If one is even slightly interested in watching football, he must love Brazil. He just must. There is no way out of the trap of being a fan of the Brazilian style, unless you don't really care about the sport. Year after year, decade after decade, players come and go, the team is flushed again and again, the generation is turned many times over, yet the unduplicable style persists. It doesn't always win you games and championships, but it's still breath-taking.
Strange. What's so unique about it?
As I'm watching the Brazil--Australia game and observing the many dangerous maneuvers in front of and inside the "box" by both teams (Australia is playing very very well, I'm so impressed), a realization struck me. Look how slow Brazil is when they are close to the goal. They are lightening fast passing through the midfield, but when they get to the box, it is as if time and motion are suspended in mid-air. They pause and pass and ponder, as if strolling alone in the woods and unaware of the massive number of defenders around them.
And often they get away with the slowness.
The slowness is almost demonstrated in their individual skills as 1 player passes several opponents, one after another. There was an instance today when Kaka maneuvered past about 4 defenders; he seemed slow, never losing his balance, his every shift and touch ofthe boall clear and delicate. But the defenders seemed to be stuck in a thick gel as well, simply unable to keep up with him.
Anyway, this team's defense is scary, enough to give me a heart attack. The communication between the goalie and the defenders seems very problematic.
The Slowness of Brazilian Football
虽然好多critics 说巴西打得场面难看，我还是很心满意足的。不过巴西的门将， Dida? , 让我很不放心。 
wah, did you guys read one article in National Geographic, it was a special issue or something on soccer, anyway, there was this one article about brazil soccer team, the author said brazil soccer team is the most beloved overdog, and everybody has 2 favourites, one is, well, the favourite, the other is brazile.
I guess u gotta love them, cannot help urself, even me, a non soccer fan.
I guess u gotta love them, cannot help urself, even me, a non soccer fan.
乡音无改鬓毛衰
the other one usually is an underdog, or a bad-luck (at least we think so) 悲情英雄 one ....The other day I was trying to explain to someone who is totally ignorant of football. I said I had not followed the sport at all since I immigrated here, but every 4 years the fever still catches me. You can't help it. One thing that sort of dawned on me as I was blabbering was this -- even with the player turnovers, even with the passage of time, the rule changes, the evolution of the sport, even with the great mobility of players in various countries and clubs today (for example, Ronaldinho is really more a member of Barcelona FC than he is a member of the Brazilian national team), there is a strange persistence of NATIONAL CHARACTERISTIC in each team that transcends time and change.
You would think that most high level players, regardless of nationality, are playing alongside each other in professional leagues in England, Italy, and Spain, and the result should be a great harmonization of skills and strategies. There should no longer be the distinction between Italy and Croatia, Portugal and Argintina, Brazil and England. But NO, when these players who had spent most of their working life in another country get back together, many of whom have never played with each other, somehow, magically, the style and attitude that emerge from a patched-together national team carries a whiff of the same style of play as their predecessors. The Germans are still efficient and no nonsense, even if their individual skills have improved much. The Dutch are still powerful attackers. And the US still lack a lethal forward. And England is still BORING! (OK, that is my bias.) And of course, Brazil is still delicate, mesmorizing, breath-taking, unreal, magical, regardless of whether they win, even when most of the players have adapted to the games in Europe. Somehow, they remember this collective physical memory that is Brazilian football.
Isn't this totally strange?
You would think that most high level players, regardless of nationality, are playing alongside each other in professional leagues in England, Italy, and Spain, and the result should be a great harmonization of skills and strategies. There should no longer be the distinction between Italy and Croatia, Portugal and Argintina, Brazil and England. But NO, when these players who had spent most of their working life in another country get back together, many of whom have never played with each other, somehow, magically, the style and attitude that emerge from a patched-together national team carries a whiff of the same style of play as their predecessors. The Germans are still efficient and no nonsense, even if their individual skills have improved much. The Dutch are still powerful attackers. And the US still lack a lethal forward. And England is still BORING! (OK, that is my bias.) And of course, Brazil is still delicate, mesmorizing, breath-taking, unreal, magical, regardless of whether they win, even when most of the players have adapted to the games in Europe. Somehow, they remember this collective physical memory that is Brazilian football.
