Fútbolita

So the boys of Corinthians joined their fans and celebrity friends in yesterday’s centenary celebrations! More than 130,000 people packed the Vale do Anhangabaú, Sao Paulo’s equivalent of the Hyde Park region (or slightly better, amicis?) Que legal! In the midsts of all the celebrations and Lula-loving, somebody forgot to call Pele. How dare they!

According to the Brazilian media, many fans who packed the place “suffered a lot, were overwhelmed by the crowd and tried to break into the press area, but the police acted quickly and prevented them from doing more.”

“This is a wonderful party, just gotta thank you,” said Ronaldo Lima to the adoring crowd. “I will not say too much or I may cry,” he added, singing a congratulatory song for the club.

via Globoesporte

THE DEAL IS DONE. Milan have officially transformed into Brasil FC (now where is Ibracadabra going to fit in?) and all they need now is for Kaka to return and complete the rest of the picture! For our own reasons (he-he), he’d better stay at Real for at least one more season.

“AC Milan communicates it has acquired the player Robinho, outright from Manchester City. The Brazilian has signed a contract with the Rossoneri club for four years,” read a statement which was undoubtedly written by Berlusconi’s annoyed secretary.

Right now, you know that the zany producers of “Chiambretti Night” are also probably scrambling to get Robinho on the show. It’d be the best welcome gift ever!

via AP

It was a maravilloso night for the Inter boys as they made a clean sweep of all the UEFA Gala Awards, two of which naturally went to Brasileiros! Parabens to Sneijder, Julio Cesar, Maaaaaicon and Milito! Of course, Platini and friends opted to save on air tickets by making the already present winners draw the lots themselves. They obviously couldn’t afford Cruyff, who was busy tanning at a golf course somewhere in the world.

And as for the draw, many questions have risen over the authenticity of the process. Milan and Madrid in the same group AGAIN (with the added threat of Ajax!) is broma completa while Chelski and Barca will obviously sail through to the second round. Theose GORDO men in grey suits sitting at the front must stop all their dirty tricks before the Champs’ League turns into a joke!

Anyway, it’s the SuperCup Finale tonight! Kun Aguero Papa thinks Atletico will win it, but with Inter high on form (and confidence), they’ll probably prevent that from happening. Buennna suerteeee!

via UEFA, AFP, AP Photos

Bienvenido, tipoooo! We’re so thrilled to finally see Özilita in the La Liga. The choice of club may not be everybody’s favourite, but at least MouMou has some solid goals for Real in mind and you know he doesn’t care about the politics in the backroom. As far as Senhor Treinador is concerned, Flo Perez is just a fruit seller in all of this.

Said Ozil : “I spoke to my advisers and looked at the options but I always wanted to join the best team in the world, and to play under the best coach in the world, Jose Mourinho,” I spoke to him and he convinced me. What we spoke about will remain between him and me but that’s why I am here.”

Here he is, doing the Obligatory Madrid-Medical Pose! You can’t join the club officially until you agree to a photo with wires all over you! Also, you gotta Ozil’s ghetto get up with the white shoe, ya’ll.

Meanwhile, here is Internacional’s Rafael Sobis with the club flag… as he celebrated their Copa Libertadores win last night! Yes, Nilmar and Pato’s former club defeated Mexico’s Chivas 3-2, and they promptly walked away with the title of Libertadores champions. Parabennns, Internacional fans!

All the Cescy lovers (ooh, snappy!) at Barca must be feeling a little disappointed at the fact that a move back to Catalonia did not materialise. But that’s fine, because Chamakh and him are getting along just fine at Arsenal. Let him spend a few more seasons with the gunners then maybe Pique can do something to convince him of a return!

“I’m sure that someday he will join the club again. Although he is now working in London, he will always remain a culé,” said Pique to El Mundo Deportivo. Yes indeed, who knows?

via Elisa Estrada, Reuters, Gettyimages,

What a great day for Neymar! It was his debut for the selecao, and he delivered as promised to the people of Brasil! Hedgehog hairdo scored in a fitting 2-0 victory against the United States. E claro, the other goal was courtesy of Pato whom many of you have missed watching for Brasil. E hora de comemora because it’s a new squad, and we definitely like the style that was on display last night. Fast, free, flowing football that was demonstrated by three attackers – Ganso, Robinho and Neymar – who are Santos’ bros!

