Rio de Janeiro is Brazil?s tourist and commercial centre

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Brazil, 'the land of football ?
Brazil, 'the land of football ?

Yes, indeed and of many other things. The visitor to Brazil normally would touch down at one of the country?s four international airports in Recife, Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, thinking about football, of course.

Brazil, 'the land of football  ?
Brazil, ‘the land of football
?

There?s nothing wrong with that except that at the time of leaving he would be convinced that Rio de Janeiro, which is Brazil?s tourist and commercial centre, (the political capital is Brasilia), represents the ultimate in entertainment and tourist interest.

There is simply no way that the attraction of the beautiful South American city can be thoroughly exhausted.

Your 30-minute drive from Rio airport (after the 13-hour trans-Atlantic flight from London) airport to the centre of town immediately introduces you to a labyrinth of sky-scrapers, dozens of flower and waterways ?which reduces London, by comparison, to a well kept small town and makes you wonder why all the trumpetry ?about Brazil owing $20 billion to creditor countries.

Everything and everyone of the 14 million people who live in Rio de Janeiro appears to be on the go in their dozens of models of Volkswagen and Chevrolet cars most of them two door saloons but which are allowed to be used as taxis ? even the Beetle (?tefre?) ?model.

Your first ride would normally take you to one of the over 60 first ?class hotels that line up the Copacabana sunshine beaches.

All along the ride one has already got the impression ?of a very vibrant metropolitan city, the infrastructure superb with offices, showrooms, factories and restaurant liming the street on either side and ushering you into a completely new world.

The people of Rio are very friendly people and they do not hesitate to come to you of their own accord and start a conversation with ?Where do you come from?? Do you like Brazil? Do you play football in your country? The language ? Portuguese ? is a little bit of a problem but does not spoil the fun at all.

A friend of mine who had visited Brazil earlier described it as the land where you have every shade of colour in the people. What he meant was that you see people who are as white as Europeans, mullatoes, chocolate fair, chocolate brown and pure black.

That is very true but the observation now is that the black seems to be disappearing. For even in the football teams ? and we saw at least ?12 of the top sixteen teams who are vying for the league cup ? no team had more than three real black men in their outfit.

In a country where women make up 60 per cent of the population the ?Official ?dress appears, surprisingly though, to be ?T? shirts and jeans.

The people are simply not interested in suits and hard-collar shirts, they are very happy in their tropical climate, like we have here in West Africa, with their jeans and ?T? shirts.

And you can imagine the varieties in style and colour. And any size that you want is there, even if it is for Ekow Krane, the boxer.

The friendliness of the people is proverbial, and I believe they are equals, if not ahead of us, in hospitality.

The Brazilian makes out the visitor and immediately bumps out a chat with you asking you which hotel you are in, whether you have been to the beaches to swim and whether he should pick you on Saturday to see a football match at Maracana, the world?s largest football stadium.

If the landscape combination of the mountains, waterways and the seas give you a delightful eye-feast, you are also likely to be surprised at the number and length of motorways that have been cut through the mountains.

And on top of the city?s ultimate ?mountain peak the Corcovado, stands the amazing life-size statue of Jesus Christ The Redeemer, arms spread protectively over the city. And standing beside him, you see the whole of Rio underneath.

You cannot help but be filled with admiration as you drive ? very fast drivers, the Brazilians – through the lighted tubes with the mountains at each side of you and with air-extractors driving out the carbon exhaust out of the tunnels.

To beat the rush hour, all movement for example, from Labadi, is directed to Korle Gonno on all lanes, from about 7 a.m. to 10 a m., and then from opposite, from the other way round, from about 4 p.m. to about 8 p.m.

More surprises await the visitor. One of the most prominent is the night life which is very important to the Brazilian.

The people simply do not sleep. As late as 10 p.m. local time, is when the final whistle goes at Maracana, and that is the time for the people of Rio to go to the beach either to play all types of games, from volley ball to football, of course, under floodlights, or go for a swim.

At the same time, a 24-hour bar and restaurant ?service is at your disposal as well as a 24-hour public transport system.

And all through the day and night, jogging seems to be a compulsory pastime. Men and women some as old as 70, jog along the streets and anywhere imaginable, just to keep fit, they usually say.

Meanwhile, at the various ?show? theatres, go-go girls treat you to various traditional Brazilian dances, the Samba prominent among them.

While some of the dresses surprises you with their myriad designs, what really turns you on is the immaculate beauty and incredibly perfect profiles of the professional lady dancers who hypnotize you with 99% naked appearances on stage.

Did you hear you say ?wow?? You would be speechless if you saw them live.

The last stage of the show is usually the most fascinating when our go-go girls go round between the tables inviting men who they fancy, onto the stage to dance with them! Or you may visit the barbecues restaurant where waiters constantly harass you for hours with over 24 different kinds of meat and other delicacies!

