"Come on the Força!!!"

Now that the Opium of the Masses is working its pernicious magic again, with the mandatory wearing of the colours (2006 versions), display of the flag & tearful singing of the national anthem 5 times a day, I thought I'd go take a Lisbon-Look to find out what's happened 2 years on at one of those giant gleaming stadiums built to measure at the prompting of the construction lobby for Euro 2004.

First a reminder of that glorious 4th July 04, mid-afternoon, hours before it all went pear-shaped cos the Tugas - and the trainer, Volare Scolari above all - forgot that when you get into a final, you actually have to take it more seriously than just get the nation to help you find your way to the stadium with 30 kms of human chain, horses, boats, jet-skis, motor-cycles, cars and 50,000 flags, then stroll around the pitch, posing for photos, kissing babies & generally behaving like it was just another Sunday stroll by the riverside in Belem. The Greeks KNEW what they were there for! The first photo sums up that day for me: Portugal was a pretty little girl & Greece was a handsome, swarthy, fearless warrior who insured himself by bringing his own Gods with him for everyone to see. Hence the knowing gleam in their eyes and the beautiful, but innocent smile in hers. Result: 1-0 to Greece. I already knew they would win when I shot this. And when I had their battle-songs translated for me!
So, the circus moves on to Germany, where yesterday on a German national holiday, 13,000 Portuguese immigrants packed into the local little stadium to watch the Tugas have a mockery of a 2-hour training session, wearing the colours, singing the national anthem, chanting as if this was the Final! The average crowd at a Portuguese 1st Division match is less than half that number!!! Can't you see the same writing on the wall as me? Sometime in the next month, there will be more tears, lamentation and shrugs, bitter "I-told-you-so"s, along with 500,000 broken flags when the boys return without a cup and thus, no need to go directly to Fátima to give thanks (as usual). "When Will They Ever Learn?"
Meanwhile, this is theEstadio Alvalade XXI today. The scene of at least 5 nights of passion 6 high drama (at a construction cost of about 35 million euros an hour) two years ago, is this Mother Nature gloriously & imperiously taking back what was Hers?
See next post for the actual function of this stadium in 2006......................