Since the 1966 World Cup in England, the last time Brazil failed to make it past the first round in the tournament, the world’s most successful footballing nation has reached four World Cup finals, winning three. In the same period, 134 different players have debuted for Brazil, donning the famous yellow strip, while 27 separate managers have been on the hot seat in the dugout. Brazil’s iconic number 10 shirt has been passed on from Pele to Rivellino to Zico to Ronaldinho to Kaka to Neymar. A lot has changed in Samba land in more than five decades, but the insistence on joga bonito (playing the beautiful game) has remained the same. As has the fandom of Soumitra Bhattacharya, a 68-year-old football fanatic from Hiland Park, who first fell in love with the Brazilians in 1970.
“I started following the World Cup in 1966. Back then, we only had newspapers and magazines to keep track of what was going on. I remember reading about Eusebio’s exploits for Portugal and England’s eventual triumph against West Germany. But my formative World Cup experience happened in 1970, when I listened to Brazil outclass Italy 4-1 in the final on the radio,” remembers Bhattacharya, currently a semi-retired business consultant for a software company, who describes transporting the bulky radio of yore from his grandparents’ room (to follow the game past midnight without disturbing their sleep) as “quite the task”.
‘Moscow’s Red Square was decked in yellow… the Brazilians had taken over Kazan’
Bhattacharya displaying his footballing colours in Russia Soumitra Bhattacharya
“Back then, I could never have imagined attending a World Cup in the host nation,” continues Bhattacharya, who made his in-person World Cup bow in Russia four years ago. “I was watching the Belgium-France semi-final in St. Petersburg when a Serbian gentleman seated next to me asked me, ‘You’ve really come all the way from India to watch the World Cup? Does India even play football?’ I was a tad embarrassed, of course, but I was far from the only Indian there. The atmosphere in Russia was something else… Moscow’s Red Square was decked in yellow prior to Colombia’s game against England and the Brazilians had taken over Kazan ahead of their quarter-final against Belgium,” says Bhattacharya, his eyes gleaming as he speaks. This year, Bhattacharya is off to Qatar, along with his two sons — the elder one supports Argentina since the days of Diego Maradona, the younger one supports England thanks to David Beckham and Manchester United. Once there, he will be joined by his Brazil-loving friends and together they hope to witness “all the big teams except Germany” during two round of 16 fixtures and two quarter-finals, though “we’ll miss the beer”.
Meanwhile, Bhattacharya’s wife, Snigdha (the couple have been married for 41 years), is off to Goa. “I only get interested in football when there’s a goal,” she says. “She was quite interested in 1990, though, as she found Italy’s Roberto Donadoni to be rather handsome,” retorts Bhattacharya, who goes on to lament over Donadoni and Italy’s ultimate downfall on home soil 32 years ago. “That Italy team deserved to be champions. What a pity they didn’t go all the way,” is Bhattacharya’s assessment. Were the Italians from ’90 the greatest team to never win the World Cup for him? “No, that has to be Brazil from ’82. The Brazil of Socrates, Zico and Falcao. Their elimination hurt me a lot at the time. It still stings,” admits Bhattacharya, who nonetheless retains admiration for Paolo Rossi, who put his beloved Brazil to the sword. “If only Brazil could defend, you know. They’ve always had a hopeless defence. And an even more hopeless goalkeeper,” regrets Bhattacharya, before clarifying that the Brazilian backline has improved in time for 2022.
‘Even before my friend could arrive, the match was as good as over’
Bhattacharya with his wife Snigdha Sourav Nandy
Talk of Brazil and their defending or lack thereof inevitably leads to the fateful night in 2014 when the five-time champions let in seven goals against a rampant Germany. “I was watching the match here in Hiland Park with a few of my friends. One of my friends was on his way. But even before he could arrive, the match was as good as over,” sighs Bhattacharya, recollecting the German blitzkrieg that put them 5-0 up inside the opening half an hour. Unlike most fans and experts who rued the absence of Neymar in that semi-final, Bhattacharya feels it was Thiago Silva who proved to be the bigger miss.
Now that both Silva and Neymar (hopefully in time for the knockouts) are present in Qatar, does Bhattacharya expect a sixth world title for Brazil? “I don’t know, it’s difficult to say. There are quite a few challenging teams. England look good. There’s Spain and France, too. Argentina and Germany are yet to play to their potential but they have the pedigree. So, you never know. However, I must say that I haven’t found Neymar to be as exhilarating as many make him out to be. He’s certainly not at the level of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.”
This coming from someone who still rates Pele as the best of the best he has seen at the World Cup. “That Brazil team from ’70 was at a completely different stature in terms of skill. Pele, actually, recreated the same goal he made for Carlos Alberto in the final against Italy here in Kolkata, when he played for New York Cosmos at the Eden Gardens in 1977.” To little surprise, right behind Pele in Bhattacharya’s hall of fame is Maradona. “He dominated the World Cup so comprehensively in ’86 that I have little to no memory of Brazil from Mexico. Also, let’s not forget that most of that Argentine team that won the World Cup had played in Kolkata during the Nehru Cup in ’84,” smiles Bhattacharya, who has also been awed by the likes of Johan Cruyff, Paolo Maldini and the attacking combination of Ronaldo and Rivaldo at World Cups over the years.
‘I think the deal is going through…there’s some trouble now’
Bhattacharya hopes to see Brazil lift their first World Cup since 2002 in Qatar FIFA
Which World Cup, if any, does Bhattacharya have the least fondness for? “I think it’s the 1978 tournament in Argentina (also won by Argentina). In many ways, that was a transitional World Cup, sandwiched between the eras of individual flair and more systematic, structured football. Brazil were lacklustre and could only make it to the third-fourth playoff. As for the final, there seemed to be a foul every 90 seconds in the match between Argentina and the Netherlands,” says Bhattacharya.
A Philips employee for 22 years of his career, Bhattacharya’s second team used to be the Netherlands, which put him in a somewhat awkward position as a fan when the Dutch eliminated Brazil in the last eight of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Eight years before that, Bhattacharya was privy to a business deal virtually falling apart in Singapore because of what was happening in Japan. “Brazil were playing England, and one of my colleagues was negotiating with clients from a British multinational. When Michael Owen gave England the lead, my colleague texted me saying, ‘I think the deal is going through.’ Then, Ronaldinho produced an outrageous free-kick that went sailing over the head of David Seaman and into the roof of the net. My colleague replied, ‘I think there’s some trouble now’,” chuckles Bhattacharya.
An amateur theatre performer in his leisure time, Bhattacharya loves travelling, especially to forests, and has taken up golf to keep himself occupied of late, though that means “I can’t always stay up to watch football at night if I have to play a couple of early rounds in the morning.”
As he heads off to Qatar, Bhattacharya is optimistic for Brazil, but not blinded by his love for them: “It’s not that I’ll stop eating or sleeping if Brazil crash out. I’m not a Brazilian, after all! Yes, I love Brazil, but more importantly, I love good football.”