Nor will I forget the story of me, yes, the self same Bob Koomson, relaxing at an open air cocktail bar a few meters away from my 4-star hotel, (name withheld), when this voluptuous, Size 42 signboard, young Dolly Parton look-alike, pops up from nowhere and with the sweetest of smiles I?ve ever seen in my short life, asks, in broken English, : Where you come from ? ?Gha, Ghana, I stammered.

Then, ?Oh, Ghana, Africa, Nkrumah, Black, Beautiful, ( moving her right palm over hairy her left arm), Strong?. Then, with a 45 degree swing of her curves, she asks, : ?Want to Taste?? ?(pointing below), ?Cinquenta ( fifty ) Dollar?.

My heart missed a beat, I put my glass down. Honestly speaking, whether I would have said, ?OK?, or No, Thank you, I still don?t know.

What I know is that ?my mind went straight ?back to the black ?Sony? Ghetto Blaster I had spotted (while in transit in London), at the Blue Water Mall, going for about four times the price, and which I had earmarked for my newly rented apartment at Kokomlemle, in Accra. Downhearted, I managed to smile, and muttered, ?Feeling very tired, Sweetheart, see you same time tomorrow, ok??

I took a second bottle of Mackerson Stout and went back to my room, thinking all sorts of things, including my late Economics teacher, Mr. Griffin, (wherever he may be), and his favourite subject, Opportunity Cost!

Shopping is very easy, whether it be at one of the huge shopping supermarkets ? I mean real supermarkets ? Freeway, Rio Sul, Barra, Disco or Mesbla or at the commercial center in the middle of town.

The normal practice, especially if one is buying heavy items like furniture or sound systems, is for the shopper to select and pay for his goods, leave his name and address and leave the responsibility of transporting the goods home from the shop. And most often your goods get to their destination before you do !

Brazilians and their ?FUCHBOL?

They eat it and drink it but it would surprise you to learn that they do weep but never fight about football? Or that their referees are worse than some Ghanaian referees?

Ask anybody who knows. The Brazilian believes in the passion of football and ?believes that it is the passion of the game that makes it the most popular sport in the world for all time.

Yet the passion is left inside the stadium. ?On the streets after a match, it is only laughing (for the victors) and frowns (for the losers), no ugly street scenes.

Football (they pronounce it ?FUCHBOL?) is the life and it is total in all its departments, so where do we begin? The 2-0 defeat of Brazilian national team at the hands of England in Rio de Janeiro two weeks before we arrived should be a good starting point.

That this should have happened at the Maracana Stadium (the world?s largest football arena) in Rio de Janeiro was be a big emotional blow to the 14 million people of Rio but it will not shock them for long, only their pride that England should beat them after 18 years of ?domination.

The explanation would be the exodus of Brazil?s 1982 world cup giants Zico, Falcao, Cerezo and recently captain Socrates who are all now playing for Italian clubs and that indeed is the reason, together with others, the most obvious being that Brazilian football allows too many goals to be scored.

Brazilian coaches and managers only became defence conscious after their painful exit from the world cup when they were bullied out 3-2 by the Italians who went on to win the World Cup, logically.

The Italians did not deserve that cup and they know it, that their unimaginative football which only aims at results is not what the world cup is about.

They know that they do not possess the skills and stars that you find in England, West Germany or even France and that it was only by a big stroke of misfortune that Brazil failed to win the cup.

We watched Liverpool play Everton twice in the 1984 Milk Cup final in while in transit in London and the two teams from Merseyside treated fans to 210 minutes of fantastic football and I remember I told Kofi Abbrey and Flaman Jacobs at Maracana (when we watched our first Brazilian match between Flamengo and America) that I thought European football was more purposeful than Brazilian football.

After watching 10 first division matches over a 3-week period in Rio I changed mind. Brazilian football is real tops, their teams will sometimes be beaten and their stars will not always be voted World Footballer of the Year but they remain the world?s greatest football nation.

They simply love the sport. They play it on the beaches, in the round-abouts, in the schools, colleges, parks and at anytime. In fact most of their league matches kick off at 9 p.m. and the stadia are almost full.

I talked earlier about their referees. What makes them what they are is the crowd, especially when teams like Vasco da Gama are playing at their home ground.

The referee is booed jeered and insulted anytime an infringement goes against the home team.

If you add to that to the fact that Vasco especially is always welcomed unto their pitch with explosives, then when the away team does not win they do not have to blame the referee for his obvious nervousness.

But they can be assured it is all tricks, the ultimate aim is to win by all means. If the home team does not win, supporters only shout their favourite Beesha! and Ladrao! (Portuguese for ?Eunuch? and ?Thief?) and then go home peacefully to sleep.

Goalkeeping, coming now onto the pitch, is and has always been a problem in Brazil but they do not seem to care since their playing philosophy is, Play and let the opponent play, just make sure if you score 4 if you concede 3.

The few good goalkeepers come from Argentina. Their defence is an attacking defence and this comes out very well when you see world cup hero, Junior and Leandro (both of Flamengo) move all out in the fashion of Eleven Wise?s Albert Nyarko beating everybody in sight to deliver a thunderbolt across the opponent ?s goalmouth which will only need a tap to place in the net.

