Eliminated
Football comes and goes.
Let’s be honest: the last time Brazil had a killer team was in 2006, and since then, we’ve had maybe one or two star players during the following World Cups. It’s cyclical. I don’t know when the next World Cup-winning team will come, and it could very well take 24 more years for that to happen.
Teams can change, but so can we, and what upsets me the most every time Brazil loses a World Cup is that most of us seem to not understand the latter.
Every four years, we wait in agony to see if our heroes will bring back the hope and happiness we’ve all been waiting for. We rely on them to give us their all, and we give them nothing but shit when they fail to do so. I’m not saying we can’t get mad, frustrated, or feel a lack of control over the situation, because I certainly feel all of those things, but those who can give you everything can also take everything away from you, and that’s just an unsustainable way of sourcing your happiness.
The Brazil I want to root for is not the Brazil of a 34-year-old gambling-addicted man-child who brags to the Norwegian goalkeeper after scoring a mercy penalty after his team had already lost. I root for the Brazil of Embraer, Lina Bo Bardi, Tom Jobim, and the millions of Brazilians who wake up every morning with a dream that can only be achieved through their own hard work.
Of course I would desperately love to witness Brazil win a World Cup, but in the meantime, I’d like us to change. I’d like us to be triumphant outside of the football pitch, so that all those passionate dreamers out there have the means to attain their dreams without relying on 11 men and a coach every four years.