Samba versus Tiki Taka: Brazil plots Spanish resistance
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868.com)Brazil is the only South American country that the Spanish conquistadors of old did not colonise.
And, as football’s new favourites prepare to cross swords with the game’s old favourites, Spain’s football team must know already the scale of the task ahead in tomorrow’s FIFA Confederations Cup final at the Maracană Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil, the most successful team in international football with five World Cup crowns, will not bow easily.
As the “DIRECTV Road to Brazil 2014” media excursion stopped off at famous Rio football club, Fluminense, for a paid tour of its facilities yesterday, there was a snag. A member of the group was wearing a Venezuelan national team replica jersey; he was refused entry.
Eventually, the Venezuelan sourced a sweater to cover up the offending jersey and the group was allowed entrance. Fluminense’s officials were polite to a fault throughout the evening. But their football headquarters, which faces the famous statue of Jesus Christ, is like holy ground; and thou shalt serve only one god there. Any symbols of other football entities are strictly forbidden.
It is a level of partisanship unknown to Trinidad and Tobago.
In 2001, the Trinidad and Tobago national under-17 team’s Brazilian coach Rene Simoes urged locals to boo opponents at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup and immediately found himself on the receiving end instead for a supposed lack of manners.
Let’s just say that the Spanish senior national team may much prefer to be playing in front of a Trinidad and Tobago audience at the moment. For Spain’s Confederations Cup semi-final against Italy in Fortaleza, coach Vicente del Bosque and his men were jeered upon sight and every time they touched the ball. A week earlier, six Spanish players complained of having money stolen from their hotel rooms in Recife during a group match against Uruguay.
The “Land of the Samba” has absolutely no intention of being colonised by “Tiki Taka.” Good manners, be damned.
Spain never approached its best form against Italy as Brazilians mercilessly whistled and booed every touch. And, despite a gulf in the talents of the two teams on paper, the fierce support of the host nation should not be underestimated.
Now, Andres Iniesta and company must show they can handle the heat at the Maracană.
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