Atlético, Atlético

When you marry someone, you marry into their family, their country and their culture.  When you marry a Brazilian, this will usually include football.  Not only do you have a cast-iron excuse for supporting Brazil, but you will more than likely pick up a new league team as well.  For me, this team is Atlético Paranaense, nicknamed Furacão (hurricane.)

Everyone knows about the Brazilian national football team – they’re the most successful national side with 5 World Cups under their belts and are known for their flair and skill.  Not so much in the 2014 World Cup, but I’ll gloss over that for now.  Surprisingly, though, not so many people outside Brazil are aware of leagues in Brazil.

The 20 teams in the 2015 Brasileirão

The main event is the Campeonato Brasileiro, Brazilian Championship, which is divided into 4 leagues from Séria A to Séria D with a system of relegations and promotions between the leagues.  The top tier is Séria A, often known as Brasileirão and usually runs from May to December.  Earlier in the year, before the Brasileirão begins, each state holds its own championship.  The state championships of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are usually hotly contested as these states have a large number of top flight teams.  In some other states, the competition is sometimes derided as a waste of time as the league is usually dominated by one or two top flight teams with the remainder typically playing in the lower leagues of the Campeonato Brasileiro.

The Campeonato Paranaense is one of these leagues.  The state of Paraná has two teams in the Brasileirão; Atlético Paranaense and Coritiba (nicknamed Coxa); one team in Séria B; Paraná (which together with Atlético and Coritiba forms the top three clubs from the state capital Curitiba) and 9 other teams from around the state that play in leagues lower than Séria B in the Campeonato Brasileiro.

State flag of Paraná

Usually this leads to a one-sided competition contested by the top 3 teams, indeed in 102 competitions, between them, the top 3 from Curitiba have won 88 titles and came second 61 times.  All of which makes Atlético’s recent form come as a surprise, having won 2 and lost 5 of their 9 games this year (as of 17^th March 2015), and languishing in 9^th place out of 12 and, embarrassingly, in the relegation zone.

I’ve been following Atlético and watching them on tv for a few years now and I hoped the team would be in a better form than this for my first match at the Arena da Baixada.  Still, the opponents for the match were Maringá – a team from Séria D of the Campeonato Brasileiro and also skimming the relegation zone – hopefully Atlético would wake up and get a long awaited victory.  Fingers crossed…

We met some friends in a bar directly opposite the stadium.  The allegiances of the bar could never be called into doubt with Atlético’s signature black and red colours everywhere and memorabilia on the walls.  Fans drifted in and the bar gradually filled with a variety of team shirts from official replicas covering the last several years to classic team shirts to supporter’s t-shirts.  No two shirts were the same!  After a beer or few, we made our way to the stadium. 

Supporters in the bar before kick-off

We had a great view from our seats; high enough to see the whole pitch but low enough that we could see all the action.  It is customary to start Brazilian football matches with the national anthem, followed by the state anthem of Paraná.  I’m not sure which other states do that, but I don’t think I’ve seen the state anthem in Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo state) and Carioca (Rio de Janeiro state) matches.

After the anthems, it’s time for kick off and the bateria (the ever present drums) begin.  The bateria enhances the atmosphere of the game and gets everyone in the mood.  To my left, behind Atlético’s goal, the Fanáticos (the die-hard Atlético fans) were singing, jumping, and holding giant skulls.  The two main themes of the songs are how much they love Atlético and insulting their rivals, Coxa.  As the songs involve a certain amount of swearing, I won’t transcribe them here.

The Fanáticos - die-hard Atlético supporters

Atlético started the game strongly; pushing forward with plenty of shots.  They really looked like a winning team.  Before long, a penalty was converted to put them in the lead making a win seem all the more likely.  The fans went crazy!

The optimism was premature though, as numerous defending mistakes led to an equaliser for Maringá.  I’m sure their fans here happy although there were only between 10 and 20 of them, so the net result was stunned silence.  Around this point, Atlético seemed to fall apart, giving away possession and making school-boy mistakes.  The boo-ing of the crowd at the half-time whistle said it all.

Fanáticos with their backs turned

The second half continued in much the same fashion as the first ended.  Players were falling out of position leaving empty spaces for the Maringá players to move into.  Maringá made the most of these chances and it wasn’t long before they went 2-1 up against the home side.  The Fanáticos showed their disappointment by turning their backs (and the skulls) to the team while they continued to sing.  It didn’t take long before the singing focussed on how badly the team were playing and how angry the fans were: “s*** team” and “f*** off” to the team’s coach and president.  While the frustration that the fans felt is understandable, such chants took a clear toll on the morale of the players, making more and more silly mistakes.  The game was turning into a farce and several fans left early in disgust.

