Brazilian football fans have their own ways of enjoying a football game and the ecstatic mood of the home supporters was present in abundance at the National Stadium in Brasilia before and after their final Group A match against Cameroon.
The characteristics of Brazilian football fans are that they are unaggressive and rarely stamps their authority among others. They remain on their own and only concentrate upon what they are doing but when the subject of cheering their team arises, they are a marvelous unit. It was stunning to see the entire stadium continuing to sing the full national anthem before the kick-off even though the stipulated recorded version played by Fifa had stopped. All the Brazilian fans wore their beloved yellow jersey and the red seats of the stadium presented a magnificent view of the mixture of yellow and the red on the background.
Wearing wigs of Brazilian colours - the yellow and the green – the fans created a festive mood inside the stadium, flashing the masks of different players and several decorative items displaying the Brazilian football heritage. It was interesting to see a man who made himself look like Colombian singer Shakira, wearing a female costume and singing the song “Hips Don’t Lie” and imitating the dance moves exactly like her. He also showed admirable football control while dancing. It was funny to the core.
There were plenty of dance movements and they were of different blends. A group of 10 – five boys and five girls - produced an electrical display. They danced to their own drum beats and the movements and steps were superb as they attracted a large number of people.
A break dance was taking place when suddenly a Samba dancer arrived at the scene. She and her partner entertained the people with their own music played through an amplifier.
One group brought a big golden six made with paper indicating the public’s demand for the sixth World Cup title while another group brought a yellow and green plastic football and a goal-bar. The presence of creativity and intelligence was admirable.
The fans also flashed their own club or organisation’s identity, mixing them with the Brazilian flag and jerseys.
The major observation was that nobody flashed any pictures or images of Brazil’s three-time World Cup winner Pele. After roaming through four important cities I am yet to see any Brazilian fan carrying the image of Pele or his heroics. Probably the young generation has not seen Pele in action hence his influence is little but it is not that they do not respect him. However, the Argentine fans’ adoration towards Diego Maradona is far greater than the liking for Pele amongst Brazilian fans.
