World The World Cup Of Jogo Bonito

[Tejwant Singh]

The World Cup of Jogo Bonito

The world has the fever of Jogo Bonito for 3 weeks. It is the most watched sporting event on this globe.

Many of you must know that Jogo Bonito is Futebol in Portuguese and Spanish, Football in Great Britain and in other English speaking countries except in the USA where they call it Soccer for some odd reason.

Jogo Bonito as known in the world and through FIFA’s promotions is from Portuguese which literally means Beautiful Game

Like many of you, I am the ardent fan of Jogo Bonito. I am rooting for Brasil and The USA.

The former because I lived there for 10 years and the latter is my home country where the love for this game is growing by leaps and bounds. The TV ratings although the highest ever for this World Cup in the USA do not do any justice when we see the throngs of crowds in different cities and at the Copacabana Beach. More Americans have gone to this World Cup than ever before.

We have had the record number of goals in the first rounds and also the goals at the last minutes of the games have not only been pins on needles experiences but also smashed the records.

Many people have no idea what Jogo Bonito is like. It is poetry in motion. It is a never ending ballet/samba/capoeira/two- step/break dance and salsa all in one for at least 90 minutes nonstop, the spectacle of improvised jinga-dance.

The best is yet to come. I am sharing some pictures here from the two games I watched at Via Brasil in Las Vegas. I had a blast and made some new friends

Let’s all share our experiences of this Jogo Bonito here.

And one more thing. Talking about Copacabana beach, the next beach is called Ipanema beach where the famous song "Garota de Ipanema" - Girl from Ipanema was written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, the creators of Bossa Nova, also known as Brasilian Jazz. Here is Frank Sinatra singing the song with Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Relish it.

Thanks.

Tejwant Singh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz6Hxg5scVs

And here is a more contemporary version 'Boy from Ipanema' by Diana Krall from Vancouver BC, Canada. She is Elvis Costello's wife and has a great husky voice. Live from Rio DVD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usH4nVyy9A4

 

[Sherdil]

I cannot believe Portugal scored that last goal against us!!! That was absolutely gut-wrenching! At the very last second too! We had less than a minute left!!! Mere seconds from advancing to the knockout round. It was pure carelessness on our part. The USA is doing better than people expected though. Everyone thought we would flounder in the group of death, but this World Cup has been full of surprises. England, Italy and Spain have all been eliminated, and Portugal is on the verge of elimination. All we have to do is get a draw against the Germans on Thursday. If I was Jurgen Klinsmann, I would put most of my players on defense. Dig into the trenches and make this a war of attrition. The Germans may espouse a similar strategy. They only need a draw as well, in order to advance.

 

[Tejwant Singh]

I cannot believe Portugal scored that last goal against us!!! That was absolutely gut-wrenching! At the very last second too! We had less than a minute left!!! Mere seconds from advancing to the knockout round. It was pure carelessness on our part. The USA is doing better than people expected though. Everyone thought we would flounder in the group of death, but this World Cup has been full of surprises. England, Italy and Spain have all been eliminated, and Portugal is on the verge of elimination. All we have to do is get a draw against the Germans on Thursday. If I was Jurgen Klinsmann, I would put most of my players on defense. Dig into the trenches and make this a war of attrition. The Germans may espouse a similar strategy. They only need a draw as well, in order to advance.

Well, this is Jogo Bonito is all about. Ronaldo made a great pass. Only if the extratime were 30 seconds shorter!

 

[aristotle]

Haha, Tejwant Ji, I'm more interested in what is in your plate....
By the way, which team are you cheering for in this World Cup?

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Haha, Tejwant Ji, I'm more interested in what is in your plate....
By the way, which team are you cheering for in this World Cup?

Aristotle ji,

LOL. It is a piece of meat, filet mignon on my plate. This kind of restaurant is called churrascaria which means meat cooked on open flame pit in skewers. This tradition is from the Southern part of Brasil, the state named Rio Grande do Sul and its capital is Porto Alegre- Happy Port where many world cup matches are also being played. The Germans settled in this part where the cattle is fed green grass of pampas and this tradition goes as far as Uruguay and Argentina.The most interesting part is that all the cattle that come from Uruguay, Argentina and Brasil have their origin in the southern part of India, a place called Nelore which is also one of many Indian breeds including Brahma. So, the irony is that Hindus who worship cows and consider them as sacred do not mind exporting bulls and cows to the other parts of the world to be devoured by people like me.Holy cow!

Most of the churrascarias serve different cuts of meat at your table. The waiter brings the skewer at your table and slices the kind of meat cut you have ordered, hence the tongs at the edge of the plate which are used to pull the meat out when he/she slices it almost till the end. One can have as many goes as one wants to till one is full. It is called Rodizio which literally means round and round. There is also a salad bar where one can savour hearts of palm which is yummy. To find out when you want more or done they hand you a little disk the size of a dollar coin and depends which side you put up shows your desire.

I am rooting for Brasil and USA. I plan to watch all matches of Brasil at this restaurant. On Saturday, the match starts at nine, so they are serving brunch. I have no idea what that entails here. In Brasil, breakfast/brunch consists of a big variety of tropical fruits which will not be the case at the restaurant.

How about you? Which team are you rooting for?

Regards

Tejwant Singh

 

[aristotle]

Ah well, I'm not a die hard supporter of any team, but I like Argentina, The Netherlands and Germany, in that order.

We Indians have to wake up in the midnight to enjoy live matches, but it is worth it.

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Congratulations to the USA! They did a great job in 'the group of Death' and not only survived but thrived. I have the inkling that they will forge way ahead than anyone's expectations in this Jogo Bonito.

The ironic and more interesting part of all this is that 'Los Conquistadores' of the world are out of the World Cup. Spain, Portugal, Italy and last but not the least, England; the birthplace of this Jogo Bonito. I do not feel sorry for anyone of them.
This time,their quest for El dorado was nothing but fool's gold.

The Sun has set on all of them and left them shadow-less.

Adios Amigos!!

 

[aristotle]

Frankly, the way US were playing today, they don't deserve to be in the Top 16. Even though Deutschland could score only 1 goal, US was never in contention, clearly Germans weren't hassling much before the big games. Even Ghana showed a better game then the US, that too without 2 of their regular players. Feeling sorry for Ghana.

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Frankly, the way US were playing today, they don't deserve to be in the Top 16. Even though Deutschland could score only 1 goal, US was never in contention, clearly Germans weren't hassling much before the big games. Even Ghana showed a better game then the US, that too without 2 of their regular players. Feeling sorry for Ghana.

I agree, but as compared to the great teams that are out who did not 'deserve' to be, The USA deserves it, measuring with that yardstick.

 

[Sherdil]

BRRRUUUAAAAAHHHH!!!

USA!!! USA!!! USA!!!:kaurkhalsaflagred: