With the inauguration of the Fifa World Cup just a day away, Sao Paulo, the city slated to host the opening game of the greatest show on earth appeared in a sombre mood with sporadic festivities. It may sound bizarre but in first sight a neutral person might find Dhaka, with its colourful flags of different countries flying atop the roof, more passionate towards the soccer extravaganza.
The green and yellow Brazilian flag is rarely sighted at any rooftop apart from all the commercial shops and shopping malls. The scene of a gigantic Brazilian flag reaching the ground floor from the roof of a five-storied building is likely to amaze the Sao Paulo residents. Gigantic flags are not visible in Sao Paulo with only one huge Brazilian flag seen hoisted in front of the Federal Court. Of course, it was an official act, not a display of passion from a die-hard Brazilian football fan.
Bangladesh also has a tradition of flying the flags of respective countries in private cars and different other vehicles; only one car was seen in Sao Paulo that had a Brazilian flag attached with it.
Merchandising of counterfeit Brazilian jerseys in the roadside shops was being sold at the rate of knots and resembled Bangladesh where the law enforcement agencies occasionally chase them away to clear the pavements only for the vendors to come back to the scenario later onwards. The latest Brazilian jersey boasts a ‘Y’ type collar and in the roadside it costs 10 Brazilian Reals, equivalent to $5. Neymar naturally topped the advertising and promotional acts and coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and forward Fred were the other notable faces among the promotional acts.
Apart from jerseys the latest style Vuvuzela, mainly merchandised by non-Brazilians, is a popular item. People do not have to put additional pressure on their lungs to blow the Vuvuzela now, instead the attached hand-pump helps to create sound.
However, the media contents, both print and electronic, are flooded with World Cup related stories and it somehow rings true that most of the football pundits know the Brazilian team better than the national coach ‘Big Phil’ or to some other just ‘Felipao’. The media personnel continuously discusses the ins-and-outs of the ‘Selecao’. Khairul, a Dhaka resident living in Sao Paulo for the last couple of years, was busy helping around the Bangladeshi journalists grasp the Portuguese language. Globo TV on Monday transmitted a documentary on Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Caesar displaying all his brilliant saves of the past. All the dailies were full of football reports and articles with big, colourful pictures.
Pele, the king of Brazilian football, was seen being chased around by numerous television and newspaper reporters and in a spontaneous interview, ‘O Rei’ (the king) hoped that Brazil and Uruguay would contest the grand finale on July 13 in Rio de Janeiro.