Vila Madalena, one of São Paulo’s top nightlife spots, "should be heaving," according to Samantha Pearson of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The national team "is playing." What is more, "they are winning." However, as Junior Dooley, a bouncer at one of the many empty bars showing the game, explains, Brazilians -- such as himself -- "could not give a crap." It "is not that he does not like football." Rather, it "is because no one supports the national squad any more, least of all the one playing in the Olympics." Dooley: "I’m Corinthians until I die, but this is not real football." Brazil "won the game 4-0 against Denmark." The win was a relief to the squad, "but the silence in the bars of the country’s biggest metropolis as the game ended, and the number of empty seats in the stadium, are clear signs that the sport in Brazil is in crisis." Celso Cardoso, a journalist and commentator on Brazil’s TV Gazeta, said, "In the past, the Brazilian team was a piece of national heritage, a great passion for Brazilians. But today fans see the team like a business of the Brazilian Football Confederation -- they don’t identify with them." When Brazil hosted the football World Cup in '14, Vila Madalena "seemed like a different place." Military police "were called in to contain the crowds as fans turned the neighbourhood into a 24-hour party zone." Renato, a banker, said, "You couldn’t even move along this street during the World Cup." Summing up the low expectations most Brazilians have for the games this month, one fan tweeted, "We’re meant to be the country of football and we lost 7-1 in the World Cup at home. If our Olympic swimmers don’t drown then I’m happy" (FT, 8/11).
