Football

What football means to me

Everybody knows that Brazilians love football (most of them, at least!). As a Brazilian, I love football too. The first time I saw a football match it was on the 2006 World Cup, in Germany. I fell in love for this sport so much that some days after, I decided to watch the reprise of the match Switzerland x Croatia (not exactly the kind of match that people usually watch during a World Cup...). From 2006 to now, I learned how football can change your life.
Football is much more than "eleven men running for a ball". For those who say that:
-First of all, it's  not exactly 11, but 22 men "running for a ball".
-No, it is not only this.
Football is the most popular sport in the world for many, many reasons. Some of them are:

1) Its versatility 
If you want to play basketball, you need a basket, and a ball that can bounce. For volleyball, you need a net and a ball. For tennis, a ball that can bounce too, a net and a tennis racket. But for football... you don't even need a ball to play football in fact. If you have one, it's better. But you can also play using an empty bottle, a rock, a paper ball, a soda can, anything. If you want to have goals to play, you can use two rocks to build a goal, or two flip flops maybe. 

2) You forget your problems when you play football
When you are playing football, you forget all your problems, however serious they are. You just focus in having a great time with your friends and playing well. And when you finish playing, you are able to face your problems, because you are relaxed.


3) Watching football is amazing!
Watching a football match on TV is a great experience. The emotion of celebrating a goal is amazing, and to celebrate a win is even better. If you watch a match on the stadium, the experience gets even more fantastic. The atmosphere, being among thousands of people that are supporting the same team, seeing your favourite players "live", everything is amazing!



When I discovered football, my life changed completely. I think it's a kind of religion maybe, because it has a similar function than religion. As religious people have it as the reason to live, football makes football fans have a reason to live too. If a football fan is sad, and everything is going wrong for him, he doesn't mind: tomorrow his team will play, and he will have a great experience! And that repeats week after week. The match of your team is like a "checkpoint" in your life.


This is why football is so important to me. If you haven't "discovered" this sport, try it. Your life will probably change too.