome.
The year is 1950, when the fourth FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) World Cup was held in Brazil from June 24 to July 16.
Before qualifying for the final game Brazil had extraordinary performances: it beat Mexico 4-0, thrashed Sweden 7-1, and defeated Spain 6-1, to become finalist for its group.… Seguir leyendo »
This week sports fans around the globe will turn their attention to the most watched athletic event in the world — the soccer World Cup. In remote villages and urban centers, close to 1 billion fans will stop what they are doing and find the nearest accessible television set. Except in the United States. While the enthusiasm for soccer here has grown, its fan base pales in comparison to the Super Bowl, for instance.
The philosopher Paul Woodruff suggests that, to be a good spectator, you need to know how to care about what you are watching. Here are some suggestions for developing a deeper appreciation of this monthlong competition.… Seguir leyendo »
My passion for soccer was inspired by the infectious enthusiasm of my football-crazy youngest son. From the ages of 6 to 21, I humored him with presents of jerseys, Nike sneakers and other sporting paraphernalia, all of which had to feature the green-white-green of the Nigerian flag. Having invested so much in his passion, I am very happy that the Nigerian team is competing in the 2014 World Cup.
Watching soccer helps to bridge the divisions in my society. People in Nigeria are able to put aside their differences and, when the national team is playing, unite behind a common cause.… Seguir leyendo »
In England, soccer loyalty is to club rather than country. For more than 50 years, I have watched and supported Aston Villa, one of the most famous, if not the most successful, clubs in the world. During that half century, there have been many ups and downs. And the same could be said of the British economy.
I first visited Villa Park on Oct. 8, 1960. Aston Villa beat Newcastle United, 2-0. The great stadium stretched out in front of us as the autumn mist fell over the Holte End. The club has a proud history, and played the main role in the creation of the Football League.… Seguir leyendo »
As an American, “football” to me always meant American football with shoulder pads and a lozenge-shaped ball, so my knowledge of “real” football only emerged after marrying a German and raising a soccer-obsessed son.
Having never understood the differences between the various European, Champions and Premier Leagues, I’m usually left out of our family’s football conversations. I regained some household clout after watching the women of “Team Nadeshiko” capture the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Frankfurt; it was a particularly emotional victory because it was the first Asian team to win a FIFA World Cup trophy, coming just three months after the Tohoku earthquake.… Seguir leyendo »
At dinner recently, one of my 5-year-old twins announced that he intended to learn Croatian.
This didn’t surprise me. Mealtimes at our house have become low-level colloquia on international affairs. Often I play resident expert as the children fire questions at me: What language do they speak in Korea? Is Barcelona a country? Does someone in our family live in Iran?
Honestly, my kids used to talk about superheroes. But two months ago, my husband bought them each a World Cup sticker album. Within a week, they were full-blown soccer fanatics. They now trot off to school wearing soccer shirts, beg to watch matches the moment they get home and fall asleep clutching their albums.… Seguir leyendo »
Los ojos del mundo, y especialmente los de Sudamérica, estarán puestos en Brasil durante el campeonato mundial de fútbol, del que este país será anfitrión entre junio y julio. Varias semanas antes del torneo, los periódicos comenzaron a llenarse de noticias de fútbol, y no solamente en las páginas deportivas. Los publicistas adoran el mundial; las empresas modifican sus líneas de producción para aprovechar las oportunidades que genera; los políticos posponen para después de la final toda reunión que no sea esencial.
Pronto la atracción magnética del fútbol arrastrará a aficionados de todo el mundo a intrincadas discusiones acerca de la validez de un gol, las faltas intencionales y las oportunidades de ataque que fueron desaprovechadas.… Seguir leyendo »
The other day, as she was priming her re-election campaign, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff hit a speed bump. There she was, racing across the country to launch shiny public-works projects ahead of the World Cup, and the only thing those annoying journalists wanted to know was if the airports would be renovated on time and up to "FIFA standards." The reference, of course, was to the rigorous Switzerland-based global soccer authority. "The airports will not be FIFA-standard," she shot back. "They will be Brazil-standard airports."
