ginga: the soul of brazilian football

News Flash! My fellow North Americans...in case you didn't know, the World Cup begins in just about 10-days on June 9. :) A world sports event that is watched just about everywhere except the U.S.(and maybe Canada??). I decided to make effort to keep up with the month long series of games...since Brazil is a favorite to win again and I will be arriving just after the final game is played in July. Plus, the next World Cup will be in South Africa in 2010...so, I can get a jump start on catching the fever, if I end up there.

The games are in Germany, so that means a lot of morning and early-afternoon games with the time difference. Beware...I may be calling you friends with cable. I even thought about getting a Brazil team jersey or shirt...but my friend Walter (from Argentina) just might disown me. Hmmmmmm......

When goggling for World Cup and Brazil team info, I found a documentary on Brasil football...."Ginga: The Soul of Brazilian Football." Here's the description and link to the online film, if you want to check it out. It is divided up into seven different profiles of seven different players.

Ginga: The Soul of Brazilian Football

"Brazilian football has always had a magical quality and a romance associated with it. As well as helping them win the World Cup a record five times, it is what makes Brazil everybody's favourite team after their own country. But what sets Brazil and its football apart from the rest?

One of the answers is Ginga - an almost indefinable, mystical quality of movement and attitude possessed only by Brazilians and evident in everything they do. The way they walk, talk, dance and approach everything in their lives.

Ginga is what gives Brazilian futbol players their fluidity and rhythm on the pitch and enables them to 'Joga Bonito' (Play Beautiful).

Now a new film - entitled Ginga: The Soul of Brazilian Football - has been created to explore this influence on football and life in Brazil.

Produced by Fernando Mereilles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) and directed by three up-and-coming young filmmakers, Ginga is a dynamic documentary that explores Brazil through the country's favorite sport.

The concept of the film is rooted in the exploration of seven real-life characters, aged between the ages of 13 and 20, who come from different geographical regions and varying social and ethnic backgrounds..."