We Are One (Part III)

USA vs Germany
Our second and final FIFA World Cup match took us to wet and humid Recife in the northeastern state of Pernambuco to see if Team USA could advance out of their "Group of Death," otherwise known as Group G.  After winning against Ghana and drawing with Portugal, odds were in the United States' favor to advance, however, it wasn't a guarantee.

The morning of the match Recife awoke to torrential rain and flooded streets.  To make matters more complicated, the Itaipava Arena Pernamuco stadium is located some 17 kilometers outside the city, in the municipality of São Lourenço da Mata.  After trudging through shin-deep puddles to a bus stop were were already soaked.  A bus ride to the metro station, train to the end of the line, bus to the middle of nowhere, and a half-mile walk to the stadium in the unrelenting rain and were there!  I've never been so happy to have seats in the upper-decks; under cover and out of the rain we actually began to dry off a bit.

Wet and happy: #ibelievethatwewillwin

Itaipava Arena Pernambuco: Good luck filling this thing after the World Cup.

Germany won the match 1-0, but due to the results of the Portugal/Ghana game running concurrently, both teams in front of us advanced to the next round of play.  A little strange leaving the venue for the long trek back to Recife with both sets of fans happy with the results.

Our entire crew reunited after the match: USA! USA! USA!

Pretty Olinda

Olinda is a small picturesque town located just north of Recife.  Literally translated, "o linda" means "the pretty one."  Early Portuguese settlers built the city in the 1530's on a hill as a means of defense against neighboring Dutch settlements, who at one point burned it to the ground.

The central area is currently a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the best way to visit is simply to wander up and down the labyrinth of narrow cobblestone streets.  The day we went was a bit wet and rainy but that didn't dampen (pun intended) the beauty and charm several hundred years of history has made.

Igreja do Carmo, built in 1580, is the first church in the Americas of the
Roman Catholic order of Carmelites.

Walking out front of the Convento de São Francisco, the oldest Franciscan
convent in Brazil.

Alissa posing with a "costume" used in a past Carnaval.
In Olinda the parade is free and takes place in the street
with no bleachers or set spectator areas. 

Oh, what these streets have seen over the years...

City of Reefs

The city of Recife (pronounced "heh-see-fee") is located in the most eastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, and gets its name from the plentitude of reefs off the coast.  This both makes the sea here more calm, but also attracts a lot of sharks.  Originally a Portuguese settlement in the 1530's, it was captured by the Dutch and grew under their control during the mid-1600's, at one point serving as the capital of Dutch Brazil. Today, Recife is the 5th largest Brazilian city with just under 4 million inhabitants.

While the majority of the city in not a tourist destination, it is a good jumping off point to visit nearby Olinda, hang out on the beach of the Boa Viagem neighborhood, and take a stroll through Recife Antigo (Old Recife) to admire the architecture and imagine traveling back in time.

A colorfully decorated street in Old Recife.

Brazilian fans on their way to the FIFA Fan Fest area, located (poorly) on one
of the narrow streets along the water in Old Recife.

Many buildings in Recife Antigo date back to the 1600's.

Fans watching the Brazil vs Chile match overflow from a bar into the street.

Monument by artist Francisco Brennand in Recife's
Parque das Esculturas. 

Praia Boa Viagem on a nearly cloudless afternoon.

What could make a beach day better?  Grilled cheese on a stick, of course!

Photo of the Francisco Brennand monument taken by Dan Monfre.

The Capital Treatment

Imagine you had the opportunity to design a city.  Not just any city, but a capital city.  A city that would become a metropolis of national and international importance. What would you have it look like?  How would it be laid out?  

This was basically the question facing Brazil roughly 50 years ago when it decided to end the debate over where the new capital of the republic should be located and simply build a new city out of nothing in the dead center of the country.  Thus, in 1960, Brasilia was born.

From above, the main plan of the city looks like an airplane.  The body of the plane is mostly an open grassy mall, with the various governmental buildings, ministries, courthouses, palaces, etc. lining the sides.  The wings of the plane, situated in a north-south orientation, contain the living and commercial areas of the city.  

A floor-sized model of the city shows the "airplane" plan from above,
looking essentially east to west.

