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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
the commentators-- they've gotta "exoticize" the brown man no matter what. "magical realist football"! yes?
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I know you mentioned 'magical realism' light heartedly, but in a way that's precisely what it is. As football becomes more corporate it needs to invent some kind of distant romantic ideal and Brazil (admittedly a team with an incredible history) fits perfectly. "They all learned to play on the beach you know. That's why they're so skillful." It's ridiculous. Similarly, Germany always gets cast as the pantomime villain with endless references to their "machine-like efficiency" while England is always "passionate" and "direct". It's taken commentators until quite recenrtly to realise that Italy's national team, rather than reflect its flamboyant national stereotype actually plays far more like Germany 'should' than actually ever have.
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i didn't know england had this love for brazil-- what about argentina though?
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Yeah, Argentina are a bit of a hate figure in England, but it stems more from the Falklands war than Maradon's whole 'hand of god' thing, although that definitely compounded it. Personally though, I really like Argentina's national team. Maradona, whatever he did in 'that' match, is still the greatest player I've ever seen and would happily join any church that placed Carlos Tevez as its God.
Also, you'd need to look hard to find a more brilliant goal than this anywhere, ever: a goal that's probably done more to close the art-science debate than any academic ever has:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R_iYLca2gc
Never get bored watching that.