In addition, it was also a great start for Manoooo, whom we all know will be facing pressure in the lead up to 2014. He’s already declared that his priority is to make Brasil a more offensive team, which means we won’t be seeing much of Dopey’s ultra-defensive techniques and more exciting stuff from all these caras. And as for Neymar, he knows he’s got it… just take a look at his pose below. Work it!

“The performance was the result of the technical quality of the players. It was facilitated by the (fielding) of three players who work together at Santos. What we did in the two training sessions, mainly on Sunday, was to give a tactical organization, in terms of positioning, which enabled the technical quality to excel,” said Mano after the game.

Parabéns meninos!

via Terra, Gettyimages

Welcome to day 2 of Mano’s Seleção Bootcamp in New Jersey! The image above exudes so much ego that you can even smell Jersey Shore’s resident douche The Situation from ten miles away. Andre (right far end) is dying to know about Pato’s divorce pension but tipo ain’t saying anything for now. Seriously guys, quit the gossip…. concentrar-se na formação!

Anyway, the schedule remained the same yesterday, with some running drills, ball exercises and press calls. No word yet on who’s bunking with who, but you can be assured that Neymar, Ganso and Andre are living the Bro Life and watch episodes of Glee while feasting on popcorn. And since they’re in Jersey Shore, the bell boy probably kept his eyes open for some Snookin’.

As for Curly Fries da Silva, he miraculously recovered from food poisoning and took a later flight to join the squad! Look, he even offered autographs at the hotel lobby. Rafael had better have taken his Futbolita shirt along with him in his luggage. Cos’ that’s the way we roll, OK?

The friendly against the United States will be tomorrow, and our amigas in Brazil tell us that they will not be telecasting the game. Gasp! That’s despicable. This sounds like a job for the CQC crew!

via Terra Brasil, R.Ribeiro

BEM-VINDO to the Selecao Bootcamp, and as we always say, it’s a “tradition of Futbolita’s!” The guys have arrived in Jersey Shore (fist pump!) to train for the friendly against the United States scheduled for tomorrow. Mano Menezes wasted no time and made sure everyone HEARD what he had to say, which obviously meant no late nights and focus, focus, focus!

As always, manos divided themselves into two groups and got to work immediately. This time, there was no gym conditioning (oh damn) and everybody took to the field. Victor, Daniel Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, André Santos, Lucas, Ramires, Ganso and Robinho were in the grey shirts while Henrique, Rever, Marcelo, Ederson,  Neymar, André and Tardelli played with orange vests. And for those of you who were wondering about Rafael Fetus Da Silva, he’s now recovering from food poisoning, so he was unable to answer the call-up.  Que pena!

Anyway, here’s David Luiz getting all brotherly with the trio of Neymar, André and Ganso. They’re all the faces of 2014, so he’d better pick his side soon before it gets too late!

Fotos de R.Ribeiro

Robinho may have been on holiday in South Africa, but he’d better be worried because Neymar is ready to rock the house! Santos emerged winners of the Copa do Brasil last night, despite losing 2-1 to Victoria, simply because they already won the first leg of the match. Muito legal, indeed and Neymar decided to celebrate by wearing a shirt with a message dedicated to his family (“pai, mãe, irmã e amigos após a partida”) and climbed over barricades to celebrate with the fans which was splendid.

Edu Dracena opening the scoring for Santos, but even though Vitoria turned the heat up with goals from Wallace and Júnior, they managed to contain their opponents and duly celebrated in estilo Brasileiro.

Oh, look what we have here! It’s IkerBonero getting it on again in Los Angeles. Wait, isn’t he supposed to be IN preseason training doing drills or something, with the goalkeeping coach?!! That’s right, this is a pretty “old” photo, but it was still worth posting anyway. All you lucky folks from LA probably already witnessed the Pied Piper of Higuain’s double against Club America last night.

Oh dude, es temprano, pero que está listo! (it’s early, but you’re ready). Keep it coming, yeah?