And there it was, in a sound bite, the official spin on Brazil's complicated moment in the sun, a candid take on the rolling public-relations disaster that has been this country's relationship with the wider world and its international gatekeepers.… Seguir leyendo »
By now, Brazil should probably have been grounded for life, without video games or dessert.
Last month, a vice president of the International Olympic Committee, John Coates, said that Rio de Janeiro’s preparations for the 2016 Summer Olympics were the worst he had ever seen.
Before that, Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA — the International Federation of Association Football — claimed that Brazil was further behind in its preparations for this summer’s World Cup than any previous host nation, even though it had had seven full years to prepare. Then, in March, FIFA’s secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, declared we could risk being “the worst organizers” of the “worst event.”… Seguir leyendo »
The other day I stopped into my neighborhood bistro for a bite. It's usually a laid-back place, with a great jazz soundtrack, but when two guys in dark suits walked in, the mood chilled. They were "fiscais" -- Rio shorthand for city inspectors -- snooping for irregularities. Proprietors in Rio de Janeiro dread these sorts of visits: Fiscais always find something. They might be persuaded to look the other way, for a price. Brazilians call it wetting the official hand.
With Brazil in the global headlights, and 600,000 foreigners expected for next month's World Cup, hands are getting wetter. "My blood freezes when I see them," whispered the bistro manager as the suits marched into the kitchen.… Seguir leyendo »
Brazil is racing furiously against time to deliver a World Cup tournament commensurate with its global standing as a leader in the planet's most popular sport. The challenges it faces in doing so are strikingly similar to those that are holding back the country's entire economy.
In 2007, Brazil prevailed with flair over other Latin American countries in its bid to host the 2014 World Cup. Pride and jubilation extended well beyond the soccer-crazy nation of 200 million. What could be better than holding the tournament in the country that produced Pele, Kaka, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo? Brazil has qualified for every World Cup ever held and won five times -- the only country ever to do so on both counts.… Seguir leyendo »
This week, a study by Amnesty International revealed that 80% of Brazilians are afraid of being tortured by their own police force on arrest. In a survey across 21 countries, Brazil was found to be the country where people feel most unsafe in the hands of authorities, almost twice the international average of 44%.
In Rio de Janeiro this fear is very real. Although the media has reported the efforts to pacify favelas across the city, armed violence has once again escalated in the city – weeks before it will receive thousands of football fans for the 2014 World Cup.
Back in 2008 favela residents dreamed of a life without violence as the government unveiled a project to build Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) in which policemen would be stationed to take back territory controlled by drug gangs for decades.… Seguir leyendo »
Cuando yo era presidente puse mucho empeño en llevar a Brasil la Copa del Mundo de Fútbol 2014. Lo que me movía no eran tanto los intereses económicos o políticos, sino principalmente lo que el fútbol significa para la gente en todo el mundo, y sobre todo para los brasileños. El pueblo de Brasil apoyó con entusiasmo la idea, rechazando el sesgo elitista de que un acontecimiento así “es solo para países ricos”, puesto que de ese modo se olvida que Uruguay, Chile, México, Argentina, Sudáfrica y el propio Brasil ya organizaron antes ese campeonato. El fútbol es el único deporte auténticamente universal, querido y practicado en casi todos los países, por personas de diversas clases sociales, grupos étnicos, culturas y religiones.… Seguir leyendo »
La opción bilateral, oportunamente dirigida, es una apuesta segura en el actual marco geopolítico. España y Brasil, con un acercamiento relativamente antiguo, pueden y deben trabajar más en la búsqueda de una relación madura y sostenida en el tiempo, que sin duda fortalecería a ambas naciones. Al margen de los lazos estrictamente bilaterales, la relación entre los dos países debe forzosamente considerar la pertenencia española a la UE y la de Brasil a Mercosur, la Unión de Naciones del Sur (UNASUR) y la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC). Redescubrir las ventajas de la relación es la tarea de ambos países, con un objetivo común: sacar todo el provecho posible para las dos partes, pivotando entre lo político y lo económico, y que les permita consolidar la relación en el tiempo.… Seguir leyendo »
