World Cup 2018: Brazilian songs, Moscow streets and why England know they're not yet feared by those who matter
England can be happy with their draw but so will those sides who may face them
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Your support makes all the difference.The cascade of Brazilian fans that have poured through the streets of Moscow over the past couple of days have a new song that they’re quite enjoying.
The rhyme is, of course, somewhat lost in this rough translation but the words go a little something like this:
“I can't hide how I feel about you, Russia! No can do! No can do!
“Just know that Germany shudders, that Argentina only has Messi, inevitably the Italians dance and that Zidane was not born in France. That Iniesta can’t play any more and just know that being Brazilian is too good.
“Ey oh ey oh ey oh, I am Brazilian!” And repeat, preferably while jumping up and down on a Metro train or in a crowded Moscow thoroughfare, surrounded by compatriots bedecked in yellow and green while doused in the city’s dwindling supplies of beer.
The song itself is nothing extraordinary at all and continues in the good tradition of those South American fan ditties that first and foremost take friendly pops at their rivals before some proud proclamations of national pride. Argentina’s Decime que se siente became the soundtrack of the 2014 World Cup and mocked their hosts and neighbours, as well as reiterating Diego Maradona’s supremacy over Pele. This time around, Argentina’s favourite song focuses on Chile’s absence while that is also a theme that has brought the best out of Peruvian voices.
But popping on an Anglocentric hat it is impossible not to notice that England aren’t even included in the picture. Dearest Brazilians, you have brought colour and fun and verve to Russia but can you not mock Gareth Southgate’s penalty shoot-out record? Would you mind poking some fun at the fact that England were knocked out of Euro 2016 by a country with the population of Southend? Please?
Because hearing that song reverberate around the needlessly impressive marble halls of the Moscow underground system is a reminder of just how little England feature in the minds of the teams that are actually considered contenders for this World Cup. It is why for all the delight on Thursday night about falling into the notionally softer side of the knockout draw , the excitement about ‘it’ coming home should be tempered somewhat.
As you will hear repeatedly over the coming days, England haven’t won a knockout game in a major tournament for 12 years, since knocking off Ecuador 1-0 in Germany. To beat their neighbours will be a somewhat more complex task even if Colombia’s talisman, James Rodriguez, is now an injury doubt.
That absence will legitimately make England favourites and the overriding sentiment back home seems to be that whoever comes next will also be but a midge for England to swat away like Jesse Lingard on a steamy Volgograd evening.
Yet for all the jubilation and hypothesising there remain two clear and present truths; one is that England must, of course, win a knockout game for the first time in the iPhone era, and the second is that the major players see England as part of that soft draw too. Should Southgate’s side exceed all expectations and reach the semi-finals they will meet Spain, with La Roja likely to be overwhelming favourites.
So for all the fortune in the way the cookie crumbled for England, it is up to them to put in the performances that we think - that we’re pretty sure - that they are capable of. It is up to England to not just win one knockout game but maybe two, or even three. It is up to England to make a splash at this tournament, at any tournament, and then perhaps we may hear the big boys singing a different tune.
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