Rio Report: Olympic Football Apathy Reigns as Neymar Disappoints

OLYMPIC PARK, RIO DE JANEIRO — Every four years, the general public develop a passion for rowing, track cycling, sailing, beach volleyball or whichever Olympic disciplines will give the home nation the best chance of taking home a circular disc of metal.

Amid the handball hysteria fencing frenzy, however, the world’s most popular sport can sometimes be neglected. Before the first firework of the Opening Ceremony was fired from the the Maracana, the Olympic football tournament had already concluded its first round of games. Arsenal’s Serge Gnabry was on the scoresheet as Germany drew 2-2 in an eventful game with Mexico, a megastar-free Portugal side defeated an equally inexperienced Argentina and lowly Fiji were humbled by an 8-0 drubbing at the hands of South Korea.

Often, the beautiful game are lost in the Olympic haze. It is viewed by many as a glorified U23 tournament.

The attention that the first round of games did garner, however, was focused on Brazil and their opening bout with South Africa. The Selecao have five World Cups and eight Copa America titles under their belt, but a gold medal at the Olympics still eludes the home nation. They came close in London four years ago, but were ultimately felled by Mexico at Wembley Stadium to earn their third Olympic silver.

At this tournament, on home soil, Brazil are favourites to finish at the peak of the podium in the men’s competition. Neymar—the star forward who carried the crushing weight of expectation of the entire nation at the World Cup two years ago—was deliberately excluded from the recent Copa America Centenario so that he may spur his youthful charges onto victory.

The opening game against South Africa, however, did not quite go to plan.

Despite boasting a squad featuring Marquinhos, Rafhina, new Manchester City starlet Gabriel Jesus and the aforementioned Barcelona talisman, Rogério Micale’s side were unable to break down the South Africans. Even when the opponents were reduced to 10 men just before the hour-mark, Brazil could still not find a way through.

Eraldo Peres/Associated Press

Neymar was gifted plenty of opportunities to beat the very impressive Kaier Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, who withstood a Brazil side that switched to an attack-focused 4-2-4 formation for the second half. The afternoon was neatly summed up by Gabriel Jesus’ failed attempt to convert from close range.

The near capacity crowd at the 72,00-seater Mane Garrincha Stadium was dissatisfied, with booing clearly audible on the television broadcast at the final whistle. Apparently, the discontentment from the unceremonious 2014 World Cup exit still looms over the South American nation.

Some 750miles south-west of the venue in Brasilia, I was keen to get a sense of the Brazilian attitude towards the Selecao—and Olympic football. So, I intended to watch the game with local fans at a bar.

This proved more difficult than expected.

During the World Cup two years ago, this would have been a very easily achievable feat: football coverage was on TV screens in every public building and the public holidays were declared whenever the Selecao played. Buildings literally shook when they scored.

It wasn’t quite the same level of fanfare on Thursday afternoon. Despite it being a public holiday (one of several organised in Rio during the Olympics in order to ease traffic concerns), the Brazilian Olympic performance was not high on the agenda for the locals. A bar in the Laranjeiras neighbourhood that was bustling with activity two years ago was surprisingly sleepy. Another local bar that was raucous when a Brazilian goal went in during the World Cup was nearly deserted approaching kick off.

Eraldo Peres/Associated Press

How curious that a football-crazy nation should have so little inclination to watch their team attempt to venture towards the uncharted territory of an Olympic Gold—on home soil, no less.

Eventually, a sizeable crowd was found at a viewing party in Porto Maravilha, an industrial area of the city that is undergoing the same kind of urban renewal one might see in East London or Brooklyn.

When Neymar came close with any of his several chances, the crowd collectively yelped in frustration. At full-time, the chorus of boos that could be heard on the TV broadcast was mildly replicated in the venue.

Despite a generally perceived lack of faith in the national team and an undercurrent of disgruntlement surrounding the expense of hosting an Olympiad, many fans I spoke with were relentingly positive about Brazil’s tournament. “We are favourites to win gold and we will be fine as long as we have Neymar!” said one fan who was enjoying the festivities a little too much to give me his name.

Many, however, conveyed a little more skepticism. “Many people didn’t even know this game was on,” said Igor, a security guard working at the venue. “The World Cup has the full sides in it, we are five-time champions. Brazil really stops for that. We want the team to win but if we don’t it won’t hurt like losing the World Cup.”

A cursory glance online suggests that Neymar is not leading the Selecao like one might expect:

The opinion of the Barcelona star in Rio, however, was almost uniformly positive. “He is still young, but he is a very good leader,” says Marianne, one of many locals who were out enjoying the public holiday, rather than specifically looking to soak in the Olympic action.

Brazil were far too reliant on Neymar during the World Cup—nowhere was this made clearer than the tearful memoriam for this services before the fateful semi-final with Germany—and this still appears to be the case. The pressure for him to perform on home soil was almost stifling two years ago and perhaps the prospect of losing a second consecutive major title on home soil played on his mind.

But there are still many positives to be drawn from the tournament. Brazil are top of group A (thanks to the fact that Denmark and Iraq also played out a 0-0 draw) and they remain the clear favourite to take gold. And starting a tournament slowly is often a hallmark of champions: just look at Spain in 2010 or Portugal at the most recent European Championships.

A slow start may be forgiven, and it is clear that the Olympic football tournament does not hold the same lustre at major competitions without age restrictions. It may also be true that the national team does not invoke the same passion as may have done a few years ago.

Yet the best way to restore the faith—and the best way to start packing our the bars of Rio on match days once again—would be to locate missing piece of the puzzle in the Selecao’s trophy cabinet: Olympic Gold.