Parece la trama de una película de terror – del tipo en la que un fallo muy poco notorio en la matriz amenaza con causar caos mundial. En esta oportunidad, fue un paso en falso en la programación, un paso simple pero fatal que de pronto hizo que la información más privada de millones de consumidores se torne en vulnerable frente a los ataques de los hackers. Los titulares de noticias advertían a gritos sobre los peligros en línea que apenas podíamos entender, alertando, a su vez, a enjambres de piratas digitales sobre la posibilidad de acceder a recompensas, si aprovechaban de estas nuevas oportunidades delictivas.… Seguir leyendo »
Can a misogynistic country have a female president? Brazil proves that the answer is yes. More than three years into the administration of President Dilma Rousseff, not much has changed for Brazilian women. Feminism is still often viewed as ridiculous extremism. Misogyny is rationalized or dismissed as irony, while rape is trivialized, or even excused.
A few years ago, a famous Brazilian comedian joked about the ugliness of victims of rape he saw protesting on the streets. “Why are you complaining?” he asked. “The men who did this don’t deserve to be imprisoned, but hugged.”
Some claimed it was just a joke, but it clearly revealed what Brazilians think about that topic: Come on, men and women are equal now; there’s no need to make such a fuss.… Seguir leyendo »
With just two months to go until the start of the World Cup, a sense of panic is gripping Rio. Cariocas, as the city’s residents are known, are less concerned about whether stadiums will be built on time than with the direction of the state police department’s once-lauded pacification program. The pacification police units — or UPPs — were intended to retake control of neighborhoods previously controlled by heavily armed drug barons, with the goal of eventually reintegrating these communities back into the city.
Many people now fear that the pacification police units are unraveling and that violence in some of Rio’s 600 slums — known as favelas — is getting out of control.… Seguir leyendo »
Este lunes, 31 de marzo de 2014, Brasil recuerda —más que celebra— los 50 años del movimiento que derrocó al Gobierno del presidente João Goulart e instauró el régimen militar de 1964. Es un periodo de la historia que aún permanecerá mucho tiempo rodeado de controversias, empezando por la definición de qué pasó realmente en el país. Para los militares, en 1964 hubo una “revolución” en Brasil, cuyos principales objetivos serían la restauración del orden público, controlar la indisciplina en los cuarteles e impedir la toma del poder por parte de los comunistas. Según ese punto de vista, por lo tanto, se trató más de una “contrarrevolución” que de una “revolución”.… Seguir leyendo »
Con frecuencia oímos decir que la economía del Brasil está estancada en la “trampa de la renta media.” Desde la crisis de la deuda del decenio de 1980, este país no ha reactivado la transformación estructural ni el crecimiento de la renta por habitante que había caracterizado los tres decenios anteriores, pero, con una combinación correcta de políticas, podría cambiar su suerte por fin.
La explicación prevaleciente según la cual el Brasil no ha conseguido lograr la categoría de renta alta sitúa a este país en el grupo de las economías de renta media, todas las cuales trasladaron trabajadores no especializados de las profesiones con gran densidad de mano de obra a sectores de manufactura y servicios más modernos.… Seguir leyendo »
In Brazil, police officers kill an average of five people every day. In 2012, according to a security report from the Brazilian Forum on Public Security, 1,890 Brazilians were killed by the police, 351 here in São Paulo. That was around 20 percent of all homicides in the city. At the same time, 11 police officers were killed on duty here and around 100 were executed off-duty, allegedly by organized crime. Police officers are three times more likely to be murdered than the average Brazilian.
I once complained about being a writer in Brazil, but it seems our police officers are in considerably worse shape.… Seguir leyendo »
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