We Laughed We cried, Vai Brasil Vai

Last Monday Brazil had its second round World Cup game against Chile. For those of you ignorant people who know nothing about the World Cup the second round is a win or go home situation or in Brazil’s case win or never reenter the country unless you have a death wish. Well Zanatta gave me two choices. I could go watch the game in a tranquil environment with him and his nephew at his nephew’s house, or I could watch the game at the Cidade do Cupo (City of the Cup). Well obviously I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to go to the Cidade do Cupo. It is a patch of field by a busy highway with street vendors, live bands, and two massive televisions for watching the game. I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few professional sporting events in my lifetime. I’ve seen football games, basketball games, and even a baseball game all at the professional level. Not a single one of them even comes close to the tension and excitement of the people at the Cidade do Cupo, and this was before the game even started. Just to give you an idea, the Brazilian presidential election is going down four months after the World Cup finishes. I’ve been watching the news to practice listening to Portuguese. I only found out because my teacher told me. There hasn’t been a single story on the presidential election, but I’ve seen several stories on what Kaka is doing at the present moment in South Africa and how Brazil measures up against the Netherlands. Legitimately, if you were to ask someone in Brazil who is running for president in a few months they would have no idea, but they could tell you what minute Kaka scored in the game before Chile. Trick question, they tied Portugal nil-nil. The World Cup absolutely engulfs every facet of a Brazilian’s life. It affects the economy, politics, and the morale of the entire country. My teacher said if Brazil doesn’t win the suicide rate goes up. I don’t think he was kidding. Well this is the environment I was thrust into during their last game against Chile. It was very crowded. I stood for two hours watching the game without being able to move. Brazil scored their first goal and some dude hugged me. I have no earthly idea who he was. I told him he needed to by me dinner first. He just stared. After that two other people punched me in the arm. I thought we were about to throw down, but apparently that’s just some form of good luck charm because it happened every time Brazil scored. As Brazil continued to advance, I moved closer to some ladies to see if I could celebrate the next goal with them. That last statement was purely fictional and was meant to only be humorous. That one goes out to you mom. Anyways, I continued to be hugged, punched, and slapped on the back by random strangers with tears in their eyes. One of the two people I came with showed me his arm after the second goal. He had goose bumps. Now I love the game of soccer, but seriously? Goose bumps? After an hour and a half of some impressive soccer the game ended with Brazil winning three to nothing over Chile. The fireworks didn’t stop until around three in the morning. The game ended at four in the afternoon. I went running today and somebody rolled down their window and shouted, “Brasil!!!” The game was three days ago. By the way while I was running I passed a woman power walking with a cigarette in her mouth. I told her, “ My dear that’s the definition of counterintuitive.” She stared just like the guy who still owes me dinner. They just don’t get me here in Brazil. Anyways, the sanity of the people here in Brazil hangs on the shoulders of twenty-three young men in South Africa. You know, if we told our players if they didn’t win we’d kill them we would be good too. For those of you who may never get to experience the insanity that is Brazilian soccer fans go to any professional sporting event and imagine that instead of the thousands of people shouting at touchdown the entire United States of America is shouting at the same time and you might have a fraction of what Brazilian fans are like. To sum up my time in the Cidade do Cupo, we laughed, we cried, and we shouted; Vai Brazil Vai!