In the last 10-15 min, Atlético appeared to receive a second wind and took to the offensive once again, playing with skill and attacking Maringá’s goal, but it was too little, too late.  The damage had been done and they were unable to beat the keeper in what little time remained.

After the whistle, the stadium echoed to the sound of boo-ing and chants against the coach.  After such a bad run in games that should have been easy, it was clear that something had to change.  Indeed the day after the game, it was announced that the coach, Claudinei Oliveira, was leaving the club and a day after that, a new coach, Enderson Moreira, was announced.

It’s never fun to watch your team lose, especially in a game that they should easily win, but the atmosphere of the stadium along with the experience of watching a game with friends (who accused me of being Mick Jagger – dooming the game with my presence) made for an enjoyable experience.  I really hope the new coach can inspire them to improve and steer away from relegation to the second division of the Campeonato Paranaense, which would be the ultimate embarrassment.  And of course, in a couple of months, the Brasileirão begins – fingers crossed….

Inside the Arena da Baixada, Atlético Paranaense's home stadium

Taking Cats to Brazil - Part 4: The Conclusion!

Curitiba to Pato Branco

I’ll start off with some geography for those not familiar with the south of Brazil.  Our destination of Pato Branco is a small town of less than 70,000 people in the southwest of Paraná.  It is 438km (272 miles) from Curitiba, the capital of Paraná.  This takes approximately 5 hours by car or 7 hours by coach.

Pato Branco, showing the driving route from Rio de Janeiro via Curitiba

The first step in planning this leg of the journey was checking whether the coaches would accept the cats.  Only one company would accept the cats – Cattani.  They operate two services from Curitiba to Pato Branco: “Executivo” – business class or “Leito” – first class sleeper coach, with very comfortable, fully reclining chairs.  We could take the cats in their carriers and they would go in a small cabin where a second driver (for longer journeys) could sleep.  The other company said they would go in the luggage compartment and only if we signed a document absolving them of all responsibility for the welfare of the cats.

So obviously, we decided to go with Cattani.  The executivo departs at 10pm and the leito departs at 10:30pm.  As our flight was due to arrive at 8:30pm (outside the city – the bus station is in the city centre) we resolved to find a hotel; preferably one where we could leave the cats until it was time to get the coach (the earlier coaches are all operated by the shove-them-with-the-luggage-and-don’t-blame-us company.)

Sheila called around various hotels to find one that would accept cats.  The story of one of these calls will stay with me forever:

•          Hello, do you accept cat’s in your hotel?
•          Madam, this is a hotel for people…
•          I’m sorry, you don’t understand, I want to stay here with my cats!
•          Madam, you need to take them to a cat hotel.
•          But I can’t stay with them in a cat hotel!
•          Aaaaaaahhhhhhh…. I’m sorry, we don’t accept cats.

She found one eventually though, Novo Vernon Hotel, directly opposite the bus station.  For an additional R$50 we could have cats, which is perfectly reasonable when you think of the extra mess from hair, food, litter that needs to be cleaned up.  What’s more, we could have the room until 6pm for half the daily rate, which was also very reasonable (after that time, there would be no one to clean the room which would mean they could not let it out.)  In addition, we could leave our luggage as long as we needed – they were extremely helpful.

It did not take us long to see that it would have been impossible to catch the coach the night we arrived.  After collecting our luggage, passing through immigration and customs and having had the cats’ paperwork inspected, we were met my two of our friends from the area (any friend that meets you at the airport with a bag of pão de queijo is a true friend!) and we proceed to fill the car with luggage and cats in a way that should not have been possible!  By the time we were finished, it was already approaching 10pm.  There was no space for passengers, so three of us took a bus to the bus station and we all met at the hotel.

Kiwi's first experience of
Curitiba

We unloaded at the hotel and left the cats for a while to relax in peace (it was only a fringe benefit that we had a few beers and something to eat, honest!)  When we returned, the cats were hiding under the beds, but they purred happily when they realised it was us and there were no more boxes!  We felt sorry for them knowing we’d be putting them through it again the next day, but for the time being, they were free and happy and we were exhausted!

