Turkey fall victim to a Brazilian malaise

The football world has had an attack of moral outrage after Brazilian forward Rivaldo was caught play-acting at the end of Monday’s con...

The football world has had an attack of moral outrage after Brazilian forward Rivaldo was caught play-acting at the end of Monday’s controversial win over Turkey in their opening World Cup match. Brazilians themselves, however, are unlikely to bat an eyelid at Rivaldo’s antics.

In a country where football vocabulary is littered with terms such as “cavar um penalti” (dig out a penalty), “malandragem” (a mixture of cunning and naughtiness) and “esperteza” (cunning and craftiness), Rivaldo’s theatrics will be seen as a nothing more than a legitimate tactic to win a game.

In Brazilian football “malandragem” is regarded as a virtue. Even before the World Cup began, full-back Roberto Carlos was already turning his nose up at FIFA’s promises to clamp down on anyone who turned its showpiece tournament into a diving contest. “Imagine, if we are losing 1-0 in the 90th minute and somebody nudges me in the area, of course I’m going to fall over and get a penalty to level the game,” said the Real Madrid defender. “It could well be the most important game of my life.”

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“In football, you have to use a bit of cunning. Brazilian footballers are cunning, this is why we have four stars on our chests,” he added, referring to the stars on the Brazil shirt, each representing a world title.

Brazil won Monday’s game with an 87th minute penalty awarded after Alpay Ozalan was penalised and sent off for pulling back substitute Luizao in an incident that clearly began outside the area. Rivaldo coolly converted the spot kick for the win. Luizao said after the match he had used some gamesmanship to win the controversial penalty as he was unsure whether the referee would give the foul inside or outside the area. (Reuters)

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