The World Cup and I (updated with logos and bonus curious facts)

Note: I got the logos of every world cup I'm discussing in Google and I want to include them in the post, but I'll come back for that later, OK?

Update: I have now included the logos below and Brazil won 3 X 0 against Ghana. Now I wonder who we'll be playing against on Saturday, Spain or France? Spain is playing really well, but with France I get really nervous because of 1986 and 1998, so I don't know. Last paragraph was updated too and there's a bonus curiosity at the end.

I've been trying to write this posts for two weeks now. In less than an hour Brazil will play Ghana and if they don't win we'll be out of the World Cup, so it's now or never - if I don't post now, I may end up not doing it at all :)

As a soccer loving Brazilian, I measure my life by soccer World Cups, so every four years I wonder what I'll be doing in four years and look back to years past and past world cups. Right now I can't believe this is the third World Cup since I came to the U.S.!

The first World Cup that I really remember is the 1982 one in Spain, when I was 11 years old. I don't think my dad watched the 1978 one - I'd have to ask him [he says he probably did, but he can't really remember much], or maybe I was just too young to enjoy watching soccer games. In 1982 I wrote down the name of the players in Brazilian team, which we call “Seleção Brasileira” (Brazilian "selection"), trying to immitate the signatures of the goal-scoring players that the Globo TV network in Brazil displayed on the screen after each goal. I think the drawings on the right page were inserted years later, probably around 1985-6.
I remember clearly the day Brazil lost. I watched the game at a friend's house and we were extremely nervous throughout and devasted at the end. My brother, who watched it at home, told me later that he cried a lot after Brazil lost (I didn't cry). We hated Italy and Paolo Rossi, one of their best players and the scorer of Italy's three goals. It seemed a very cruel and unjust loss because that team, with the famous players Zico (Japan's coach this year!), Falcão, Sócrates, and others, was well known for its "beautiful game."

Four years later, in 1986 in Mexico we lost to Michel Platini's France on the penalty kicks after we remained tied in the extra 30 minutes. That game was on a Saturday, and I'm really afraid that Brazil may have to play against France again next Saturday - 20 years later. Of course it would be only a "superstitious" fear, but still, these eerie coincidences are not fun at all. This time (I was 15) when I wrote down in my journal the players, I classified them from the one I thought was more handsome down to the others as you can see in the picture - the second one was not really handsome, but as he scored 5 goals, he deserved to be in the top of the list :)

In the 1990 World Cup in Italy we lost to Argentina, one of our fiercest rivals, and I was so nervous that I could hardly watch the game even though I had the support of my new (and first) boyfriend (current husband) at my side. I kept going downstairs to the kitchen so I could be distracted and less anxious.

Then came 1994. I was going to put a picture of me and my friends taken in the "interval" between the two halves of the final game against Italy (again), but I look so silly that I just decided not to :) What a nerve wrecking final! Me and my friend (who was our hostess at her house) distracted ourselves making popcorn for everyone. I concede that winning a world cup in a 0 X 0 match is not fun and not beautiful at all. Winning in the penalty kicks is almost a "random," method that relies more on luck than ability, but... our goal-keeper was lucky to defend once and Italy (I can't remember who, sorry) was unlucky to lose a goal and... we won!! The first time since 1970, the year before I was born. 24 years waiting to win again, and now we were "Tetra Champions," having won the world cup four times, a feat no other country in the world had yet achieved. For our battered Brazilian souls, this was heaven! At least our country was good in something even if in the grand scheme of things soccer is not very meaningful.

Two years later I moved to the U.S. (1996) and the first World Cup here in 1998 we were so hopeful that we'd now be "Penta" (five-time) champions and even more unreachable in our status as the best soccer players int he world. I had nothing else to do, so I watched almost every single game of the cup, really enjoying them. I even wrote the results and goal scorers in a date-book. We went to a friend's house, which was packed of passionate Brazilians and some Portuguese Americans, to watch the final game and we were utterly devastated by the outcome. At least - that was my consolation - it was not Argentina, Italy, or Germany that won because then none of them tied us with four world championships (each still has three). Another consolation was the fact that I was not born in France, but in Switzerland (as I wrote in my 100 things post #13). I had never been thankful for that, on the contrary, because I wanted to have a foreign citizenship, but that July afternoon in 1998, I was utterly relieved I was not French!!

Then, in 2002 I was amazed to think that I now had a son, and kept thinking that in the next world cup he'd be four years old (as he is now, little did I know he'd also have a little brother :). His grandparents sent him various Brazilian team t-shirts from Brazil, and we dressed him up every game, even though the shirts were way too big for his tiny 3 month old self. This photo was taken after the final game against Germany. The only down side of having a 3 month old was that I almost couldn't watch the final game! We went to watch it with a bunch of Brazilians from our university and when they screamed in nervousness, he cried. Fortunately, there was another room with a TV in the house and I got to watch the game on my own, nursing him, and after it was over I came to the living room to celebrate with everyone. It was AWESOME! Penta-champions, as we say in Portuguese. Now it would be harder for our rivals to reach the same number of World Cup victories.

There were other things to write about, such as the fact that there are many gender stereotypes about women not enjoying soccer, etc, but I have to go watch the game, it starts in 10 minutes and I haven't even put on my Brazil jersey yet!! I'll be back later to update the post. Update: OK, Brazil won. Just a few more words. Before the World Cup started, I got an email that was circulating in Brazil that I got really mad at. It was a wife's guide for how to treat her husband during the world cup (no use talking to him, etc)... Very stereotypical stuff. Of course many women fit that description of not being interested in soccer and very annoyed at their husbands watching the game. I, on the other hand, have always been interested in the game, I know the rules, I like to discuss about the performance of the teams, etc. I really ENJOY soccer (or footbal, "futebol" in Portuguese). So I was very annoyed by this email.

Bonus: Curious prediction for this year's winner (very biased, of course, but pretty intriguing) - I got this in an email from a Brazilian friend and translated into English (I haven't googled it to see where this originated):

"Look how interesting!!!
Brazil won the World Cup in 1994, before that, its last title was in 1970. If you add 1970 + 1994 = 3964
Argentina won its last World Cup in 1986, before then, only in 1978. Adding up 1978 + 1986 = 3964
Germany, on the other hand, won its last World Cup in 1990. Before then it was in 1974. Add up 1990 + 1974 = 3964
Following this logic, one could have guessed the winner of 2002's World cup, because it would have to be the winner of 1962's World Cup! Just checking: 3964 - 2002 = 1962
And the winner of the Cup in 1962 was Brazil !
And who would win the World Cup in 2006 ?
Answer: 3964 - 2006 = 1958
And who won in 1958 ?..........
Yes, exactly!!! You can prepare the party/ celebration!!! Because the winner [in 1958] was Brasil!!! There's no mistake here, "O HEXA É NOSSO" THE HEXA IS OURS!!!"