Isn't this totally strange?
I'm very hesitant to "root for" a particular team to win. It's probably not good for the sport if Brazil wins yet again, but everyone will be a little sad if they don't. I have not seen either Argentina or Spain. The Netherlands ... they're OK, but I'm a little worried about their defense.
What I like is the fact that the best teams have a distinctive approach to the game, a style, a concept, an instinct, a habit, an inimitable personality. It's not necessarily the most effective or successful, but they can't help but be themselves. And that's great. That makes me emotionally invested.
What I like is the fact that the best teams have a distinctive approach to the game, a style, a concept, an instinct, a habit, an inimitable personality. It's not necessarily the most effective or successful, but they can't help but be themselves. And that's great. That makes me emotionally invested.
我还是非常怀念04年欧洲杯BBC的解说员，又帅又内行。（废话，莱因克尔和Alan Hansen怎么可能不内行？）啊呀啊呀，他俩真是太帅啦！而且我也很喜欢看Alan Hansen在BBC上的专栏，尤其是谈到他们也是我亲爱的Liverpool的那些文章。
我担心荷兰的不是防守，后卫也许整体实力不如葡萄牙但是并没烂到无法信赖的程度，荷兰的中场则是我眼中最大的隐患，控不住球而且分球方面比较被动，缺少天才工兵致使拦截能力有所下降。再也见不到狂放的荷兰潮水，失落。
小白还希望阿根廷的后方线受到考验，我可怕着呢。世上有两件事情千万不要期待它能承受得住考验：婚姻和防守。上届世界杯小组赛阿根廷先被英格兰闷死，参考埃里克森瓮中捉鳖的战术傻瓜也明白该如何对付阿根廷，当然瑞典不是傻瓜，阿根廷重蹈94年的覆辙，睁大眼睛踏进泥沼，拼命挣扎只求了断。如果考验不可避免，但愿阿根廷能够狡猾一点，投机一点，最重要的是沉稳一点。
周六捷克踢成那个挫样之后我忍不住小哭了一把，德哥和小波唯一一次的世界杯就这么完蛋啦！疯狂的激情不能持久，耐性和理智都是必要的致胜因素。也许捷克给我的只有刹那间的热血沸腾，可那才是我不顾一切爱上足球的冲动，忘记所有的约束，享受最快意的呐喊。
我担心荷兰的不是防守，后卫也许整体实力不如葡萄牙但是并没烂到无法信赖的程度，荷兰的中场则是我眼中最大的隐患，控不住球而且分球方面比较被动，缺少天才工兵致使拦截能力有所下降。再也见不到狂放的荷兰潮水，失落。
小白还希望阿根廷的后方线受到考验，我可怕着呢。世上有两件事情千万不要期待它能承受得住考验：婚姻和防守。上届世界杯小组赛阿根廷先被英格兰闷死，参考埃里克森瓮中捉鳖的战术傻瓜也明白该如何对付阿根廷，当然瑞典不是傻瓜，阿根廷重蹈94年的覆辙，睁大眼睛踏进泥沼，拼命挣扎只求了断。如果考验不可避免，但愿阿根廷能够狡猾一点，投机一点，最重要的是沉稳一点。
周六捷克踢成那个挫样之后我忍不住小哭了一把，德哥和小波唯一一次的世界杯就这么完蛋啦！疯狂的激情不能持久，耐性和理智都是必要的致胜因素。也许捷克给我的只有刹那间的热血沸腾，可那才是我不顾一切爱上足球的冲动，忘记所有的约束，享受最快意的呐喊。
听说今年BBC的足球解说受到大众批评了，什么种族歧视的调子，又是BBC的足球专家把更多时间花在一起打GOLF上（明指Linekar和Hansen嘛），已经脱节了云云。某人看了TIMES来传达，我抵死不信他俩会讲种族歧视的话。一定是别人嫉妒他们又帅GOLF又打得好。 
