Brazilian Players: Great Champions or Great Actors?
From Alemao’s coin throwing incident to Rivaldo’s acting in the World Cup, up to Dida’s Oscar winning performance of Wednesday in Glasgow: these are three stories of three Brazilians, all worthy of a role in a Latin Telenovela (Spanish soap opera). I picked up this piece from Gazzetta dello Sport, but I thought I’d share it with you here.
Story nº1
Ricardo Rogério de Brito, aka Alemão, played a long spell in Serie A as a midfielder for Napoli. On April 8, 1990, Napoli (who were in a very close race for the Scudetto with AC Milan) were playing an away game to Atalanta: in the 77th minute of the game, Alemao went to take a corner-kick and fell down to the floor as if struck by lightning. What happened? Replays showed he was struck by a coin thrown from the stands (50 Lire, as the referee’s report later indicated, which is no bigger than ¢10 or 10 pence).
The Napoli physio (Salvatore Carmando) arrived to perform first aid procedures, because Alemao’s forehead has started bleeding: the game was stopped for a few minutes, amidst a big confusion of players. After about two minutes, Alemao got up (still surrounded by his teammates), and as the Napoli physio approached him again to take a look at him, the Brazilian player inexplicably pushed him away. At this point, the referee of the match (Luigi Agnolin) found and picked up the coin that was thrown from the stands.
When play resumed, Alemao was still on the sidelines being medicated by the physiotherapist, so the Napoli coach decided to sub him off for Gianfranco Zola. 
The exact moment that Zola entered the field was officially the start of events that ended up determining that season’s Scudetto winner. The match ended 0-0, but the Atalanta players would later declare to have heard the Napoli physio say these words to Alemao, as he was being medicated: “Stay down! Stay down!”.
Following the match, Alemao was hospitalized for his “injury”. The doctors declared that he “could speak regularly”, but the Napoli president (Corrado Ferlaino) told the press that he had “found his player in a deep state of confusion, and that he did not recognize him”. That same Sunday Bologna-Milan was being played and ended 0-0 (even though the referee did not see a perfectly valid goal for Bologna).
A few days later, the sports tribunal of Serie A gave Napoli a default 2-0 win for the Alemao incident, effectively putting the Neapolitan team ahead of AC Milan in the standings (Napoli would go on to win their 2nd Scudetto a few weeks later). The Rossoneri team got very angry and strongly contested the decision: they claimed that Alemao’s antics were nothing but acting, a ridiculous farce for football. For years to come, Alemao’s story put a big stain and suspicions on Napoli’s second Scudetto.
Story nº2
Vitor Borba Ferreira, commonly known as Rivaldo, star midfielder of the Brazil national team for many years. This story’s more recent, so I’m sure most of you will remember it. It was the time of the World CUp 2002, during the group stage of the competition: Brazil were playing Turkey, and were leading 2-1 in the 87th. The Turkish players were getting a bit restless, and one of them (Hakan Unsal) violently kicked the ball against Rivaldo as he was waiting to take a corner kick.
The Brazilian player, who had been clearly hit in the legs as replays showed, fell to the ground and brought his hands to his face, as if he had been mortally wounded and was having a brain seizure. The referee (Korean Kim Young Joo) fell for the Brazilian’s antics, and gave Hakan Unsal his 2nd yellow of the game.
In the following days, the entire world of soccer had seen what really happened and condemned Rivaldo’s anti-fairplay behaviour. Some even joked that “Because Rivaldo’s brain is located in his legs, if you hit those he’ll bring his hands to his face”, but there was little to be laughing about: even FIFA officials were indignated at this type of behaviour, especially with all those “FIFA Fair Play” flags flying around in the stadiums.
Experts anticipated than an “exemplary punishment” was in store for the Brazilian, a suspension, an expulsion from the tournament… something that would prevent anyone from doing this again. Instead, only a fine of 11,500 Swiss Francs (€17,043 or £5,180) was handed out to Rivaldo, peanuts for someone with his weekly paycheck. Evidently, the disciplinary committee was scared of irritating Brazil and Korea (the tournament’s hosts), and chose not the suspend the Brazilian from subsequent matches.
