Now, more than ever, you need a designer
3 days ago
| The visionary midfielder who served as captain and orchestrator of the last Brazilian team to embody their country’s “joga bonito” (“beautiful game”) philosophy of free-flowing attacking football, confident that they could always score more than the goals they’d ship through defensive lapses, died on Sunday morning at age 57 – the fact that food poisoning took him in the end seems so absurd it might have made him laugh. He laughed easily, this man of the people, hailed by President Dilma Roussef as one of Brazil’s most cherished sons. Socrates had distinguished himself not only by demonstrating unique abilities on the field; like Roussef, he had accepted the obligation of citizenship to fight for democracy against Brazil’s military dictatorship. And his relentless pro-democracy stand confounded the generals’ efforts to use football – “futebol” – to distract Brazilians from thinking about their rights. “On the field with his talent and sophisticated touches, he was a genius,” said Roussef. “Off the field, he was active politically, concerned with his people and his country.” |