Designed by Lucio Costa with architecture by Oscar Niemeyer, who both aligned themselves with communist ideologies, the city was aimed to created a "Utopian" feel.  I went for a run down down the southern axis of the city and can equate it to an old Bugs Bunny or Roadrunner cartoon where the aforementioned protagonist is fleeing his foil - Elmer Fudd or the Coyote, respectively - and the background animation keeps looping over and over again. Strip of store fronts, parking lot, small park, residential strip, large park with bus shelter, residential strip, small par, parking lot, commercial area, larger street/intersection, and repeat. Tucked behind all of this is the same neighborhood layout again and again. If you lived here you would easily be able to find your exact counterpart house in the next neighborhood.

The wings of the plane are organized into "sectors" - commercial, hotel, recreational, etc.  Within the sectors are "quadrants."  It makes finding an address pretty easy, but at the same time there's not a ton of variety in urban design.  Every neighborhood is theoretically the same, making the communist subtext all the more apparent.  Being a UNESCO World Heritage site for design, few infrastructural changes are allowed to be made. 

A part of the National Museum, showing a lot of Niemeyer flair.

Standing outside the (top) of the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The entrance is below ground level.

The inside is spacious and full of light. 

The National Congress Building.
The Senate is under dome and the Congress is under the bowl. The towers are
offices and are purposely situated asymmetrically to the left for visual balance,
but I must be architecturally ignorant because it looks uneven to me still.

The newly remodeled Mane Garrincha Stadium, ready for World Cup action.
(More on that later...)

With all due respect to President Dilma, while Brasilia is an interesting and easily navigable city, unless i were coming here for a specific reason - oh hey, World Cup! - it probably could be done in one solid day.

We Are One (Part II)

Colombia vs Côte d'Ivoire
Our first of two FIFA World Cup matches was between Group C teams, Colombia and Côte d'Ivoire, ranked one and three, respectively.  Held at the Estadio Mané Garrinhca in Brasília, this was the second match for both teams, coming into it with one win apiece.

Having lived in Colombia for five years before coming to Colombia, who to root for was a no-brainer.  Plus, Colombia qualified for the tournament for the first time in 16 years and emotions were electric for the soccer-loving nation as Los Cafeteros fielded one of the best teams in the country's history.

The teams line up for the playing of their national anthems.

Making Colombian hinchas out of Dan and Alissa.

In a stadium of over 68,000 fans, I ran into ex-collegues and a former student.

¡Vamos el tricolor! A lot of yellow, blue, and red in the house!

All smiles after the victory!  Mané Garrincha is a beautiful stadium.

"In Colombia, soccer is a dance."
"Soccer in Colombia is peace." 

In the end, Colombia triumphed 2-1 against their opponents, making for a jubilant crowd.  To say Colombians had taken over Brazil's capital city was an understatement!

First and last photos taken by Dan Monfre.

Neymar's Game

For the uninitiated, Neymar Jr. is Brazil's current golden boy.  He is amazing.  (So is his hair, which he changes a lot.)  He is Brazil's Michael Jordan of soccer.  And just like "Mike," he has promotions coming out of his ears.  Having Neymar endorse your product is huge.

But what are you to do when you are 22 years old, preparing to represent and lead your country in the biggest soccer tournament in the world?  Who has time for all this sponsorship nonsense?!?  It appears - and this is purely speculation! - that Neymar is a genius and went the stock-photo modeling route.

Want Neymar to give your product a thumbs up?  There's a pic for that!  Want him to cross his arms next to your product with his crooked little boy smirk?  Done.  Want him to hold your product?  Problem.  He's taken the pictures already, sorry.  But here he is pointing!  You can use that! 

Neymar loves Mentos!  Yeah!  

Neymar will look up to see what a great deal Claro
will give you on your cell phone plan!

Ice cream brand Kibon got a good deal on a Neymar pic and used it well!
Here he is at a party.  Pointing his thumb at the party...

Here is Neymar pointing the other way at Kibon ice cream prices
on a vendor's cart.  He's so versatile! 

And here he is in the freezer section at the grocery.
Same direction, but look who changed his shirt color?!  Neymar!

Neymar on the side of building holding a remote!
(He may have posed for this one...)

Neymar will cheer for you as you shampoo your hair!

Neymar's head wants you to buy Heliar car batteries!

Panasonic is getting their money's worth.

