BRASIL... MEU BRASIL BRASILEIRO...

El Presidente, Zarqawi, Iraq, Iran, Israel, gay marriage - all this will have to wait because today the 2006 FIFA World Cup begins! What can I say... I never feel more Brazilian than when the cup is on, and I love every minute of it!

The only thing though - when did it happen, or better yet: how did it happen that the USA got ranked 5th in the world??? Alongside Spain? Where was I, where I was looking while this took place? Anyway, you can see it to believe it at the FIFA website.

I know I'm whining, but I really think Americans should stick to their baseball and their own version of football. Not to mention that, as the joke goes in Brazil, American soccer players are not only too good-looking to play the sport, but there is always the fear that at any given moment they might just decide to pick the ball up and run with it... They are not exactly genetically programmed to kick it the entire time, right?

Jokes aside: soccer is our national treasure, the one thing we Brazilians are really good at. We're good at playing it, loving it and celebrating it - like no one. And I daresay that whatever is driving this change here in the US about soccer, it must have more to do with business opportunity and sheer competitiveness than anything else. Americans are famous for putting their heart in many things and activities, but I don't believe soccer is one of them. At least not yet.

May the best one win (and may it be that I don't have to post a retraction at the end of the games): GO BRAZIL GO!!!!