Dorival speaks up and, in a disgraceful act, reveals more than he might have intended

It’s sad, but it’s a reality, and if we don’t hesitate to point it out constantly, there’s a chance we can change. This does not mean that the way is to reject the economic model as a whole – that would be nice and would save us, but I am not naive at this point. I want to suggest that this matrix of thought will continue to engulf us.

The Brazilian national team is not a product for sale. It is representative of cultural identity. It constitutes subjectivities. It is the country in the field. This is the principle. The irony is that if the story begins this way, with this diminishing discourse refusing to be a product that needs to be sold, then the end will be the inevitable sale of the product. Explain.

When the team returns to representing us culturally, it will wow us again and, in turn, re-engage. From then on, everything becomes possible. But we are not talking here about institutional culture. We’re talking about cultures of gaps. From music, capoeira, carnival, São João, religions of African origin, the body as a potential place to house the divine.

Rejecting criticism and the general desire to play ball again, as Dorival did, is a sign of immaturity. Not from him exactly, but from the Brazilian Federation.

I’m not one of those people who think we don’t have any more stars. We have a lot. “Ah, but it’s nothing compared to what it was before.” It cannot be compared because society has changed, the game has changed, the composition of the players has changed. Football today, the way it is organized, undermines creativity and innovation on the field. Gansos and Mateus Pereiras are the resistance to the generalization of the word “volancias”, that ugly word that has already become part of the football lexicon. Positional systems exist because they glorify the coach, and deprive the athlete’s body of the ability to transcend, to rebel, to evade, to move toward the improbable and the surprising.

Against the Peruvian team Dorival will form an attacking team in an attempt to score goals and silence the critics. It can succeed, and if it succeeds, its boldness should be celebrated. But there is no option to silence anyone. It exists for magic. Or should.