In days following FIFA’s decision, there was still much talk on Rivaldo’s acting, at which point his coach and some his teammates tried to defend him. Rivaldo himself even admitted later “Obviously I exaggerated the injury for the guy to be sent off (…) The ball hit my hand and my leg (…) It didn’t hit me in the face but that kind of attitude must not be allowed on the pitch (…) He deserved a red card.” Here’s what Ronaldo had to say: “Rivaldo did a smart thing. The World Cup is like a war, and you don’t send idiots to war”.
Story nº3
Nélson de Jesus Silva, aka Dida, AC Milan goalkeeper. On Wednesday October 3, 2007, Milan were traveling to Celtic for their 2nd game of the Champions League campaign.
With Milan just having conceded the 1-2 goal, a Celtic supporter stormed the field and gently hit Dida in the head. The Brazilian keeper initially started running after his “aggressor”, then fell to the ground as if mortally wounded, holding his head. But we all know that story already…
What’s your opinion on this? If you know any other of these “stories”, please share them with us.
Marco Pantanella writes on the mCalcio Blog
Brazilians are pussies, which is why you will hardly ever find them in the Premier League. They are technical skill artists that flail at the first sign of physical contact, and it is truly disgusting.
And it isn’t just them. Portugese, Mexicans, Spaniards…and many more national teams and national players are becoming weak minded and low of heart when it comes to the rigors of football.
Per caso sei di Roma?
Brian W - that’s not true, but hey, its your hallucination, so I’ll let you be.
It’s a bit unfair to bash a culture for being opportunistic. If you’re living in England, I’m sure you’ll behind plenty of ‘qualified con-artists’ plying their trade under British colors as well.
Alberto, no I’m not from Rome. In English please.
I’m with Ahmed on this one, Brian W. It’s one thing to cite examples about questionable behaviour, it’s another to make a broad generalization about a culture or nation. I wasn’t talking about how Brazilians in general react to physical play, but rather how in these specific three examples the players embellished what appeared to be a much less serious situation. Falling to the ground in the case of a foul (however light it may be, it’s still a foul) is on a whole different level than holding your face in pain when you’ve only been hit in the legs.
Again, I ask of our readers: do you know of any other examples of this type of behaviour? It doesn’t have to be limited to Brazilian players mind you, because as Ahmed stated you’ll find “plenty of ‘qualified con-artists’ ” with other nations as well.
Hakan Unsal did the right thing by giving him the second yellow. Kicking the ball at a player is bad and violent behavior and derserves a yellow regardless of the outcome. A player doesn’t have to get hurt for the culprit to get a booking.
Perfect examples for video review, IMO. In the second case both player should have gotten yellow cards. Actually, the first case is just bizaare. Video review isn’t going to prevent post-match score revisions. 2-0 just out the air like that? That seems a bit ridiculous.
Actually, reading the title of the article again, it is suggestive of a swipe against Brazil. Marco, I know you didn’t mean it that way, but by singling out 3 Brazilians it comes off that way.
Tripp, that’s likely because the most obvious examples that came to the mind of the Gazzetta journalist that wrote the article, involved Brazilian players. I don’t think it was a stab at Brazilians in particular, just a statement of facts. Personally, I can’t think of any other case involving serious play-acting, so that’s why I asked the opinion of our readers to see if they had some other examples.
Perif, I don’t think anyone will debate that Hakan Unsal deserved to be sent off. The ridiculous part was the whole show Rivaldo put on, in front of every world camera. He could have just shut up and attracted the attention of the nearby linesman, and Unsal would have still gotten a yellow card, at the very least (striking the ball at an opponent is borderline direct red).
the funniest thing is that the players involved think that they can get away with cheating when there are so many cameras watching there every move.
I think it happens regardless of nationality. Ronaldo was accused plenty of times for diving, Drogba was accused of diving, Inzaghi in champions league finals anyone? It happens and it’s a shame because it brings down the fun in football and it brings people around the world to say that football is a game for pussies. I’ve watched rugby players get nailed badly waist down and still get up and shake it off, but footballers hardly tapped on the ankles and fake it on the ground for a good couple of minutes. It’s a shame and I think harsher penalties do need to be put in place to stop this kind of behaviour
For other eg’s of football’s great con-artists see this link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2588440.ece
As the link shows, no nation or continent has a monopoly on cheating. The Brazilians in refered to in Marco’s article may simply have done their acting (i.e. cheating) a little less realistically than some others. As actors (or is that actresses!) they “ham” it up so much that it is easy to expose them. The reward for all such players (or is that play-actors?) should be both ridicule and punishment.
