o belo jugo

jericoacoara

not one to like imbalance, after this morning i can now claim to have watched a high stakes argentina v. brasil futbol match from the terra of both countries. well, watched them on television from the terra of both countries. that counts, no?

today's olympic semifinal and the world cup qualifier from june were definitely representative of my impressions of these countries. it is remarkable to fathom the diversity that these two paises have, within their own borders or taken together. to think of villas and palermo, ipanema and rocinho, bahia and ceará is to see that these countries need to be painted with broader brushes than the estados unidos (not to mention all the places i will not go to: são paulo, patagonia, amazonia, etc.). but what ties everyone together, all these descendants of italians, spaniards, portuguese, slaves, and indigenous populations (those that weren't exterminated, of course), has to be the beautiful game.

there are about as many snowball fights on the beach of copacabana as empty soccer pitches in both of these countries. most volleyball games are played without hands. perhaps the most rewarding has been to see two of the world's (if not the world's two) best teams on television on the same day as a pick-up game on the pampa or praia. it is to see the dream and the dreamers, and to have the clearest perspective on both.

for the record, argentina got a 3-0 victory and will play nigeria for the gold medal. one might think that being the best, and being neighbors, these two would have bad blood. instead, (at least as i read it) there appears to be nothing but respect between them. you hear that, auburn and tuscaloosa?


a previsão de bola de cristal:
if you are only a casual futbol fan (watch the world cup, maybe the euro), you will know lionel messi's name in 2010, just as i was introduced to zinedine zidane in 2006 (when i first payed attention).