Opinion – Juca Kfouri: From so much excluding, Qatar includes

Due to these phenomena that football has been capable of throughout the ages, behold, the first World Cup in the so-called Arab world operates a small miracle by opening wide what the alienated insist on refusing: within the four lines, the ball is capable of uniting different peoples around common causes.

As much as FIFA turns its back on the planet’s major problems, insists on not mixing football and politics, as never before, the 22nd World Cup showcases the revolt of some against all forms of discrimination.

It was the Germans who protested against censorship for being prevented from demonstrating in favor of those excluded due to sexual orientation, with a team posing with their hands over their mouths, the British kneeling against racism and the Iranians refusing to sing the anthem in action for the inclusion of women.

The German political gesture transcended the surprising field defeat to Japan, with whom Germany was united in World War II.

The English attitude highlighted the ball show that followed in the rout over the Iranians, who did not cease to be admired for the anti-misogyny gesture.

Hence it makes sense that the rare reader and the rare reader ask about the behavior of Brazilian players in the face of all this, they who have the responsibility of representing the only five-time world champion school.

The answer, realistic, is depressing, due to the almost absolute absence of any citizen attitude. The optimist, at least in the sports field, opens gaps for the light.

From a strictly tactical point of view, the performance of the Brazilian team, in the debut against Serbia, served to show the team with variations on the sides and in the middle that go beyond the undeniable technical qualities, and debatable in relation to the leadership, of Neymar.

So much so that the ankle injury he suffered didn’t scare anyone, treated as a boring, unwanted accident, but without traumatizing as if there were a lack of options. Because there’s no shortage.

Always remembering that the Copa America was won without him, and the absence of decisive goals from him with the yellow shirt (with the national team, because with Santos and Barcelona he did and many), incredibly Neymar seems to be starting to be part of a time that has already passed, as if this was in fact his last Cup and as if there was a tiredness with the toxic load he brought to the national team.

Even in this, Qatar is being the stage for inclusion, that of new names, new possible idols of a selection that has always been far from friendly.

Richarlison, the Pigeon that flies by volley, Vinicius Junior, Raphinha, among others, assume the role of protagonists, supported by the experience of Casemiro, Marquinhos and so on.

Because even at a time when the country started to look at the national team as if it could be the point of union that mixes everyone with its shirt, Neymar manages to remember who he is, by promising a shirt to the sociopath coup plotter who has erysipelas in his brain and heart.

Paradoxically, and most likely due to the coldness of the environment, Qatar becomes a laboratory for reflection on the different meanings of sport, especially football, the most popular of all.

With each round it becomes very clear to what extent the brilliant conservative Nelson Rodrigues was right when he said that those who imagined football limited to events on the pitch were poor.

In fact, it’s much more than that.