soccer passion

In her article for Mathrubhumi Sports Brazilian journalist Carina Bini writes about soccer passion in her country which hosts FIFA World Cup - 2014.

Excertps:

And I'm sure the Brazilian team is beloved in many parts of the world. My biggest surprise when I first visited Kerala, was to hear everyone talking about 'Ronaldo', knowing that I was Brazilian. I felt at home with the warmth of Malayalis for Brazil in football. At another time, when I and my husband Malayali, Ananda Jyothi, natural Thevara - Cochin, we were producing our documentary on Kerala, for a moment I thought I was here in Brazil. Suddenly through the car window, I saw some boys playing football and a large outdoor in Malayalam with a picture of Ronaldo, on the highway going to Calicut, full of coconut trees same as some regions of north Brazil! If it was not written in Malayalam, anyone could swear that scene was happening here, and it is recorded in our documentary! And in last February , when we were in Kerala, I had the joy of knowing Bashir, a friend of my husband, who was a soccer player from Ernakulam and a great fan of Brazilian football. Until today we have treasures stored some coconut sweets from Lakshadweep he presented us. I was also delighted to see Rufas de Souza training many kids in Fort Cochin, and came to knew that he discovered some talented known players in Cochin.

Football is the main play of the children here! All houses have a ball and even the girls love to play with their brothers. I played football in my childhood. We were the team of girls against boys. We girls had little disadvantaged, of course. It is very common to see children playing soccer in the streets. And the interesting thing is that this occurs mainly in the poorest regions of the country. Being famous footballer is a dream for many boys here. I see the eyes of so many of our players that childhood dream realized. Many of our most famous players come from very poor family. We been also world champions of Volleyball too, but we love more football.

Too bad that our neighbor Argentineans have no sympathy for our team. We are so close but so far when it comes to football! Here we cheer for Mexico, indeed! Recently even schools in Argentina changed the story of their school books, and declared Maradona as the King of football. But I think they forgot about the man of a thousand goals, our King Pele, respected throughout the world and the eternal king of football. Maradona was a great player, but his story did not leave good memories is not a good role model for children in Argentina.
source : sports.mathrubhumi.com