an unwelcome world cup?
In 2014, the "country of soccer" was responsible for hosting the world's largest soccer event: The FIFA World Cup. When people took the streets in major Brazilian cities to protest the event, however, it was evident that this was not the case. Brazil's government is known for a lot of corruption and at the same time impunity. When the public started to notice how much money was being used to finance the world cup (building stadiums, for example), Brazilians from all over the country began to protest in the streets of twelve major cities.
People considered certain World Cup expenses unnecessary given the more pressing problems Brazil faces with education and health. More attention was diverted to the protests after the police began to use tear gas and rubber bullets to exercise control, injuring people who were protesting peacefully. Many protestors made it clear that they were not against soccer, the World Cup, or the national team. Their issue was with the government and how it was spending its money. Is it correct to spend millions building stadiums when a great part of the population does not have access to basic healthcare? What angered most Brazilians was not even the fact that the government was spending with the World Cup, but they way it was doing so. An approximate amount of $900 million was used in construction funds for the Mané Garrincha stadium in Brasília, the nation's capital. This makes the Mané Garrincha the second most expensive stadium ever. Since Brasília does not have a major professional soccer team, this money probably could have gone to better use elsewhere. In addition, World Cup expenses also saw a lot of corruption and fraud. For example, while an auditor's report states that the costs of transportation of construction materials to Brasília's Mané Garrincha was an amount of $4,700, reports show that the government ended up spending approximately $1.5 million. Many Brazilians kept claiming "não vai ter copa!", or "there will be no world cup!", but in fact, there was. As the games started and Brazil's national team started to win, the protests began to slowly be forgotten and fans went back to cheering passionately for their team. Many concluded there was no use in protesting anymore, since the World Cup was already happening. All they could do was enjoy it and display their dissatisfaction with the government at a later time, perhaps during the presidential elections that would soon take place in October. Brazilians soon began to interact and have fun with foreigners, enjoying all the World Cup had to offer. As the national team won, the country got more and more united. The team made it to the semifinals, a game in which it would play against Germany's prestige national team. On July 7th, 2014, Brazil lived a day it would never forget. Despite protests, a corrupt government, and a lack of proper education and healthcare, the country had been still united with one goal: To win the World Cup at home. Many shared the sentiment of needing to be the best, or at least good, at something. Due to a lack of adequate education and healthcare and the massive number of Brazilians in poverty, why not let that something be soccer? Why not be proud to excel in playing the sport? This wasn't the case at all, however. On July 7th, Brazilians watched the match against Germany and could not believe their eyes. Brazil lost the game in a shameful way. The team was unfocused, unorganized, and playing without its most important player, Neymar, due to an injury he sustained during the previous match. The result was a 7-1 loss to Germany. Germany scored six goals in four minutes. The team looked puzzled, not fully understanding the reality of what was happening. The Brazilian public was, of course, disappointed and hopeless. People were so angry that in some cities it was unsafe to leave the house, since many could resort to unreasonable violence. Brazil later lost the third place match to the Netherlands (3-0). While many foreigners enjoyed the World Cup and the sympathy they received from Brazilians while in the country, from the perspective of Brazilians the tournament was not at all what it should have been. Not only did the government spend a lot of unnecessary money, but the national team was a disappointment, losing shamefully to the team that would come to win the World Cup. A great part of the country's population forgot the protests and was ashamed of the loss, claiming that Brazil was no longer the "country of soccer". My question to them is: Is that what you should be ashamed of? Brazil suffers shameful losses to Germany when it comes to education, the economy, healthcare, safety, poverty, and government corruption and fraud. Perhaps it is time we reevaluate our standards and expect more from the country than just soccer. |
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