2023-10-06 11:30:14
Anyone who has had the opportunity to drive through the streets of Santa Maria, in the beating heart of Rio Grande, might agree with me: it may not be the worst place in the world to drive because we still have India, for example. But, without a doubt, some of the worst drivers in Brazil are here.
One day, after seeing INTER being eliminated from yet another competition the night before, I was walking down Rua Floriano Peixoto, the penultimate block, in the morning, with literally no cars nearby and a man decided, to test my luck, to take his “white car” out of the way. parking position on the street into the traffic lane and unceremoniously cuts in front of me. Then I had the unfortunate idea of giving the horn a light tap. I imagined that due to his age, the gentleman hadn’t noticed my presence.
However, isn’t the guy offended? He gestured, put his hand out of the car window with his middle finger raised and, as if that wasn’t enough, he stopped the car on the road right in front of me. I even put my hand on the handbrake to anchor the car and be able to jump out the door towards the unsuspecting driver in an impulse of anger.
In other times it would have caused some confusion. But I must be getting old or prudent… maybe both, because I thought it wasn’t worth the fight. I was faced with a choice between: 1) a few meters ahead, turn the car to the right and never see the guy again in my life; or, 2) opt for violence and hit an elderly person or get beaten up by an old man (who knows? given that I haven’t actually taken to the street since mid-1991, approximately) or, who knows what kind of confusion I would get involved for a futile reason; that is, in any situation, opting for scenario 2, I would be wrong.
Obviously I didn’t evaluate this at the time of the ridiculous clash. As I don’t have the habit of arguing, I just shook off the idea and thought out loud “it’s not worth it”. A few more meters and a few resisted provocations and I was free from that karmic encounter without any major damage.
Karma… a heavy word of Hindu origin that we Brazilianize for debt or fate. Karma is not fate, just as fate does not necessarily need to be karma. Karma is remediable, negotiable and can even be transformed into Dharma. A fate does not have any of these options. Karma is a consequence while fate is a destiny. Kharma has to do with our choices, fate is a path of no return.
So sometimes, especially after crushing defeats like Wednesday’s, I wonder if being Ranked isn’t a kind of karma. Some kind of spiritual mortification or a shame that the subject is self-impelled.
After each inexplicable defeat, it’s always the same cycle: the team gives hope, INTER loses a decisive game when it depended only on itself to make a beautiful story, players apologize, fans swear eternal love despite the regrets… some executioner is elected and /or villain… and the cycle is renewed until new hope.
Are there moments of redemption? Clear! If it weren’t for the achievements we would be masochists and not fans. But it’s incredible how INTER can lose when it seems like the only IMPOSSIBLE option. For example, in this round of Libertadores semi-finals. In the middle of Rio de Janeiro, in the first game, the team could kill the dispute for a place in the final in the first round of matches. We had one more player on the field for practically the entire second half and what happened? He left it to be decided at home (right Renê?).
And at home, with the Beira-rio full and the surroundings of the stadium pulsing like a heart in love with the vibration of the fans who went there even without tickets, we had the game won, the match dominated and what does the team do?
I don’t know… I hope someone explains to me what they did from 30 minutes into the second half. R$ 60 thousand reais invested in Ruas de Fogo for the players to be afraid of giving a cart and killing Fluminense’s attack play or giving a cart and letting the second goal happen? Hold the ball in attack and close the middle?
Like every plot, you have your villains… I have mine. I believe we will find several explanations. But that doesn’t solve anything. There is no point in coming today with a diagnosis for the patient who died yesterday. It is necessary to change the team’s mentality, adjust the club’s philosophy. Do I have to play to win? Ever! But you also need to know when to suffer in the game and when to pace the game… you need to know how to kill the game and when to stop playing the game.
At INTER today it seems that most players are afraid or ashamed of fouling or fouling. They don’t even look for holding the ball in attack anymore! We were world champions playing like this: neither ugly nor beautiful, but being pragmatic and objective, exploiting your potential to the maximum. For years, the team always seems to be saving itself for a big day that never comes. As long as this continues like this, every now and then we will revisit this feeling of mourning for yet another stupid, unfair defeat motivated by stupid mistakes.
Rafael Sóbis defined the sport well during an interview: football is a game of mistakes and whoever makes the least mistakes wins. Football, just like in life or traffic, is not about justice or merit, it is always about doing the right thing at the right time.
#Night #BeiraRio #Sighed #BLOG #VERMELHO