The midfield is where you get most of your entertainment and you simply sometimes wonder at the movements of the team forward. Everyone is an actor in the drama and where you simply see how players like Edmar (Flamengo) move to receive their passes.

The ball is simply juggled around the middle and the pass normally goes to the wings, then the wingers do their own thing.

The wingers like Franco of Curitiba are strong, fast and sharp. They will receive a pass even if marked and whether you like it or not they manage to fly past the opposing defence and centre for the last goal-touch.

There is nothing these days in Brazil like striking in the fashion of the powerful 30 yarder which makes its way straight into the posts mostly from players like Vasco da Gama?s Roberto and Santos? Serginho (both members of national squad).

Rather, most goals are scored after the goalkeeper has been dummied with a dribble or pass, leaving him completely stranded and not blamable, obviously.

The asset with the players is the speed, imagination, quick thinking and, above all, stamina which makes them do things that cannot easily be anticipated by opponents.

Substitutions are usually planned, that is, two players on the reserve bench will almost always play by all means. This is because the game has been planned from the dressing room and there are usually no serious injuries which take players out of matches.

In one match between Flamengo and Fluminense, for example, the Flamengo left winger was detailed to wear out Fluminense right half back with his speed and he did this dutifully for 60 minutes of the game, running with him.

The Flamengo lad was the substituted with Junior who overlapped freely bullying the tired defender to lay on the passes for three of the four goals scored by ?Mengo?.

The referees do not insist that free-kicks should be taken at the exact spot that infringements are committed.

This makes for a quick movement which can sometimes be very beneficial, sometimes unfair, depending on the distance but which can otherwise slow down the game unnecessarily as happens here and elsewhere.

Talking about infringements brings to mind the players? ability to fall without being hurt and also antics which convince the referees that a player is really hurt, only for him to get well immediately a free-kick or penalty is awarded.

And that is when Vasco? s free-kick expert Roberto stands right behind the ball and slots the ball home no matter what!

The Brazilians believe that stars make teams but will not feature stars who are off ? form. This accounts for world cup man Serginho playing only once for Santos in their four matches that we watched.

Talking about Pele?s Santos, I am sure Ghanaian fans will be sad to know that the club is now a shadow of its former self. It appears Pele took all the magic away with him.

In their league match with Flamengo (who are poised to win the league this year and that will be for three years in a row), played in Sao Paolo, Santos lost 0-1. That was on a Wednesday.

The following Saturday the two teams met again in the South American Cup semi-final, again in Sao Paolo. Santos lost 0-5.

The next Wednesday the two teams met again in Rio for the return league encounter, Rio was all Flamengo and Maracana was packed full, ready for a goal harvest since Flamengo were playing at home. The game ended 2-2, Santos scoring first.

Footballers live very prosperous lives and train, train and train again. How else could they survive a league which begins with 400 teams fighting it out for the Copa Brazil, playing on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday and during which time new players can be registered any time, any day during the week.

For the sporting press, it must be a very exciting life. They besiege players? houses and hotels when they play away.

They interview and film them on the field of play before matches, during the intervals, at the end and when they are leaving in the middle of a match as a result of injury or a red card.

They always have a question and the players always have an answer. See them dragging their equipment and wires all over place. And everybody understands, even the referees will give them time to do their own thing before calling for action.

As for club colours it is Adidas which takes the credit for making popular some combination of colours you would not dream of choosing for your team.

The designs are simply super, especially for the red, white, and green combination for Fluminense and the red and white for America.

And for team ? supporter affiliation the clubs use only two designs of jerseys all through the season. This, we were told, enables supporters and fans to feel more of a sense of belonging.

There is nothing like Asante Kotoko appearing sometimes in all-white outfit or Kumasi Cornerstone abandoning their black and white apparel for green and white.

The supporters will never allow that to happen, even though we have no supporters unions or Chapters and Circles, or Webs, always creating confusion and baying for the blood of a Club Chairman anytime a team loses!

A supporter is unknown to the players. He only goes to the field to cheer up his team to victory and goes back home!

Finally ?Ways and Means?, as we know in Ghana, is very much an integral part of Brazilian football. The difference between Ghana and Brazil is that the Management of a club is not allowed to use a club?s funds to see any Mallam, Prophet or Pastor.

Individual footballers are, however, allowed to consult their family or clan shrines (a common part of Brazilian culture), personal spiritualists or whatever and whoever they like for personal protection and success !

As we left Rio on our 13-hour British Caledonian flight back to Gatwick, almost all the flight on the moonlit Atlantic Ocean, (to be followed by another 6 hours from London to Kotoka) the question that I was not able to answer was ?For how many hours do these people sleep?? They leave the stadium at 10 p m., go partying at the beach and club houses till 3 a.m., are seen jogging at 5 a.m., and still make it to the bus station at 7 a.m. ?to catch the bus to work !

Bob Africanus Koomson [email protected]

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