The Bucket List, part three

3. The Boys from Brazil

Welcome to the Headers & Volleys Bucket List. World football is a big place and sometimes there seems almost too much to see. In this series we will be looking at the top things to see and do, before you pop your clogs. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments section below, or contact us here and we will feature the best entries on the site.

Ryan Leverton of SportsLeviathan.com continues his journey through his own Bucket List. In today’s instalment, Ryan travels further afield to the land of the Copacabana, the permanent home of the Jules Rimet trophy and the joy of favela football as he visits, The Boys from Brazil.

Growing up, my favourite video was called ‘Boys from Brazil’. I would watch all of their matches from the 1970 World Cup over and over again, wonder strikes from Jarzinho and Rivelino et al. I loved it.

The opening clip of the video shows two Brazilian footballers walking down the Copacabana beach and around them are hundreds of games of samba football going on. It cuts to the favelas and the streets where kids are kicking balls of paper or even using an old shoe as a ball.
Next, there’s Pele in the middle of a football pitch juggling a melon. Need I say more?

Brazilian football is the epitome of skill and flair, combined with pride and passion. An absolute ‘must do’ has to be a visit to one of the sport’s greatest and most successful nations.

On the pitch Brazil were the first side to win the World Cup three times. In so doing they kept the coveted Jules Rimet trophy. Off the pitch there is a hotbed of exquisite talent coursing out of poverty stricken shantytowns. Any trip there could encompass the magnitude and awe of the Maracana (which once held nearly 200,000 people) and contrast it with the humble flair and ingenuity of the young pretenders of the streets.

Have a kick about with the kids? Play some beach football? Watch a match and absorb the craving Brazil has for a sport that it helped to put on the map? Perfeição.

Coming up next time: Ryan brings us back  to England, to the home of football, Wembley Stadium. Click here to see the previous articles in the series and get in touch if you’d like to contribute.