Last season, all eyes were on Antonio Valencia (who quite frankly, hasn’t lived up to his billing). This season, the United aficionados will be screaming Chicharito’s name like he’s the new Jalapeño mixed drink! So of course, tipo will be feeling a tad bit of pressure when the BPL kicks off and your nine million neighbours start unveiling their AON plastered jerseys with their names personalised.

Whatever the case, Chicharito will not tolerate any hatin’ this season because he’s in the fetus clique with the likes of the Da Silva brothers and they all can throw a mean punch when Berbatov walks past. DO NOT MESS!

And as for his teammate, Anderson, we feel truly sorry for him after learning about the car crash, but this is certainly not going to help his career.

via Reuters, AFP, Terra, Hola

Fútbolita had the honor of recently interviewing one of football’s greatest forwards to date, Romario! We’re happy to report that contrary to popular belief, he is one of the most down-to-earth players we’ve met …. but one who also lives up to his reputation!

Romario also received the exclusive Cultzeros-Futbolita tee, (“e muito legal, eu gosto”) and told us about his career, that toe-poke technique of his, Brazil’s World Cup, his relationship with Bebeto and even his son. Don’t worry, we told him that Romarinho ‘e muito fofo’ on behalf of all of you. And despite our Portuguese, he got the message but was quick to add that Romarinho will ‘never’ be the next him.

ASH: Firstly, Romario, please tell us how you mastered that brilliant toe-poke goal technique of yours!

Romario (smiling): It’s a technique that is very special to me. It took many years of training and perfection for me to finally become comfortable and start scoring goals with it! But it’s something that cannot be ‘taught’ – you can either score a goal by the toe poke or not. There is no ‘right way’ to do it and I’m glad to be able to win many matches thanks to it.

ASH: Everybody in Brazil said Felipe Melo was the villain in the game against the Netherlands. Do you agree?

ROMARIO: It is difficult to say. He is clearly one of the best players in the world and a great professional, because to be selected to play for the Brazil team is not easy. But on that day of the quarterfinals, he simply did not perform well for the selecao and was very unlucky with the cards and fouls. There was a lot of pressure but unfortunately, he was blamed for causing our elimination but I will not call him a ‘vilao’ (villain).

ASH: What were the problems in this Brazilian team? How can Mano Menezes improve on this?

ROMARIO: They need to bring back the Brazilian football style to what it was before. Dunga played a defensive style of football, that is not unique to us and many people disliked it. His methods failed at the World Cup because our players were not used to it. The new coach, Mano (Menezes) needs to encourage the players to attack, keep passing, moving fast, and instill a sense of ‘hunger’ in the new players so that they will want to win the World Cup again. He needs to ‘renovate’ the team, experiment and bring new boys in. And the new coach must also remember that always playing beautiful football is essential to the Brazilians.

ASH: You scored many beautiful goals in your career. Which one is your favourite? We know it’s hard to choose from 1,000 of them!

ROMARIO: Of course, it’s hard to pick just one (laughs). I scored many, many goals and I don’t remember all of them. But if I had to choose, it would be when I scored the two goals against Uruguay (1994 World Cup qualification) to send Brazil to the finals of tournament, which we later won. It was even more special to me because I scored the goals in the Maracana stadium, Brazil’s most historical stadium.
For me, the most beautiful goals I have scored in my career would definitely be for the selecao, and I can’t say it any other way. The feelings are different than playing for a club because you are wearing the green and yellow of your country, and there is always a sense of pride that comes with it.

ASH: What are your plans for Romarinho? (Son) He is now playing for the youth team of Vasco de Gama and has shown a lot of promise. Do you believe he will become the ‘next Romario?’

Romario: For him to become the next Romario will be quite complicated because there is only one Romario and that is me (laughing)! But on the other hand, I want him to have a successful career, play with a lot of heart, develop his style and become his own person and footballer at Vasco, where I started my career. I want Romarinho to score many goals, and I think more importantly, I want him to be able to prove any and all (of his) critics wrong in the future.

ASH: You also play beach football and footvolley. Is this how many footballers – both female and male – in Brazil start their careers in football?

