Brazil: The land of soccer, beauty and carnivals

Brazil is a country famed for many things. It is a beautiful, rich and vast land full of nearly every race there is.

Colonized by the Portuguese in the 15th century, there are areas in the country whose history is scripted with French, Italian and German settlers.
Slavery too contributed to the ethnic diversity of South America’s largest nation. There are whites, blacks, yellow, brown and American Indians among the 200 million people in the country.

The intermarriages dating back centuries have led to modern day Brazil in more ways than one. The beautiful women the country is famed for are a result of the hybrid of races over generations.
There is also a school of thought that the legendary list of footballers to have come out of Brazil, the Peles, Garrinchas, Ronaldos, Ronaldinhos, Tostaos, Didis and Socrates, is down to the integration of the many races that gave birth to extraordinary human talent.

That is subject to debate. What is not subject to question is that Brazil are the greatest soccer nation on earth. No other country in the history of the game has managed a haul of five World Cups. “Play like Brazil,” is the cliché adopted for teams aspiring to play the game the way it was intended.
The Brazil of today, the one under Luiz Felipe Scolari, may not be as easy on the eye as the team of Zico, Socrates and Falcao but the yellow and green of the Selecao remains revered world over as the standard bearer of the game. The flexibility of the ankles of the country’s footballers are in part honed at the sand beaches. Brazil is blessed with beaches on the Atlantic, many of them.

Copacabana may be the most famous but it is just one of many, with some inland and others on the ocean coastline.

There is Praia da Fazenda, halfway between Rio and Sao Paulo, Bonete, Lopes Mendes, Arpoador and Caraiva up north in Bahia. For the tourists, beaches are a relaxation, picturesque spot for holiday. For young Brazilians, it is where they start playing the game in the demanding conditions of sand.

“Running with a football in sand at a young age,” says Rai Ribiero, a youth soccer coach in Manaus is “physically and mentally demanding.” “But it makes the ankles stronger and more fluid in balance and movement. At a young age, it appears punishment but at a mature age it gives the individual a superb edge.”
If the beaches contribute to talent development, they aren’t so famous for that like their fine-looking women.

Beauty, they say, is relative. But not so many people will you find contesting that of Brazilian women. It comes in all forms. Their long hair, complexions ranging from chocolate to brown, black and white, hourglass figures and a sense of debonair make them stunning.

Which is not to say that every woman in Brazil looks like that; there are those who are ordinary. What actually makes the fine women here stand out for their looks is the backdrop of Copacabana, their bodies in bikinis lying in the sand as they enjoy the view of Corcovado and Sugar Loaf mountains.

That is the mythical impression of many a visitor to Brazil. Strolling down the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon, you will see a number of them. Some you may see are tourists on holiday, probably beautiful girlfriends of rich men holidaying at the world’s longest beach. Naturally you are bound to qualify them as Brazilians given that you have no access to their passports.

But there is more to beautiful women and football in Brazil, they love soccer. It is why their female fans and the game are conjoined twins.

Prior to Brazil games at this World Cup, their girls dress in a style that provokes a combination of interest and attention. That provocative dressing it goes without saying is always in national colours.

“They want the world to notice them, to take a glance at Brazilian football through them because they love themselves and the country as much as they enjoy soccer,” says Lisandra Eduarda, a 21-year-old university student who supports Flamengo, the club of Zico.
That innate partying ways of Brazilian fans is born out of the function they cherish most – the carnival. It happens every February and is a celebration with a history but whose meaning is lost on young generations of its fans.

“It is a celebration we found there,” explains journalist Romulo Goncalves Tesi. “We can’t say we understand its origins because we do not. But we know it to be popular and celebrated throughout the country every February with Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro holding the biggest carnivals as the two biggest cities.” Carnival is a holiday like no other. It interests the young and old, men and women and is eagerly anticipated.

The samba music played during the parade by a series of performers is one of the trademarks of the carnival. The carnival attracts superstar footballers like Ronaldo de Lima, beautiful women like celebrity Kelly de Almeida Afonso and a host of politicians.