Neymar points to his head because he
agrees.

It's been a fun little treasure hunt this last few months collecting these ads whenever I saw them.  These were only some of my favorites.  This guy is taking over Brazil!

Watch It!

As with most major sporting events - here's looking at you, Super Bowl - advertisers know the worth of a good soccer-themed ad for the FIFA World Cup.  Here follows my favorites* for the 2014 Brasil FIFA World Cup:

#5 - "The Game Before The Game" (Beats by Dre)
Anyone who has ever played a sport, had a pre-game ritual.  Music often plays a role in that amping-up for battle.  This ad focuses mostly on Brasil's Neymar Jr. and his conversations with his father, but highlights players from from other teams including Spain, Germany, and The Netherlands...and Lil' Wayne (?).  I like the sentiment and the crescendoing energy but, at five whole minutes, it goes a little long.

#4 - "The Last Game" (Nike)
Points to Nike for going all out and including a cast of players - Wayne Rooney (England), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Tim Howard (USA), and David Luiz (Brazil), among others - that would have tipped even their budget had they been real.  Though I like the ad, the fact that they are cartoons, keeps me from ranking this any higher.  I do give credit to the animators for giving Neymar Jr. plenty of opportunities for taking #selfies, something that becomes quite evident as a favorite activity upon visiting his Instagram account.

#3 - "Ouse Ser Brasileiro" (Nike)
"Dare to be Brazilian" in English, Nike released a series of these ads for different countries at the start of 2014.  Obviously, this one got a lot of play here in Brasil.  The ad features a number of the Brazilian team members and a caricature of their personalities: Neymar Jr. grew up in Santos playing beach soccer, Bernard is known for his short stature, and Thiago Silva is known to a dapper guy.  It's hard to watch this ad and not see why Brazil and soccer are synonymous.

#2 - "Winner Stays" (Nike)
Nike again.  But this time with actual players.  The ad embodies the internationality of soccer by taking a pick -up soccer game in a park in England (because clearly this can't happen in the US) and turning it into the All-Star game to end all All-Star games with the kids claiming different professional soccer personas.  I think anyone who ever idolized an athlete growing up can relate to this ad, regardless of the sport.  I especially love when a kid is called out for not playing like their hero (Neymar Jr.) or when two kids choose the same player at the same time (David Luiz).  The thing holding this back from being number one is that, unless you know who these players are, you never get the full emotion of the ad.

   
#1 - "Gol!" (McDonald's)
The shortest of all the ads on this list, and featuring no professional players, this ad is simple and impressive at the same time. Basically a collection of sick trick-shots backed by the old-timey "Oh By Jingo" (1919), the fact that it's a McDonald's ad doesn't even present itself until the end; there's not a burger or fry to be seen. Bonus points for featuring several women/girls with skills as well.

Conspicuously absent from this list is soccer mainstay Adidas, who seem to be putting a lot of their World Cup advertising into focusing on their officially sanctioned ball, the Brazuca, with "meh" ads like "House Match" and "The Dream".  And let's not even talk about this trying-way-too-hard Galaxy 11 spot.

*I am not an advertiser, nor do I know the slightest thing about marketing or commercial design.  Neither, coincidentally, am I a consumer of any of the top five ads' products.

We Are One (Part I)

Meet Fuleco. Armadillos like soccer.

The lead up to the world's biggest single sporting event, the FIFA World Cup, has not been an easy one.  Stadiums aren't totally as finished as they should be.  There have been accusations of corruption (both by the Brazilian government and FIFA itself).  On top of all that, the Pitbull-Jennifer Lopez-Cláudia Leitte official anthem is terrible.

Nevertheless, the show must go on and the world is ready!

My friends from university, Dan and Alissa of This World Rocks fame, are traveling with me throughout the next few weeks.  We started the celebration off here in Campinas at Seu Vidotti, a bar holding a special viewing party for the inaugural Brazil vs. Coatia match.  Thankfully the home country emerged victorious and the party continued on a positive note!

We had our iPhones, but the photos from the bar tell a better story:

Curtindo a Copa com amigos velhos e novos!
Enjoying the Cup with old and new friends!

We're keeping a tally of the number of times Alissa (center) gets mistaken
for being Brazilian.  We may lose count...