Thanks for your input Frankie, that’s exactly what I was looking for.
Robert Rojas: That’s a really good example I didn’t know about, and it falls perfectly in place with the other three I mentioned in my article (actually, it’s on a level which is even worse). Absolutely disgraceful… slashing yourself with a concealed razor really goes to extremes. It’s not even embellishing a foul play, it creating something that wasn’t there in the first place. It’s good to see that back in the late 80’s, they weren’t afraid of banning players for life for this type of stuff.
Arjen Robben: Pure comedy, once again. Though Reina should have kept his hands down, he left the referee little choice (especially considering Reina’s previous tackle on Gudjohnsen might have deserved a direct red as well).
Slaven Bilic: The video The Times linked to doesn’t show it very well, but if Bilic had been hit in the face with an open palm, than can potentially really hurt. Still, from what I remember of the incident back in 1998, it was universally recognized as play-acting.
All the other examples aren’t so much meant to simulate intent to injure, but rather con the ref into giving a penalty or a foul. It’s still play-acting, but falls under a different scope than the cases we’ve been talking about I think.
hmm Brasilians are great players and not cheaters maybe cheaters but the best football player of world are from BRASIL : Ronaldinho , Kaka , Ronaldo , Robinho , Adriano , some of the best and best players .. if they wil get on ENGLISH league thats would be fantastic cuz there is the most easy place to drible with ball soo brasilians will dominate in ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE .. remember Manchester United - Real Madrid .. Ronaldo have scored 3 goals but have done everything than its easy there ..
Every country has its own fair share of divers and cheats, but to try and portray it as a Brazilian problem stinks of hatred and jelousy. If you want to look for cheats and divers, look no further than the acting-academy of the cheating world, Italy.
You have divers and cheats in all countries, and perhaps it is also true that in some countries there are players who are more adept at acting than in some other countries. Football cultures differ; in England, foreign players quickly come to understand that the media and fans will not tolerate “divers” and cheats. As result of media criticism, a number of high profile players new to England have learnt to “stay on their feet” much more than was the case when they first arrived in the English Premier League.
Some players do the acting very badly i.e. it is so theatrical that they are easily caught out, particularly with the ubiquitous camera lens. Some other players give a more “professional” acting performance, making it more difficult for the match officials to detect the deception.
In my view, whatever the quality of the acting performance, one type of cheat is just as bad as the other. Both deserve condemnation. The player’s nationality is irrelevant.
[...] Marco Pantanella wrote a fantastic post today on “Brazilian Players: Great Champions or Great Actors?”Here’s ONLY a quick extractFrom Alemao’s coin throwing incident to Rivaldo’s acting in the World Cup, up to Dida’s Oscar winning performance of Wednesday in Glasgow: these are three stories of three Brazilians, all worthy of a role in a Latin Telenovela (Spanish … [...]
Dear Bryan and other haters:
How many World Cups has Brazil won? How many has the “tuff”England have?
How many Brazilian player have won the FIFA player of the year? (7 if you didn’t know). Any englishmen?????
So tell me, if you had the choice to be reborn as a brazilian, or as an English?? 5 time world champion, or have a single title way back in the day.
The reason hardly any brazilians are in the Premier League is because they’re winning style of soccer does not fit in the ugly, brut, and unsuccessful soccer England has.
Oh, by the way….Have fun sitting down and watching the Euro Cup together with the entire English team.
Ryan, Brazil have won more world cups than England and have had a large number of players honoured with FIFA player of the year, for the simple reason (as we all know) that they have far better footballers (and more of them) than England.
But what has any of that got to do with players who “act” (cheat)? Surely, we can all agree to condemn cheats irrespective of nationality or colour or their footballing skill? The unarticulated premise of your argument appears to be that it is ok to simulate (cheat) if you are a skillful (Brazilian) player. It’s a bad argument.