Soccer will trump all when Brazil is playing

Their fanaticism a little dampened, Brazilians will nevertheless still duck out of work, close businesses and bring the country to a virtual halt during soccer's World Cup.

In Brazil, where everything from the national Congress to the currency market stops in its tracks for Brazil games, it is safest to assume that nothing will be working as normal during the month-long tournament it has won a record five times.

On the days Brazil's yellow-and-green shirted players take to the pitch in South Africa, banks have permission from the central bank to close early, the currency market will operate on shortened hours, and most government agencies will shut down.

Many companies will allow staff to go home early on those days, the first of which comes tomorrow when Brazil's team, known simply here as the "sele231227o", faces North Korea.

Others install big screens at the office.

Investors breathed a sigh of relief this week when Brazil's Senate passed the key points of an overhaul of the country's oil laws seen as a vital reform step ahead of national elections in October.

Analysts had been warning for months that a delay in the approval past the start of the World Cup could have dashed hopes for getting the bill passed for months. Congress will shut down on Brazil game days and many legislators treat the tournament as an unofficial recess period.


As banks and companies close, the slack in economic activity is taken up by fans flocking to buy big televisions and, on game days, beer and food in restaurants where the best tables have been booked long in advance.

Sales of televisions at the Eletroshopping retail chain in northeast Brazil were up about 30 percent in the past month, its vice-president Fernando Freitas said.

"The Cup-related consumption is really big, especially of the latest generation digital televisions because this World Cup is seen as the most hi-tech so far," he said.

The boost is a timely one for retailers, coming shortly after the government withdrew tax breaks on home appliances that have helped fuel a frothing recovery in Latin America's biggest economy.

The party spirit could quickly be doused by a poor Brazilian showing, however. Expectations of a sixth World Cup triumph are high, but they are mixed with misgivings over a team coached by 1994 World Cup winner Dunga that is seen by many as betraying the beautiful, samba style that long defined Brazilian football.

Brazilians took longer to warm up for this year's tournament than in the past, when expectations of victory and flamboyant football were higher, said 45-year-old factory worker Antenor Assis.

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