Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have concluded for a long time that the dutch never had and never will have a winning mentality. From a german perspective it's quite sad (Considering how many WC's and Euros Germany has lifted over the course of the last 60 years). I feel with our neighbors. Its especially hard to go out on penaltys.
Last edited by itsjustmeagain; 07-10-2014 at 01:39 AM..
I don't know about that. Brazilians are all about keeping their lead in WC wins. If Germany wins they will get too close with 4 championships and tie with Italy. If Argentina wins they will get to 3 and still be 8 years away from matching with Brazil, if they win every WC for now on, that is.
It will be very interesting to see on which side the neutral brazilian fans will be on. Judging from brazilian newspapers i get the impression that it will be Germany. I would love nothing more than Philip Lahm lifting the WC in the Maracana.
Party in advance ? Your country should party after every game you play in the WC!! I remember in Ireland I missed two days of work from blackout and recovery time. Went to work after one game in 2002 and fell over a bunch of boxes and just walked out. The WC is all about celebration!
Trust me, the vast majority of middle class and well-educated Brazilians are rooting for Argentina to win the final.
Sorry for the long post, but you may want to read it to understand.
You have to be from Brazil or live there for a while to understand what is going on. It is a political issue. FIFA simply demanded that the 2014 WC should be played in South America. Initially Chile and Argentina tried a combined bid to share the costs of hosting and compete with Brazil, but ultimately they withdraw due to the high costs involved, lucky for them. During the bid, the Brazilian government convinced the people that most money invested would come from the private sector, but what we ended up seeing was the opposite. The Brazil WC was the most expensive ever and primarily financed by public, tax-payer money. See, there is a huge problem when that happens in a country that still lacks major investments in education, health and infrastructure and has one of the largest social-economic gaps in the world. The problem is aggravated by the fact that FIFA is the only one that really profits from the WC; after it's over, they simply leave and let the country deal with the immense costs of maintained huge stadiums, many of which were built in tourist areas where professional soccer is not even played. There is a also the accusations of the government over-invoicing the cost of the stadiums, so they can spend less money on them and pocket the remaining.
Brazil has the 6th-7th largest economy in the World ahead of a lot of first world countries. The state of Sao Paulo alone has a GDP similar to Argentina and Chile combined. We are a lot more than just the nation of football. The country has evolved but the government remains the same, with allegations of corruption and misuse of public money. Unlike China or India, we don't have a huge population to manage, so clearly the country collect enough tax payer money that would be enough for investment in areas that desperately need them. The current administration is ahead in the polls for presidential election this year because unfortunately, many of their votes comes from low-income people who depend on economic help provided by the governmemt itself, food-stamp kind of deal. The only way to revert the reelection of the current administration is losing this WC because if Brazil won, unfortunately a lot of people would see the huge waste of public money spent in the tournament as worth the trouble. It may be unfortunate to think like that but it is the reality of most people. It would be a better scenario if our main rival, Argentina, wins the WC in our soil. The ideal situation would be them winning the final over us, but for many, the fact that we were humiliated by Germany combined with an Argentina win, would do it. The good news is that Brazil is shifting from a majority of poverty to an increase in the middle class, more educated, so soccer, while still a passion, can no longer be used to satisfy the people as it had always been done in the past.
Another part of the problem is our soccer confederation that has been strongly accused of corruption, greedy and not focusing on improving our soccer quality who has been in decline for many years now. The choice of an obsolete coach that was managing a team in the second division of the Brazilian championship is a classic example of how things are being managed. The loss of the WC and a possible win for Argentina could also help getting rid of those corrupt managers in charge of our soccer and provide a fresh start. Brazil always did and will keep bringing many talented players to soccer, the yellow shirt nation can return to be the inspiration for the "jogo bonito", for the magic and beauty of soccer, but that is not going to happen anytime soon until we get rid of all ancient and corrupt administration and start with a modern, fresh mind focusing in nothing, but football.
The ideal situation would be them winning the final over us, but for many, the fact that we were humiliated by Germany combined with an Argentina win, would do it. The good news is that Brazil is shifting from a majority of poverty to an increase in the middle class, more educated, so soccer, while still a passion, can no longer be used to satisfy the people as it had always been done in the past.
First of all thanks a lot for the insights. I still don't understand though why the middle class and well educated brazilians route for Argentina. Why would they route for their arch rival winning the WC on their soil? At all the Argentina games I have watched the brazilians pretty much were booing their anthem and booing argentina whenever they touch the ball and cheering on their opposition.
So are you saying that only the the vast majority of poor brazilians will route for Germany. I guess that's just not the vibe I get from Brazilian media.
I wonder how many people from Argentine will be flooding into Rio for the match. I also wonder how many supporters Germany will have inside the stadium for the game.
I am still contemplating whether to watch the 3/4 place playoff on Sat as I have never had enough interest in that game to see who comes 3rd in the cup.
Sunday's game, I imagine Argentina will heavily outnumber the Germans. Itll be interesting to see who the local neutrals are rooting for at game time.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
