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 It's just past five o'clock on a cold, dark afternoon in central London. Inside a tastefully refurbished and resoundingly empty shopping district, even Starbucks has closed for the day, and the only person open for business is a guy selling tat to unsuspecting tourists. But among the counterfeit underwear sporting logos of the Underground, a gleam of gold and green is clearly visible: a scarf bearing the words "Brasil, Pentacampeão."
Even in notoriously parochial England, it seems this truth is undisputed: Brazil rules the world, if only in football. And while the idea of Brazil being the dominant nation in anything else may seem alien to most outsiders, many Brazilians have a radically different perception of their country and regard it as an awakening superpower. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and the eleventh largest economy in gross terms. In the 19th century, the country was among the first in the world to embark on serious industrialization, and has long possessed impressive manufacturing, pharmaceutical, aeronautical, and information sectors. Moreover, Brazil has been at the forefront of some of the most cutting edge innovations of modern times. Its "energy revolution", whereby 80 percent of the country's cars are now able to run off both conventional petrol and "álcool" - an ethanol-based fuel derived from processed sugar cane - has been an extraordinary success, saving the country hundreds of billions of dollars on oil imports. Starting in the 1990s, Brazil has been one of the very few countries to forestall an AIDS epidemic by bypassing prohibitively expensive patent arrangements and manufacturing its own anti-HIV drugs. More recently, it has been a key mover in the G20, an economic bloc that includes China and India, which has the potential to change the entire balance of the global economy. But ironically, it is the dynamics of arguably the greatest social program of recent times, "Fome Zero" or Zero Hunger, which graphically illustrate how stratified a country Brazil has become. The US$ 500 million initiative, pushed through by current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, aims to end hunger among Brazilians through giving the poorest families in the country an electronic card credited with US$ 15 per month, with which food can be bought. Supermodel Gisele Bundchen was one of Zero Hunger's most high-profile supporters. Here in microcosm lies the crux of the problem crippling Brazilian society: there are an awful lot of hungry people and very few supermodels. Brazil may rank a respectable 39th out of 111 countries in The Economist's worldwide quality-of-life index, but this does not begin to convey the virtually unbridgeable and constantly widening chasm between rich and poor Brazilians. While the likes of Gisele sip caipirinhas in the chic nightclubs of resort cities like Florianópolis, and middle class citizens are generally able to participate in the global economy as equals to their counterparts elsewhere, the bulk of society is going nowhere fast, and the consequences are affecting everyone. The notorious shantytowns, or favelas - brought to worldwide attention in the cinematic hit Cidade de Deus or City of God - are expanding beyond all predictions. For example, in Rio de Janeiro, the population of the favelas was 637,518 in 1980. Twenty years later, it stood at 1,092,476, a staggering rise of 71.3 percent. Even more disturbingly, according to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, between 1991 and 2000, the favela population of Rio de Janeiro expanded six times faster than the population of the city, which has access to paved roads. By 2010, 21.1 percent of Rio's inhabitants will live in slums. Factor into the mix a sharp degree of extreme poverty - 1/3 of Brazil's population, some 58 million people, live on less than a dollar a day - and a steep acceleration of materialistic values, and you have a recipe for anarchy. According to some critics, Brazil is effectively already in the grip of civil war. Heidi Cerneka, a commentator who works with female prisoners in São Paulo, has noted that, according to United Nations guidelines, a country with over 25,000 assassinations per year is considered in a state of war; according to the Brazilian Ministry of Justice, the country had over 40,000 assassinations in 2001. The response to this situation of many Brazilians, especially those who are ambitious, but from the poorer echelons of society, has been to escape. There are now around 1.3 million Brazilians in the United States, with smaller but increasing numbers in Europe. Just recently the most popular telenovela on Globo TV, that great social engineer, was simply titled América, and featured Brazilian citizens trying to eke out a living in the U.S. Its melancholic storylines have not deterred some viewers from trying to imitate art: between April and May 2005, 7,000 Brazilians were arrested trying to cross into the U.S. from Mexico. Therefore, the importance of the Brazilian national team to the country at large cannot be overestimated: it is the one institution that unquestionably unites the nation. This is not surprising in view of their unparalleled record at the World Cup. They have won football's ultimate prize no less than five times - hence their affectionate nickname of "Pentacampeãp." After an arid spell in the 1970s and 1980s, where the likes of Zico, Sócrates, and Careca played marvelous football but perennially lost, Brazil has become a successful team once again. In their first period of international dominance (1958-1970), they were led by the iconic Pelé, a sublimely gifted attacker who scored a record 77 goals for