Brasil, World Cup
Brazil’s Neymar Never Had A Chance To Be Loved
By: | HuffPost
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian comedian Jô Soares has a joke that came to mind last week during Brazil’s round-of-16 World Cup match against Mexico. “In Miami,” Soares says, “when a Porsche passes by, people think: ‘I’m going to work hard, to buy a car just like that.’ In Brazil, people say: ‘The owner of that car must be a thief. He must have stolen to be able to buy a car like that.’”
It was a few minutes before 11 a.m. on July 2. There was a warm sun in a cloudless sky, and across the chaotic metropolis, Cariocas, as residents of Rio are known, were optimistic, excited and loud.
Brazil’s national team, the Seleção, would go crashing out of the tournament a few days later with a 2-1 loss to Belgium. But at the moment, all was cheery and light. Brazil was the favorite, not only for this match, but to add a record-breaking sixth World Cup crown to its already glittering trophy cabinet.
All these hopes were borne by the team’s slight forward, Neymar, and maybe there was a glimpse of his burden in his anxious, tight-lipped swaying as the anthem played.
And then there they were, as the camera trained itself on Neymar: Jeers and catcalls. From Brazilians. In Rio de Janeiro’s city center.
There has never been a player quite like the current owner of the Brazil No. 10 shirt, a man of unquestionable natural talent who divides opinion ferociously even among supporters. In a country with an ever-churning superstar production line, the chatter around Neymar has been constant for almost a decade, during which the former Vila Belmiro prodigy has grown into one of the most marketable faces on the planet, counting his followers on social media platforms in the tens of millions. By early 2014, the Brazilian media had coined the term “Neymarketing” amid a swell of advertising campaigns featuring the country’s latest footballing treasure.
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