What Can Matter More Than Futbol

OK, so here’s my take on the 7-1 shellacking of Brazil in today’s World Cup semi-final. In our house, we’ve been watching the matches in Spanish, so when I turned on the game and heard the commentators marveling about the 5-0 score at the time, I thought I had lost my grip on that language. Then I thought even the TV’s graphics had gone haywire when I noticed the score displayed in the upper corner of the screen. By the time the last goals were scored, the match had taken on the vibe of a Junior College scrimmage. I realize this will go down as one of the worst days in Brazil’s history. But. Maybe, just maybe, in the coming weeks and months, the memory will serve to help the country devote more resources to things like better hospitals and schools (what the protesters had been demanding all along). Meanwhile, lest they resent the Germans for “doing everything well,” Brazil still seems to have the edge in pop music.