Romario: Ah, definitely. Both games are similar to football and many Brazilians like to spend their time at the beach playing with the ball and it doesn’t matter what game it is, whether football or footvolley. It helps you develop your style of playing, and for me, I started my career mostly playing at the beach. So I’m always happy to play.

ASH : And your son, Romarinho, was seen a lot at the Rio beach with Ronaldinho. Are they good friends?

Romario : Yes, we all are good friends. Romarinho is very close to the nephew of Ronaldinho, Diego, who is in Milan now. And whenever we (or Romarinho) visits Milan, they will visit each other and they will play against each other. Who wins? No one does – it’s a draw!

ASH: What is your relationship with Bebeto (seen above, centre) like now? Do you speak with him? (both players were former adversaries)

Romario : Yes, of course. I speak to him a lot and Bebeto is a great friend of mine. In the past, we had a few problems with each other but it was only because we both wanted to do well for the (national) team. Later, he joined me at America, where he coached for a few games but he still remains a good friend of mine even though I made the decision to sack him (after eight games). Our friendship is still great, and it was a professional decision.

ASH: What about Pele? In the past, he said many things about your attitude that you did not like.

Romario: I respect Pele a lot because he has done a lot for Brazilian football. To me, he is still the best in the game. I regret some of the things I said, but at that time, I was very passionate about playing for Brazil and I was going through a bad time when he said those things. But I will always have respect for him.

ASH : There are many youngsters here in Singapore who want to be as successful as you were in football. What advise do you, Romario, have for them?

Romario: I want to say to them that in order to become the best in football, you must know the basic techniques and if you don’t, be prepared to work hard to ‘perfect’ it. You must always be happy with what you do to. Never play football or do something if you do not feel passionate about it. You must also be disciplined, and be prepared to make a lot of sacrifices. It is not an easy journey.

ASH: As a former World Cup champion, do you believe Spain deserved to win the World Cup?
Romario: As I said before, Netherlands and Spain are two teams close to my heart (he played for both PSV and Barcelona). But Spain deserved to win for the first time because they played beautiful football and were “os melhores” (the best) in the tournament.

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Photos 2 & 4 © Futbolita
Photos 1 & 3 via SportingHeroes

Ok, forgive us for the lack of a creative title, but like Neymar, we’re kind of surprised at Manoooo Menezes’ 24-man squad for the USA friendly on August 10th. With so many new faces for Seleção Bootcamp, everyone needs to attend Orientation Camp ASAP!  Meninos like Rafael Curly Fries da Silva, Ganso, Pato and (drumroll) Hernanes, also finally received their call-ups after waiting on it forever. This is not to say that all of them deserved it (Lucas??), but it’s a nice technique to soothe the Brazilian public who can’t shut the image of defeat from their minds.

Rafaelito knows it, and he will be throwing a bitchface – like the one below – if you do not agree that he deserved the call-up. Seriously, enough of PS3 and barbecuing in Manchester… it’s time for the real deal. Hopefully, Fabio isn’t jealous because sibling rivalry is hilarious!

FULL SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Victor (Gremio), Renan (Avai), Jefferson (Botafogo)

Defenders: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Rafael (Manchester United), Andre Santos (Fenerbahce), Marcelo (Real Madrid), David Luiz (Benfica), Henrique (Racing), Rever (Atletico-MG), Thiago Silva (Milan)

Midfielders: Sandro (Internacional), Ramires (Benfica), Lucas (Liverpool), Jucilei (Corinthians), Ganso (Santos), Ederson (Lyon), Hernanes (Sao Paulo), Carlos Eduardo (Hoffenheim)

Forwards: Robinho (Santos), Diego Tardelli (Atletico-MG), Alexandre Pato (Milan), Andre (Santos), Neymar (Santos)

Photos via Gettyimages/Reuters

Don’t worry, we haven’t transformed into a Wedding Agency yet. It’s just the season for Baller’ Banquets. All you need to do is to scroll down and you’ll be ready to chuck that useless copy of InStyle Weddings! Last year (during this time), Nilmar, Pato, Lucas and Roberto Carlos all married their partners days apart from one another. One year on, three out of four ain’t so bad.