When we got to the bus station, we were told that the cats would be travelling with the luggage.  We weren't happy about this, but by this point we had little choice.  They were in the hard carriers we bought for the flight and the luggage was arranged such that it wouldn't become loose and hit the carriers.  When we finally reached Pato Branco, shortly after 5am, we had two tired, scared but healthy cats, ready for their new life in Brazil with my mother-in-law and her cat, Dunga.  But that’s another story.

If this whole saga has taught me anything, it’s too avoid travelling long distances with pets.  Aside from the cost and hassle of arranging flights, hotels and buses that will take cats, it is incredibly stressful for the cats.  Unless you absolutely cannot leave the cats with someone, don’t take them!  And if you must, avoid American Airlines!

Pretzel taking in the sights and sounds of Pato Branco

Kiwi surveying his new domain

Taking Cats to Brazil - Part 3

Chaos, Confusion, Incompetence and Lack of Care

Economy class reaches
its logical conclusion!

So the plane is coming into land, out the window, Miami is creeping ever closer and one of the flight attendants came over to my seat.  I should wait until the end of disembarking and then take Pretzel off the plane.  A wheelchair (???) had been requested to help take the cats to the gate agent (again, ???)  When I pointed out that the cats were supposed to be in the hold, I was told that I was responsible for getting the cats to the gate agent.  Ok, maybe she’s referring to the agent at the arrival gate then.  They can’t seriously expect us to make our way through a busy airport balancing two cat carriers on a wheelchair???

Miss X

The answer came fairly soon that, not they don’t.  Wheelchairs (as is obvious to me) are only for disabled passengers, I was told by a member of the ground crew, getting the cats to the departure gate (yes, departure gate) was my responsibility.  I could get a trolley once I’d left the air bridge.  I’m expected to pay for it?  It’s only about $5…  This response surprised me, after all I had paid $150 apiece to carry the cats.  The flight attendant (I can’t remember her name, but I’ll call her Jane, to make things easier) pointed out to the member of ground crew (I can think of plenty names for her, but they’re not particularly savoury, so let’s call her Miss X, and you can replace the X as you see fit) that the cats were supposed to be in the hold, the fact they were here was American Airlines’ fault.  “Not my problem,” was the sarcastic response.

Still waiting...

So Jane and I headed off the air bridge to speak to a panicking member of gate staff (let’s call him panicky Pete) about how to get the cats across to our gate.  The first problem was that there were no trolleys. Secondly, no one around would use one of the carts to carry them.  Jane again asked Pete to call someone and he responded by shouting that he was doing what he could.  Eventually, Sheila appeared – someone had finally realised that as the cats were supposed to be in the hold, they could be transported to the next plane by the same people that would have taken them had they actually been in the hold.  Crisis averted, but it had taken almost an hour of panic and shirking responsibility until the problem was resolved.  Not the most professional conduct.  Jane was particularly helpful though – if she hadn’t argued our case, we may well have been brushed off, and then would have had further problems when we turned up at the departure gate with the cats.  Jane told use to ask the flight attendant on the next flight to remind the captain that there are animals in the hold (to ensure it is pressurised) and ensure that the cats made it to the plane. 

Our departure gate was some way from the arrivals one, so we had to use escalators and a monorail – that would have been fun with the cats…

The plane was a surprise.  I’d been on some old planes before, but I’m sure this was older than me.  With all the flights I’d been on, I have become over-familiar with the repeated mantra of “luggage must go into the bins wheels first,” which of course only applies if there is space to do so.  The only way it could actually fit was by putting it in sideways – I’ve never seen so little space in a plane used for long haul, international flights.  Then there was the entertainment system: three small screens at the front of each compartment and manual dials for audio channel and volume.  I wonder whether all long haul American Airlines flights have the same low-tech amenities or whether it’s special for the Miami to Curitiba/Porto Alegre route.  The in-flight service wasn’t too great either.  I’ll stop complaining about United, as it turns out they’re ten times better than American (though that isn’t saying much.)

After one of the most boring long haul flights of my life, we arrived in Curitiba – the one positive thing I have to say about American.  It is so much easier being able to fly directly to Curitiba than flying to São Paulo, going through immigration and customs there, then connecting to Curitiba.

Inspection area in Curitiba
Airport

I was surprised to collect my luggage before going through immigration, but this actually worked out quite well for us.  We collected the cats, loaded up some trolleys and headed to the short immigration queue.  (So short in fact – as people only went through as their luggage arrived – that there was no need for separate queues for Brazilians and foreigners.)