the Seleção. As a teenager, Pelé led Brazil to the unique feat of triumphing in a World Cup on European soil against hosts Sweden. Twelve years later in 1970, he would again be pivotal as perhaps the greatest Brazil team of all time vanquished Italy in the searing heat of Mexico City. In between, the Brazilians retained their crown in Pelé's absence at the 1962 tournament in Chile. As the Pelé era drew to a close, Brazil developed teams replete with outstanding attacking talents, but lacking defensive coherence. However, their exits in the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, the latter to France on penalties, owed as much to ill fortune as to anything else. Stung by the apparent failure of the traditional Brazilian national team characteristics of flamboyance and artistry, the national federation, under the direction of the controversial Ricardo Teixeira, dictated that "beautiful football" was dead and that a more pragmatic and results-orientated approach was required. Initially, this attitude ended in failure. Under Sebastião Lazaroni, Brazil crashed out in the second round of Italia 90 having played generally cautious football during their four games, though again, the manner of their departure - against Argentina - was hugely unfortunate, as they utterly dominated the tie. But in the U.S. in 1994, they allied a steely game plan with the intelligent goal scoring of Romário to eventually emerge victorious once again following a penalty shoot-out in the final against a depleted Italy. By the time of France 1998, a new generation of players, including Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, and Ronaldo, had come to the fore. It was only a highly unusual and ultimately feeble performance against host nation France in the Saint-Denis final that sent them home with silver, instead of gold, medals. But in Korea/Japan 2002, they managed to dispatch the competition with relative ease, with only Belgium and Turkey really testing them to any great lengths. And the class of 2006? In a word, sumptuous. Brazil has a brilliant lineup in almost every area of the field, and depth that no nation comes close to matching. In goal, they can choose from the first-choice custodians at both Milan sides, Dida of AC Milan and Julio Cesar of Internazionale. The rampaging Roberto Carlos of Real Madrid has the slick Silvinho of Barcelona as his deputy at left-back, and on the opposite flank Cicinho, also of Real Madrid, will struggle to displace Cafu, another AC Milan stalwart. In midfield, there is probably room for only one of Lyon's free-kick genius Juninho Pernumbucano, Juventus "Shield" Emerson and Arsenal's tireless workhorse, Gilberto Silva. As for the attack, it is difficult to know where to begin. Kaká (AC Milan), Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Robinho (Real Madrid), Adriano (Internazionale) and the incomparable Ronaldinho (Barcelona) will compete for four available starting places; Kaka, Adriano, and Ronaldinho are possibly the best in the world in their respective positions. Make no mistake: in football, Brazil is the best in the world. But one gets the feeling that they will need to continue to be the best if the Brazilian nation is to be united in anything other than their passports.
Group F: the group of mirth
Brazil's opponents need a sense of humor
During the World Cup draw on 9 December 2005, Heidi Klum gave Brazil a basically benign pool in Group F. Croatia could provide stubborn resistance to Brazil and are probably their toughest group opponent. The two sides drew 1-1 in Split in August 2005 in their last encounter, and the Croatians have plenty of talented players, especially defenders Robert Kovac (Juventus) and Igor Tudor (Siena). But while Croatia have excellent playmakers in Niko Kranjcar (Hajduk Split) and Darijo Srna (Shaktar Donetsk), their attack is relatively weak. Australia will be enthusiastic opponents and desperate to make up for lost time since they last appeared in a World Cup in 1974, and underwent heartbreaking play-off defeats to Iran (1998) and Uruguay (2002). But while goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough), midfielders Tim Cahill (Everton) and Vince Grella (Parma), and veteran striker Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough) all offer experience, they do not exactly inspire fear. Ever-improving Japan have a Brazilian coach - Zico, who has now spent 15 years in Japanese football as a player or manager - and a naturalized Brazilian utility player, Alessandro "Alex" Santos. They also managed to draw against Brazil, 2-2, in the 2005 Confederations Cup. Japan's defense is well-organized and the midfield, with Celtic's highly adept Shunsuke Nakamura at the heart of it, has plenty of European experience. This article appeared originally in OhmyNews - http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=15&no=281824&rel_no=1 Asad Alex Yawar is a founding member of the OneEuropa NGO, which is supporting the integration of the Western Balkans into the European Union. He has been a freelance journalist since 1995, and his work has been featured on BBC TV's What the Papers Say. His areas of interest include filmmaking, international relations, economics and football. He lives in London. You can email him at
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Brazil did not save hundreds of billions of US$ on oil imports with their ethanol industry.
Brazil is not that big in the aeronautical industry.
Embraer had 2005 revenues of around US$ 4 billions. Peanuts in this industry.
Fome zero costs far more than US$ 500 millions a year.
Why dont you stop smoking the carpet while providing numbers that come from nowhere ?
Too many ectasy pills, may be !