Baptista’s linda wife is a 2003′s Miss León Silvia Nistal, and although they’re both based in Italy now, the couple originally met in Spain (presumably when he was a Madridista). So of course, they decided to ‘formalize’ things in Madrid. How sweet! Former Arsenal teammate, Cescy and his novia, Carla, were thrilled to attend the ceremony as well.

Of course, it would’ve been sweeter if Baptista had gotten married after winning the World Cup with Brasil. Well, too bad. Manooooo, are you listening?

Fotos via EFE/ HOLA

From the looks of it, all Detinho (next to Ronaldo) wants is a FREE PASS to Mano Menezes‘ next seleção bootcamp! That expression on his face says it all. You could dial an ambulance and you still won’t be able to incept the Menezes/Detinho mind game because dude is dying to go to Granja Comary ASAP. They have a secret pact which does not include Roberto Carlos, infelizmente.

The point of this is to put our hands together, stand in a circle and say “Bem-vindo!!!” to the former Corinthians coach who will needing some of Dopey’s sleeping pills now as the official Brazilian national team coach! E ai MANO?!

Take a good look at the man whose first job is to say “Felipe Melo Who?”

Photos via Mauricio Lima/AFP

Sometimes, we wonder what it must be like to have Ronaldo O Fenomeno as your dad. Apart from waking up everyday to see your father’s public antics with a woman who isn’t your mother being splashed all over the gossip rags, it must be cool. And maybe a little weird! What does that make Bia Antony, then? Ronald’s aunt?

Anyway, here’s Ronald (yes, that’s his name!) enjoying some quality father-son bonding session at Deco’s friendly match held in Indaiatuba, a city north of of Sao Paulo.

Photos via AFP (Mauricio Lima)

A fellow futbolita mentioned how much of a douche Pato has seemingly MORPHED into lately, from refusing to give his ex-wife Sthefany (above) a cent of his multimillion dollar fortune to apparently barring her from talking to her parents and cutting off her credit card! Ok, the latter is completely understandable, but the former? Que ridículo!

Anyway, after she finally left Milan to return to Brazil, they’ve been battling over how much she should be receiving. Judge Maria Cristina de Lima Brito from the first Family Court has decided that Sthefany should receive 20% of Pato’s income every month, which amounts up to $130,000. A lawyer from Sao Paulo also said that “It’s not common to give such sentences to healthy people who can resume work with ease, as in Sthefany’s case.”

Oh well… this is escandaloso!! As for Pato, here he is blowing a vuvuzela at the opening of Nike’s community Football Training Center in Soweto, South Africa earlier this month. The center will give 20,000 young footballers a year the chance to develop their football talent while also having access to HIV/AIDS education. Everyone looked thrilled!

Photos via NIKE, Roberto Filho

So The Messiah is incredibly exhausted.. but he still has six months to go until they crown the new FIFA World Player of the Year, so tipo has to WORK IT! It must be incredibly tiring to go back to playing football right after the World Cup, so he was nice enough to pick all the players whose teams went out early in the tournament. Obviously, folks like Materazzi had ample time to go for a spa, enjoy a manicure AND get inked at the same time while Lucio, as ya’ll know, has been hitting the bitch with Juan!

Edgar Davids and Kevin Urandi also didn’t have anything to say to Marco and Lucio, so they decided to have their own conversations (as seen below) instead. Seriously, what could Edgar and Lucio have spoken about? Felipe Melo?

It’s that time of the year again… the “Gêmeo Season!” The question is, can you tell the Da Silva brothers apart below? Meu Deus, someone needs to give them a hairdryer, the Perpetual Greaseano look is not working!!

Anyway, caras are now in the USA with the rest of the United gang as part of their pre-season tour. They’d better bring their Futbolita tees along for the ride. Hmmm, Fabio (left) is trying to recall where na terra he put it!

Last, and certainly not least, es hora de Ikerbonero! They’re now officially Pap material, which means you’ll probably be seeing them every morning at the breakfast table as you sip tea next to Arsene Wenger.

Anyway, here they are after enjoying a nice little dinner and getting into Wedgiellas’ car. OK, we don’t really care where they’re heading to or if he decides to get a new haircut, but he’d better keep Sara because she’s one of the few girls he has dated with actual brains!

via Gettyimages, Hola and AFP