Arrival in Curitiba with full food packets

This is the part where I explain why we’re never flying with American Airlines again (sorry, I know I promised that in part 2!)  The food bags for the cats were intact.  You may remember I pointed out that  one of the requirements American has for taking cats in the hold is providing a food and water dish and a packet of food.  Secondly, the water dishes were bone dry.  Knowing how the cats behave when they are stressed, I can’t see them drinking the entire dish dry, let alone catching every last drop.  There was no sign that it had spilled either.  Maybe it evaporated?  If so, they temperature would not be suitable for carrying animals on a 9-hour flight.  Is it just me that thinks that failing to give food (which was on hand in a zip-lock bag) and water in such a long trip is not only a breach of the trust that we placed in the Airline but irresponsible and cruel?

Thankfully the cats were in good health, though thirsty.  When we got them to the hotel and they began to relax.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of the "Taking Cats to Brazil" story, in which our intrepid heroes finally reach the Promised Land...  I mean Pato Branco!

Taking Cats to Brazil - Part 2

Why We’re Never Flying with American Airlines Again.

One of the good things about travelling to Brazil is that each passenger is allowed two pieces of

I wish I could say this was ALL the luggage...

luggage at 32kg (70lb) each.  One of the bad things about travelling to Brazil is that each passenger is allowed two pieces of luggage at 32kg (70lb) each.  So, take two passengers, two pieces of luggage each (close to 32g each, because you would…) a piece of hand luggage (each), a “personal item” (otherwise known as a small bag – they make it sound so seedy!), two carriers complete with two large cats and you have an airport headache the making.  The only sensible thing to do was to drop Sheila off at the departures area with all the luggage then return the hire car whilst recovering my breath and psyching myself up for the trauma to come.

Gratuitous photo of Pretzel

I've been to some airports where the check-in process has been very well thought out and efficient.  This was not the case with the American Airlines’ departures at San Francisco International.  There were a lot of people waiting to check in, about two open check in desks and a staff member running about asking people to check in at the self-check-in terminals.  This was clearly the person to ask about how to check in our cats but when I asked, she told me she would get someone then promptly forgot and continued to run around trying to advise people where to go.  It would have been funny had I not actually needed information.  Eventually I found someone who took the cats to the check in desks and told me to join the end of the check-in assistance queue. 

Quite a short queue when you
think about it.  The mystery is
why it took 40 minutes...

Everyone has had those days at the airport when the check-in queue barely seems to move.  The queue grows longer, tempers fray and people complain about the woman that has been at the check-in counter for over 30 minutes.  It’s annoying, but to be fair, I’m sure that woman is just as annoyed.  Time passes, we inch our way closer to the front of the queue and eventually extra check-in staff are called.  After 40 minutes, we reached the check-in counter and take our turn as those-annoying-people-that-seem-to-take-forever. 

Most of that time revolves around checking the documentation for the cats, filling out extra forms and – of course – paying the extra fees.  The check-in agent was friendly and patient and helped to ensure that all the ‘I’s were dotted, ‘t’s were crossed and that there was nothing untoward that would prevent the cats from reaching our destination.  Next came the carrier inspection, the cable tying of the carrier and the cats were taken away on a trolley. 

Done!  Now comes the easy part…

Time passed, the usual airport tedium, then we finally boarded the plane.  Everyone was seated and settled in, my headphones were out of my bag, my book in my hand when I noticed two flight attendants carrying a fairly large grey box up the aisle.  A faintly familiar grey box.  A slightly more familiar grey box with holes in it.  A really familiar grey box with holes in it, ‘live animal’ in green writing on the side and my cat Pretzel sitting inside.

Sheila followed the flight attendants to the rear galley, where they placed the carrier.  Apparently there was not enough room for two cats.  Eventually we found out that there was a problem with the pressurisation of the hold, so both cats had been taken to the cabin; Kiwi in the front (first class, no less) and Pretzel in economy class with us.  Fair enough, it gave us a chance to try to calm down a stressed cat and give her some water.  Over the course of the 5 hour flight, we popped back a few times to comfort her and were relieved to see the flight attendant firmly holding on to the carrier for landing.  Then things became complicated.

To be continued (and I promise I'll explain the title of this part)

Who doesn't pass time before a flight by messing with an iPad?

Taking Cats to Brazil - Part 1

It’s Never Easy

My wife and I had decided that on our next trip to Brazil, we’d take our cats with us and leave them with my mother in law for the time being.  As was to be expected, it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t cheap; in fact everyone involved seemed to want a piece of the action.

