Sochi and the lessons Brazil can learn

On the face of it a winter Games should hold no lessons for a summer football World cup. Yet Sochi 2014 does have lessons for Brazil 2014 and it would be unwise of the Brazilians to ignore what is taking place along the Black Sea.

Brazil it must be said starts with an advantage that Sochi could never have had. For anyone interested in football Brazil is the home of football. England may have invented the game and framed the rules but Brazil, at least since the 1950 World Cup which as it happens was held in Brazil, has defined all that is good and glorious in the round ball game. Even those devoted to their national team feel somewhat comforted that their team has lost to Brazil and not some other nation. No team generates such a feeling in any sport with the possible exception of the All Blacks in rugby. And in Pele, Brazilians have a name that dwarfs everyone else in football. Even those who know little about Brazil, let alone football, know who Pele is. Pele is not just a name but a symbol and, in the sporting world, probably more powerful than even the Samba in defining the international image of Brazil.