O mundo de Beckham

Todo mundo já deu essa história, mas caso alguém não tenha visto, reproduzo nota que o New York Times publicou em sua edição de hoje:

"David Beckham has recently expanded his soccer empire to include Brazil. Cabo São Roque, a new luxury resort to be located 20 miles north of Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte, will feature “David Beckham World of Sport,” a professional training center with eight soccer fields — six grass and two AstroTurf — accommodations for both individuals and entire teams, and a multipurpose stadium that will seat up to 10,000 people (Brazil will be host of the World Cup in 2014). Mr. Beckham, right, will also open his third soccer academy there, which will offer a scholarship program for Brazilian children. The resort will have a 3,500-acre beachfront, three hotels, 1,350 residences, indoor and outdoor pools, a spa, a gym and child-care facilities. The resort and the sports complex are expected to open in 2010."

Garrincha é lembrado no "Guardian"

O blog de esportes do Guardian lembrou de Garrincha. Indica dois vídeos do YouTube: um com vários lances do jogador do Botafogo e outro com a reportagem exibida pelo Jornal Nacional na ocasião da sua morte. O post original, com os links: 1) Time for another dribble down memory lane, this time with Garrincha opening his box of tricks. This is the man voted the second best player in Brazilian history after Pele and the eighth best of all time by Fifa. We'd like to see Cristiano Ronaldo do a stepover with a deformed spine, his right leg bent inwards and his left leg six centimetres shorter and curved outwards. I don't think so. When you watch this you can see why he was sometimes called Alegria do Povo ("Joy of the People"). See how much he meant by watching his Diana-esque funeral in 1983."

Quer ser dono de um time?

Os ingleses do Myfootballclub querem comprar um time de futebol (mas ainda não decidiram qual). Para isso, lançaram o site e pedem doações aos internautas que queiram entrar na empreitada. A BBC diz que eles estão quase lá. Se eu fosse eles, procuraria o Palmeiras ou o Corinthians, por motivos óbvios. Ótima pauta, ainda mais para os brasileiros.

Zidane e o 12 de julho

Ok, o Brasil joga domingo uma final contra a Argentina. Mas não custa lembrar que hoje, dia 12 de julho, é o aniversário da derrota para a França, na Copa de 1998. Parabéns, Zidane. Aproveito e deixo aqui dois trechos do filme “Zidane, um retrato do século XXI”, de Douglas Gordon e Philippe Parreno. O jogador francês foi acompanhado, durante um jogo inteiro, por 17 câmeras. É de arrepiar; uma obra de arte. Alguém sabe quando estréia no Brasil? Leia matéria (em inglês) da revista Cahiers du Cinéma. O primeiro trecho do filme está aqui. O outro, aqui.

Dunga na "Der Spiegel"

O New York Times News Service Syndicate colocou uma entrevista da Der Spiegel com o técnico Dunga em seu cardápio de matérias. Para saber o preço e a disponibilidade é preciso entrar em contato com a representante deles no Brasil, Regina Marzagão: marzars@nytimes.com.

A pauta traz um trecho da conversa:

Poverty Is No Good for Anything
Christoph Biermann. 1400 words.
SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the coach of the Brazilian national football team, Carlos Dunga, about the crisis of his international star Ronaldinho, the world-wide traffic in Brazilian talents, and his team's prospects for success at the South America Championships in Venezuela:
'Ronaldinho came back from his holidays after the World Cup and was playing again the very next day. How was he supposed to play a good season without any proper foundation? But of course everyone wants him to play-myself included. … Our clubs need to be protected better by new laws. In my day, some players went abroad when they were 25 or 26 years old. Nowadays clubs are already selling off their players to Europe at the age of 17 or 18, in order to receive a transfer payment at all. … Brazil always has to win.'