When I booked the trip, I was in the UK on business, so after lengthy planning discussions over the phone at odd times of day, we settled on the American Airlines option; San Francisco to Curitiba via Miami with the cats in the hold.  Most planes have a pressurised compartment in the hold for transporting animals and this was the only option for getting to Brazil with American Airlines (United would allow cats in the cabin, but they couldn’t guarantee the rules for another airline to get from São Paulo to Curitiba.)  Sheila researched the requirements for taking cats into Brazil while I researched the requirements for taking the cats on the plane.

The travel advice varies according to the country you are travelling to as well as the country you are traveling from – always check for the most recent requirements, as they may change.  When travelling from the USA, the best place to get travel advice is the USDA (US Department of Agriculture.)  They advised us of the requirements for taking cats to Brazil:

• Rabies vaccination (the USDA recommends at least 30 days before departure, but this is not officially stated by Brazil)
• Treatment for external and internal parasites within 15 days of departure.  The USDA recommends you have the treatment done when you take the cats for the health certificate examination
• Health certificate examination (recommended within 10 days of departure)
• USDA endorsement

We made our appointment with the vet for 9 days before departure – do this as early as possible before the flight in case of problems or delays – with an appointment at the USDA in San Francisco the following day.

The USDA sent us a pdf copy of the health certificate for us to print out and take to the vet.  For some bizarre reason (in 2015, in the heart of Silicon Valley…) the vets did not have e-mail, so we could not send it directly to them.  If taking two or more animals and they will be on the same flights, you only need one certificate to cover them, although our vet kindly charged the $84 dollar certificate completion fee (I’m in the wrong job) twice, one per animal.  I suppose it takes a lot of extra effort and ink to write a letter 2 in place of a 1.  One of the cats, Kiwi, had a slightly high temperature during the exam, so we had to return with him the next day when the practise opened.  Fortunately, his temperature had dropped by then suggesting that it was stress, as opposed to fever, causing the elevated temperature.  All other results were good, so Sheila made her way to the USDA with the completed certificate.

I say completed, but that’s not quite true.  At the USDA, the official pointed out that the vet hadn’t completed the consignor and consignee fields.  Sheila asked if she was supposed to fill them in and told no.  The official was quite angry explaining that by not filling out those fields, the vet was signing an official document that would allow anyone to take the animals anywhere.  She completed the form, stamped it, then our two cats – Kiwi and Pretzel – were officially on their way to Brazil!

The requirements for the carrier or kennel that would be allowed on the plane are very strict and they vary depending on the airline.  Basically, they need to be made of a sturdy material, not collapsible, have a metal door that can be doubly secured with cable ties and can be bolted together.  I strongly recommend anyone travelling with animals to check with the airline before buying a carrier.  We also bought a couple of pet travelling kits, which included “live animal” stickers for the sides of the carrier, an information sticker, a food and water dish that could snap onto the door of the carrier and cable ties for the door (although the airlines provide these.)  We also put in an absorbent pad (in case of accidents), a cushion, a blanket and a small tray with cat litter.  In the event, the cats didn’t use the litter tray and actually proceeded to sit in, spilling half the contents.  It’s probably better to have it though.  In preparation for travel, we printed photos of the cats to stick to the box in case they escaped, taped copies of the paperwork (health certificates, vaccination certificates etc) to the box and attached a bag of dry cat food, as per the requirements of the airline.

We hired a large car to get everything to the airport, loaded up and set off.

To be continued...

Kiwi

Pretzel

P P P Politics in Brazil

PT, PSDB, PMDB, PSB, PSC, PV, PSOL, PSDC, PSTU, PRTB, PCB, PCO….  Too much P P P Politics!  Watching Jornal Nacional on Globo has been a challenge over the last few months.  Learning Portuguese is challenging at the best of times but during a general election, it enters a new level.  There appear to be a million political parties, all beginning with ‘P’ (for ‘Partido…’) and keeping track of them all appears nigh on impossible, especially when reporters seem to build sentences consisting of no words other than abbreviations and the occasional ‘and’!  How does anyone pick a political party? 

On the simplest level, this is how it works…

Brazil elects a new president every four years by absolute majority – one person, one vote and each vote counts.  If no candidate achieves greater than 50% of the vote, it goes to a second round run-off election between the two candidates with the highest number of votes.  During this second round, the parties of the two candidates attempt to woo supporters of the other candidates, as well as seeking the endorsement of these candidates themselves.

