Tag: brazil

How Ronaldo and Romário became the perfect partnership

We all marvel at the skill determination and single-minded focus of individuals that achieve greatness across the sports, from Muhammed Ali to Tiger Woods and Roger Federer to Usain Bolt. Commentators and pundits today…

Mário Zagallo: Brazil’s habitual World Cup winner

Every footballer dreams of lifting the World Cup. Some achieve this goal, and others sit in the rarefied air of winning it on multiple occasions. Mário Zagallo is in a league of his…

Ronaldo: in touching distance of being the greatest

This feature is part of The Fleeting Fraternity What is tragedy? In modern-day usage, it is defined by an event of monumental human suffering, shrouded by pathos and disaster. In dramatic arts’…

Adriano: football’s monumental ‘what if’ tale

This feature is part of The Fleeting Fraternity A SINGLE SNAPSHOT of a player often reveals much more than the football they play. The way they carry themselves off the ball, how they…

Why the Premier League is still waiting for a Brazilian icon

THE SIGHT OF A BRAZIL TEAM in full samba flow invokes something in football supporters that can’t be replicated by any other team. People marvel over Spain’s fluid passing and Germany’s ruthless dynamism…

The birth of Brazil at World Cup 1958

BRAZIL CAME TO SWEDEN IN 1958 with a great deal of expectation behind them. It was the sixth incarnation of the World Cup; the Seleção had played in every previous tournament, but…

Kaká: a footballer of rare substance

The year was 1966; the month, November. American singer-songwriter Little Richard had just performed a brief but energetic gig at L’Olympia in Paris. In the surroundings of one of the French capital’s most…

Garrincha: the joy of the people

The famous author and journalist Eduardo Galeano once said of Garrincha: “In the entire history of football, no one made more people happy.” That summed up the man who many Brazilians consider as good as Pelé.

The redemption of Ronaldo

It’s a moment most dream of but few ever come close to attaining. For a sport with the global pull of football, only a select number are deemed good enough to play it…

Honduras and the legendary Copa América odyssey of 2001

High farce in the midst of the projected hosting of a major international football tournament wasn’t an entirely new concept for the Colombian FA in late June 2001. Just over a decade and…

The Santos FC Academy Way

This feature is part of The Academy Way WHEN THE TITANIC HIT AN ICEBERG AND BEGAN ITS DESCENT into the punishingly icy waters off Newfoundland on 14 April, 1912, the world’s most…

A Tale of One City: São Paulo

This feature is a part of A Tale of One City THE PALMEIRAS PLAYERS had had enough, and they snapped. Like blood trickling down the water in front of a ravenous shark, they…

The faded but everlasting brilliance of Ronaldinho

Applause ringing around the cauldron that is the Santiago Bernabéu; all you could hear was a generous din of applause from the grateful home fans, littered with adoring whistles. The date was 19 November…

A Tale of One City: Rio de Janeiro

This feature is part of A Tale of One City “When did Fla-Flu begin? I dare to say: Fla-Flu has no beginning. Fla-Flu has no end. Fla-Flu came into existence 40 minutes before…

How football and race shaped modern Brazil

England may have created football, but Brazil made it an art form. Since the arrival of football in the South American country at the turn of the 20th century, Brazil has won…