Bill Shankly, the coach of Liverpool soccer club in the sixties was famously quoted as saying:
"On Mersey-side there are only two life or death issues, religion and soccer, and of the two, soccer is the more important."
Tell that to the folk in Rio de Janero this morning after their team was whipped seven goals to one by the Germans.
It is a day of mourning, but so it must be if their whole sense of national identity, pride and self worth is dependent upon the outcome of a single game of sport.
The caption of Christ the Redeemer speaks volumes, but is this because of the drubbing of Brazil's soccer team or Shankly's maxim that the whole nation seems to have signed on to?
Jubiliate anyway!
Ian
