The great American football experiment takes another peculiar turn this evening as Brazil and Morocco prepare to lock horns at the MetLife Stadium. Fo...
The great American football experiment takes another peculiar turn this evening as Brazil and Morocco prepare to lock horns at the MetLife Stadium. For those of us who cut our teeth on European terraces, there is something profoundly disorienting about watching a World Cup knockout staged in a New Jersey car park, but the atmosphere here is genuinely stirring. Three hours before kick off, the yellow tide had already swallowed the concourses. It is a sea of Canarinho that stretches from the turnstiles to the corporate boxes, outnumbering the visiting Moroccan red by a factor of ten to one.This is not merely a home fixture for the Seleção. It is a reunion. The tri state area houses a vast Brazilian diaspora, and they have answered the call with a fervour that would shame many a domestic crowd. I have spent the afternoon wandering amongst them, listening to the chatter. You hear Portuguese, of course, but you also hear the accents of those who have travelled. Moroccans have flown in from Marrakech, from Dubai, from the United Kingdom and, in numbers that genuinely surprised me, from Montreal. That is the glorious, chaotic reality of a truly global tournament. Fans will cross continents for a single evening of transitional play and the chance to witness clinical finishing live.Tactically, Brazil will be expected to dictate the tempo from the first whistle. Their squad is packed with the kind of individual brilliance that can unpick any low block, but Morocco are no longer the plucky underdogs of yesteryear. They have a defensive structure that is resilient to the point of infuriating, and they will look to exploit any space left behind by Brazil's marauding full backs. The question, as ever, is whether they can maintain that discipline against the relentless psychological pressure of a side that expects to win. Squeaky bum time will arrive sooner or later.For the neutral, this is a fixture dripping with narrative. For the fan in the stands, it is simply a night to sing until the voice cracks. The red of Morocco may be a minority here, but they have travelled from the four corners of the earth to make themselves heard. Do not mistake their smaller numbers for a lack of conviction. They have not journeyed all this way to park the bus and hope. They have come to believe.The pitch looks immaculate, the lights are blazing, and the noise is building to a crescendo. GoalZaza's man in the box, Leander Schaerlaeckens, has the perfect view of what promises to be a contest full of pent up emotion and tactical cunning. Let us see who blinks first.
