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Samba Salvo For Brazil’s Fifth World Cup Title, Germany Satisfied
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| Cafo and the precious trophy.
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RIO DE JANEIRO,
Brazil, June 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) -
Brazil
’s 2-0 World Cup final win over
Germany
triggered an explosion of national joy, sending
Brazil
into wild samba celebrations
Sunday, June 30, 2002
. Whereas a collective groan in
Berlin
accompanied the whistle that ended
Germany
's World Cup final hopes.
Car
horns blared in cities across the South American country, fireworks
crackled across the sky and millions of Brazilians waving the national
colors streamed into the streets to pay homage to the team that
collected the fifth World Cup title, unequalled by any other country,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Brazil
won the precious trophy in 1958 finals, hosted by
Sweden
, after crushing the host team 5-2, the biggest score in a World Cup
final match so far. In 1962, Samba stars hit the headlines again after
snatching the title for the second time. They beat
Czechoslovakia
3-1, in
Chile
. In
Mexico
, 1970,
Brazil
beat
Italy
in the final match, 4-1, winning their third title and keeping for
life the Joel Remer Cup. Then 24 years later, the Samba stars returned
to the spotlight in the
U.S.
, after defeating
Italy
in the final through penalty kicks.
Four
years after the country went into mourning following the traumatic
1998 World Cup final defeat to
France
, Brazilians reclaimed their pride as the cradle of Pele's
"beautiful game."
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| German fans, sad but satisfied. |
Brazilian
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, in a message of congratulations
to the new World Champions, said they restored Brazilian football to
its rightful place.
"You
have shown, with talent, guts and team spirit, that our football
continues to be the best in the world," he said.
"Thanks
to all of you for bestowing this great joy on the Brazilians
people."
For
a while
Latin America
's biggest country can forget the struggle through hard times and a
bleak economic future.
Both
goals by Ronaldo, now elevated to near sainthood in
Brazil
, sparked seismic eruptions of joy in
Rio
where samba bands struck up the dance music to launch a massive street
party.
The
tension generated by a scoreless first half only increased the release
of bottled up emotion when the final whistle blew. Fans hugged one
another and smiled through their tears.
Brazilians
woke early for the morning kick off in
Yokohama
,
Japan
, and most opted to watch the game with their families at home but
supporters packed the bars and restaurants of
Rio
and watched in their thousands the giant screens erected in several
areas of the city.
The
dance frenzy gripped Copacabana beach, where fans roared the team on
to victory as they watched a big screen erected by the ocean.
Draped
in the yellow, blue and green of the national side, and others in
little more than patriotic face paint, fans laughed, sang and jiggled
to the samba beat, chanting "
Brazil
, five-times champion."
The
ecstasy followed a lengthy bout of nail-biting agony under the hot sun
as the German team threatened to score in the early minutes and the
Brazilian stars miss fired in front of goal.
"Football
is the only joy we have," said Jose Amado, 45, a lawyer,
referring to the country's economic woes and lawlessness in
Rio
, scene of increasingly violent gang warfare.
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| Brazil...World Cup glory.
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"Here
its urban warfare, but football brings us all together, the rich,
poor, the fathers, the bandits and the politicians," he said.
In
the working class northern district of Tijuca, the elite Salgueiro
samba school went into overdrive and set the tone for a wild day and
night of victory celebrations.
In
Sao Paulo
, 18 million people in the world's second largest city and
Brazil
's industrial heartland, were transfixed by the return of the good old
days of Brazilian soccer supremacy.
"National
prestige has been restored," Carlos Alberto Parreira, former
national coach who handed
Brazil
the 1994 World Cup, told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.
In
Germany
, the scene was but different. In front of the big-screen set up in
Potsdamer Platz, a rallying point for more than 125,000 supporters
since the tournament started, some 2,500 fans carrying German flags or
clad in the red, gold and black colors forced security to close the
gates hours before the start of the match.
Despite
losing 2-0, fans were happy that "die Mannschaft", two
months ago dubbed a team of idiots, even made it to
Yokohama
for an attempt at a fourth World Cup title.
Dominik,
21, made the trip to
Berlin
from
Hanover
especially for the match. "It's not important. Vice-champion of
the world is already extraordinary for
Germany
. No one would have believed that."
Some
of the crowd arrived outside at around
5:00 am
, three hours before the venue opened and eight hours before kick-off.
Every
save by Oliver Kahn was greeted with "Oli, Oli" while every
image of the German coach was welcomed with "One Rudi Voller,
there's only one Rudi Voller," to the tune of Guantanamero.
But
those cheers turned to whistles and boos when Ronaldo scored in the
67th minute after Kahn failed to hold a solid drive from by Rivaldo.
Only
stunned silence marked Ronaldo's second goal 12 minutes later.
"
Germany
is the world champion as far as we're concerned," said teenagers
Nick and Benjamin on their way out well before the final whistle. But
the pair said Kahn had not played well and that
Germany
would have won, had it not been for Ronaldo.
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