Was I really just supporting North Korea?
Was I really just supporting North Korea?
By Eric Beard, writing from Boston
When I met up with my brother Tuesday afternoon at the Phoenix Landing pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts to watch Brazil take on North Korea, I was just hoping to see a bit of Joga Bonito from the likes of Robinho and Kaka. The bar was predominantly filled with Brazilians singing their national anthem on repeat before the match even kicked off, and a man originally from the Ivory Coast started talking to me because he (obviously) liked the Drogba shirt I had on. Now this was right after Portugal tied the Ivory Coast nil-nil, so we were both hoping for some goals. However, he was not very confident in the Brazil squad playing in South Africa that was without the likes of Ronaldinho, Neymar, Adriano, Pato, and Diego.
He told me, “This Brazilian team is not Brazil. They don’t play beautiful football under [Brazil manager] Dunga. They’ll probably beat my Ivory Coast, Portugal, and North Korea, but they still won’t play beautiful football. Every team in this tournament, even these Koreans, play better football than these Brazilians. You’ll see.”
Neither of us knew anything about the North Korean squad, but once the match started, something unexplainable happened. Every non-Brazilian in the pub couldn’t help but quietly support the totalitarian nation that brainwashes its citizens. So how did this happen? Well, here are the five reasons I came up with to account for the transformation.
