São Paulo – Lots of people wearing green and yellow in houses and bars. Lots of horns sounding off. Motorcades of cars in the streets. This was how Beirut, the Lebanese capital, looked like once again this Friday (25th), during the third match of the Brazilian team in the FIFA World Cup. "Upon seeing the motorcades and marches in the streets, one Brazilian who arrived here for the first time was moved to tears, because he had never seen the joy and the flag outside of Brazil," says the Lebanon-based Brazilian researcher and writer Roberto Khatlab.
The Brazilian who was touched was a professor at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo, Luiz Carlos Merege, who arrived in the country to get to know his origins, along with his wife Marcia Moussalem, and was surprised with the party and fireworks. The zero-zero tie in the match against Portugal did not bring the spirits of the Lebanese down, and they should continue rooting for the Brazilian team next Monday (28th), in the last 16 phase.
The Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (Usek), which houses the Centre for Latin American Studies and Cultures, has a space with big screens, at the student parking lot, for the crowd to watch the matches. The Brazilian matches are the most sought, says Khatlab. "Each match brings together approximately 700 people, including youths, children, the elderly, all of them holding the Brazilian flag and wearing the shirt” says the researcher, who is of Lebanese descent.
The fans include Brazilians who live in the Arab country and the Lebanese themselves. Thus, the crowd screams in Arabic and in Portuguese. Amidst the crowd watching the match against Portugal at the Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik, for instance, was the vice-consul of Brazil in Beirut, Luiz Eduardo Pedroso, along with his family. The director of the Usek’s Central Library, Joseph Moukarzel, was also present. “A Lebanese with a Brazilian heart,” describes Khatlab.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
