gringo que fala: not so sad in brasil

there's this idea circulating in the states that everybody in brasil spent yesterday crying. this implies that the power of soccer to bring people together has wiped out popular opposition to the cup, that it was the magic of the game - rather than the tear gas, live ammunition, and arbitrary arrests - keeping people away from protests, and that yesterday, the entire country looked more or less like the pictures on the sadbrazilians tumblr (which, incidentally, was also a huge hit here).

só que não, which is to say, not so much. plenty of people were hoping brasil would stay alive in the cup long enough to be humiliated by argentina in the final, especially after the interview in which rio's mayor, eduardo paes, told the guardian that he'd kill himself if this happened. but there are a lot of folks who loved seeing the brasilian team go down so absolutely and embarrassingly. there's still plenty of cup left to go - major protests are scheduled for the final game, which may have much larger turnout now that brasil's out of the cup - and depending on today's semi-final game, brasil could still lose to argentina in the consolation round for third place.

i'll write more about this as it unfolds, but in the meantime, here's what my facebook wall looked like in yesterday:

before the game, neymar's recent injury, and the nation-wide trauma it was about to evoke, was compared to the police brutality which even the mainstream media hasn't ignored recently:

as well as the overpass in belo horizonte - the city that hosted the germany-brasil semi-final - that collapsed last week, killing 2 people and injuring at least thirty:

in light of neymar's injury, facebook was full of reminders of the 1962 cup. when pelé was injured that year, he was substituted by a player named amarildo, who helped lead brasil to a victory. last year, "pacifying" police in rocinha, rio's largest favela, tortured and [presumably] killed amarildo de souza local 47-year-old construction worker and father of four. his body still hasn't been found, but people have been pointing out that amarildo can't save brasil this time around.

during the game, people joked about germany's uniforms, which were inspired by flamengo, the most popular team in rio. the idea of flamengo beating the shit out of the national team was huge, as were the messages reminding us of all the workers' movements that have been clamped down on before and during the cup. as the score crept up, someone posted: "going on strike is a right for all workers. ALL OF OUR SUPPORT GOES TO THE BRAZILIAN NATIONAL TEAM'S STRIKE!"

after the game, facbeook was full of reminders that investing heavily in soccer instead of more pressing social needs looked especially stupid after a loss in the semi-finals.

today we learned that germany, aside from having schools and hospitals, can also score goals.
see you later, folks.

...and full of digs at ronaldo, former cup star and current bloviating airhead who told the press last year that a world cup victory was worth prioritizing stadiums over hospitals: