FIFA World Cup: The calm before storm

Sao Paulo: There was no samba dance at the arrival lounge of Sao Paulo international airport. Neither were children juggling footballs on the sidewalks of this sprawling metropolis. It was all quiet on Monday evening here after a big bird deposited its share of football lovers for the inaugural match of the 20th Fifa World Cup. Maybe the quietitude was the proverbial calm before the storm. Neymar and Co., decked out in the famous yellow, welcome you from a hoarding outside, as the notorious Sao Paulo traffic justified its billing by holding up vehicles for half an hour at one place alone.

First-time visitors may not have missed the irony of cars moving at a snail’s pace on a road named after the late Formula One great, Ayrton Senna. The charismatic Brazilian was as big a star as Romario in his prime before he perished on the Imola track 20 years ago. Talking of Romario, the World Cup winner in 1994 is now a bitter critic of the quadrennial event that made him a household name across the globe.
Priorities change over the passage of time.

A middle-aged business executive from Sao Paulo explained the local sentiment which appears to be more in tune with Romario’s. “I don’t think people here are opposed to the World Cup. What they are protesting against is the incompetence of the government. “Public infrastructure is crumbling, education and health are not affordable for the poor. More importantly, jobs getting fewer and fewer. The protests aren’t fuelled by the poor. Every section of the society is upset.

“Maybe the World Cup is being used as a platform to air grievances because people know they will be heard when the world’s attention is on Brazil,” he said. “I’m not surprised by the delay in stadium construction. It’s typical Brazilian efficiency. From a small bridge to a massive stadium, we never finish a project in time.” The Sao Paulo resident, however, has faith in Big Phil, the coach of his national team. “I think Scolari will take us all the way. He is the right man for the tough job,” he said.

The euphoria that greeted Fifa’s announcement of handing the hosting rights of the 2014 World Cup to Brazil seven years ago has been replaced by resentment largely because of the battering the continent-size country’s economy has taken in recent years. For foreign fans, though, it’s a totally different ball game. They treat Brazil and football as conjoined twins. An elderly Malaysian, dressed up in Brazilian colours from top to toe, knelt down and kissed the ground after coming out of the Sao Paulo airport. He was on the verge of tears. Said his friend: “We are more Brazilian than  Brazilians themselves.”