Electronic Voting Machine

Every Brazilian between the ages of 18 and 70 is obliged to vote; 16 and 17 year olds and those over 70 may vote if they wish, but they are not obliged.  Voting is done completely electronically, using voting machines that were first introduced in 1996.  These machines are installed in polling stations around the country and perform three functions: identify the voter, ensure secure voting and tallying the votes.  This means that by the end of the polling day, the results are already known. 

Incumbent, Dilma Rousseff

In 2014, Dilma Rousseff, the incumbent from PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores – Worker’s Party) won the most votes – 41.59% of the electorate – and Aécio Neves from PSDB (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira – Brazilian Social Democracy Party) came second with 33.55% of the votes.  A third candidate, Marina Silva from PSB (Partido Socialista Brasileiro – Brazilian Socialist Party) was eliminated from the election when she came in third place with 21.32% of the votes.  A further

eight candidates were also eliminated, with neither of them winning more than 2% of the votes.

Candidate Aécio Neves

The second round brings comfort to those of us suffering from abbreviation-stress (just me?) as the majority of the discussions centre around the two remaining candidates and their campaigns.  Around this point, the candidates appear to lose their surnames; no more Dilma Rousseff from PT and Aécio Neves from PSDB – it’s just Dilma and Aécio.  As soon as the first round results are in, the new campaigns begin in earnest.  Aécio is pursuing a policy of change and reduction in corruption – after 12 years of PT occupying the highest office of the country – and has successfully gained the endorsement of Marina Silva.  If everyone that votes for her in the previous round votes for Aécio, then he will take office.  Dilma, somewhat perversely, also talks about change and reduction in corruption – an unusual stance considering the amount of corruption scandals that have surfaced during the tenure of PT! 

The second round run-off election takes place on Sunday 26^th October.

Brazilians and Football

Now that the excitement of the world cup is over, I'm going to write a bit about football (no, not soccer.)

For anyone who's been living in a cave for the past 60 or so years, Brazilians tend to really like (love? obsessed by?) football and are usually fairly good at it.  There has to be some talent to win the World Cup five times; more than any other country.  Of course not everyone likes football (I've met two, maybe three people that don't particularly like it) but there are enough fans to support a broad generalisation or two.

Now, if whilst in that cave you have been hiding under a big rock for the past couple of months, you might have missed the 2014 World Cup, which was hosted by Brazil for the second time.  I have already written about the mixed feelings I had to the World Cup and why my wife and I didn't go (http://maried-a-brazilian-support-group.blogspot.com/2014/05/why-were-not-going-to-world-cup.html) so I won't go into that here, but of course we got into the spirit and watched as many games as possible.  I'm going to just gloss over England's performance (AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!) and move onto Brazil.  Some people picked out Argentina as favourites to win, some Spain, some Germany... I fancied Brazil's chances: a young team on home soil, fresh from a Confederations  Cup victory in 2013, it was theirs to lose.  And they managed that spectacularly.

I was in England for the semi-final against Germany, so I watched the game with beer in hand.  With no Neymar and no Tiago Silva, it was never going to be easy but it takes 11 men to form a team, surely these 11 could do it?  When the first goal went in, I thought "never mind, there's still time."  The second was a shock, but I've seen teams recover from worse.  Once the third went in, I had no idea what I was watching, they were disintegrating.  By five nil, the result was a foregone conclusion.

The media had a field day.  7-1 was everywhere - triumphant Germans, distraught Brazilians, tears streaming down their faces, the entire nation was devastated...

Or were they?

While everyone I spoke to was certainly disappointed (what football fan wouldn't be?) the truth is they had lost a match and exited from the World Cup - never mind, you can't win them all, better to lose to a good team.  Practically every Brit or American I've spoken to has asked how my wife felt about the result and my answer was always the same.  I show them this short video that was sent to me by three different Brazilians halfway through the second half...

No matter how you look at it, that is NOT uncontrollable grief!  That is seeing the funny side and having a laugh about it and that is what I love about Brazil and its people.  The next day, a friend re-tweeted a comment about predictions for the Netherlands vs Argentina match: "somehow, Germany wins!"

Old Brazilian gives his replica
World Cup to some German fans

Then in the final between Germany and Argentina; of course everyone was watching the match.  Were they supporting their South American hermanos of Argentina? Hoping for some revenge and the cup at least remaining in the continent?  Were they hell!  The semi-final was one game, but the footballing rivalry with Argentina runs deep!

So this may have been a post about football, but maybe it was a post about the spirit and sense of humour of the Brazilian people.