Samba Soccer | The transformation of Brazil's most storied team

  
by Ben McGrath

"The New Statesman argument, perhaps overstated, that this might be the last significant World Cup reflects an increasing reality of globalization. The top professional leagues have achieved such international reach, both in filling out their rosters and in the fan bases from which they draw their support, that the allure of ostensibly amateur spectacles like the World Cup and the Olympics (which Brazil will host, too, in 2016) is diminished by comparison. We associate Lionel Messi, by consensus the best player in the world, as much, if not more, with Barcelona, for whom he plays most of the year, as with his native Argentina. Last spring, Neymar, Brazil's next great hope, decamped for Barcelona to join him. Diego Costa, a Brazilian forward who plays professionally in Madrid, stunned fans of the Seleeeo when he announced, a few months ago, that he'd be playing next summer for the national team of his host country, which had granted him dual citizenship."

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