Brazil laments World Cup loss; back to reality
RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian fans hugged, teared up and hung their heads on Friday after their national team was knocked out of the World Cup by Belgium.
The stinging 2-1 defeat came just as the Selecao, as the team is known, had begun to gather steam, and Brazilians dared to hope that a victory could wash away years of recession, political uncertainty — and a humiliating defeat to Germany four years ago.
“The World Cup allowed us a moment to forget our problems,” said Cristiano Conceicao, who works in a furniture store and watched the game with thousands of others in a traditional gathering place for soccer fans, a several-block stretch of Rio de Janeiro known as the Alzirao. “Break’s over now.”
Soccer is more than just a game in Brazil — it is central to national identity. But the World Cup in Russia has been an especially welcome distraction. Brazil is just emerging from a deep, prolonged recession. It has lost confidence in its leaders as a corruption investigation revealed endemic graft among its political and corporate elite that shocked even the most cynical.
Crime is rising in many cities, many Brazilians feel the last president was improperly removed from office, and the population is heading into national elections more divided than it has been in recent memory.
The mood lifted when Brazil scored deep in the second half. The crowd erupted in jumping and cheers; they sprayed beer and honked air horns.
When the final whistle blew, many hugged and cried.
A reporter on the Globo network teared up as she described watching the game with family members of the players. She talked about how they never lost hope and even prayed at halftime. When she threw it back to the anchor, he then faltered.
But, in Maua Square, many were determined to keep the party going, dancing and joking as a way to relieve the pain of defeat. “We always knew that the World Cup would not solve our problems,” said Isabela Santos, a law student who watched the game in the Alzirao. “But how sweet it would have been to win it!”