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Jogo bonito

An Argentinean take on Brazil vs. Australia

By: ANA RIVAS

6/22/2006 3:49:32 PM


These days, every time somebody finds out that I’m from Argentina, I get some variation on the same comment: “Argentina? Maradona! Great soccer, right?” You could say that, yes.

The U.S. has been slow to catch World Cup fever, that work-skipping, flag-waving, hoot-and-hollering obsession that spreads around the globe in an every-four-year epidemic. In the rest of the world, all that matters during the World Cup is the World Cup. Here, that’s not yet the case -- although it seems that maybe the States’ immunity to the fever is growing weaker. Because there are certainly pockets throughout Boston that the soccer spirit can be found.

Sure, some of the big sports stores and fancy shops on Newbury Street have joined the marketing season of the World Cup, and a number of bars in town promote that they’re screening all the games. But the spirit is particularly evident in the Brazilian neighborhoods. Just as every Walgreen in mid-February is all pink-and-red sweet hearts, the shops and restaurants around Allston and Union Square in Somerville festoon the storefronts and spaces with Brazilian team paraphernalia –- t-shirts, hats, posters, and stickers.

I decided to go hunting for some of that spirit, and a Brazilian friend suggested some possible spots -- only after he asked if I wasn’t trying to cast some kind of “spell” against Argentina’s main rival. For Sunday’s game between Brazil and Australia, I joined a crowd in bright yellow and green watching a giant screen at the Green Field restaurant in Allston.

Thousands of miles away from where the match was being played, the ambience was intense: around 200 pairs of eyes, entire families, and groups of friends stared at the screens. Voicing directions to the players with anxious shouts of “Agora! Agora!” (Now! Now!), they asked a player to shine, to make a marvelous pass, to score. It appeared the scene was set for a true “Brazilian Party,” but for some reason, for the first 40 minutes of the game, there was no party at all.

I asked Alex Santos, 34, a Brazilian who’s lived in Boston for the past five years, why they weren’t singing, screaming, cheering, or standing up and he said: “Wait until Brazil scores.” Brazil beat Croatia in the first match in a tight 1-0 victory that, according to most reviews, had lacked the magic that the world’s favorite and five-time champion team was expected to show. An instant after Santos said that, he proved himself right. When the almighty Ronaldinho played the ball forward and Ronaldo served Adriano with a perfectly weighted pass, everybody stood up. The first “Goal!” was celebrated -- as is often the case in soccer -- a couple of seconds before Adriano actually scored. After that, as Santos had anticipated, everything changed.

After that first goal, people shouted at every pass. Now, the expectations of “jogo bonito” (beautiful play) were expressed aloud, with the pride and sense of community that perhaps only soccer can create between Paulistas and Cariocas, between the high and lower classes, between perfect strangers, no matter where, if in Allston, Germany, or Brazil.

Carla Fontana, a PhD student at Harvard Medical School from Sao Pablo, said she had watched the game with her classmates last time, and that she didn’t like the English-speaking version of it. “It was so calm -- millions of experts’ comments and no feeling,” she said. “We really care,” she said. So on Sunday, she and her husband were the loudest fans at the Brazilian restaurant. Sitting in third row, wearing matching Brazilian t-shirts, they enjoyed the transmission from the Portuguese TV network Bandeirantes, but were critical with the team’s performance. “I hope they are just warming up,” Fontana said.

After the second goal, the critics were silenced and everybody celebrated. The ghosts were gone, and faces showed just happiness. Laughs and applause accompanied every exquisite play, every precise pass, and every graceful move on the field.

In the end, with a final score of 2-0, people jumped up from their seats like kids hearing good news. Congratulating each other, the crowd split, leaving with the satisfaction of having seen their team win. They know that the World Cup is also just seven games in a row.


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