SAMARA: No other country has as many journalists at the World Cup as Brazil. After all, they are the most successful team in the world, steeped in history with their five title triumphs at the quadrennial global footballing spectacle. Football means everything to the country; it’s both religion and culture, and naturally Brazilians want to know about everything down to the minutest of details — from what the coach tells the players in their casual conversations to what time they go to sleep.

On Monday, hours before Brazil’s last-16 match with Mexico, one journalist faced a fierce social media backlash when he wrote: “The sooner Globo TV [Brazil’s free-to-air television network] gets out of this tournament the better. Thousands of them, noisy and boorish in what’s supposed to be a working area [media centre].”

On the eve of the match, during the Brazil press conference, another journalist reminded the FIFA moderator that it was an “international press conference, for the world” after only the Brazilian journalists were given the chance to throw questions at coach Tite and captain Thiago Silva.

Imagine how the mixed zone, the place for flash interviews with players before they board the team bus on the way out, must be; that too, after Brazil have just won. While you stand there waiting for the players to come, fresh and showered after the game, you make a list of questions in your head. Then, hindered by your inability to understand or speak Portuguese, you narrow down your list to those who have played for, or are playing at, England clubs.

So after Brazil’s 2-0 win over Mexico, the list was narrowed down to five players: Willian, Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho, Filipe Luis, Fernandinho and Ederson. The question was, will anyone stop to take your questions. You’re here, in direct competition with so many eagerly enthusiastic Brazilian journalists, who are all in a scrum to get the player first, get the quotes first. You can’t blame them too. What would you be doing if your national team, let alone a team that has so much weight of expectation behind it, was at the World Cup?

It’s a wait for the Brazilians to come out. They’ve just gotten into the World Cup quarter-finals so they will take their sweet time to come out. The first of them finally emerge more than an hour after the victory, after coach Tite and man-of-the-match Neymar have attended the post-match press conference in the adjacent room in the Samara Arena. First up, are the substitutes that include Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson and midfielder Fernandinho. They won’t talk though since they didn’t play.

Former Chelsea left-back Filipe Luis, who played the whole game, follows and is asked if he would take two questions in English. No response, he walks away straight-faced. Firmino is next but at least he says no with a smile. Coutinho surrounds himself with another batch of substitutes. You try to reach out to him but he’s busy talking to his team-mates. Skipper Silva stops next to you, in front of a large group of Brazilian reporters but he’s speaking in Portuguese. One of the Brazilian colleagues will have to be asked what he said afterwards.

A feeling inside you says this won’t be your day. But then Chelsea attacker Willian appears. This is the last chance and as soon as he stops, in an instant, there are all sorts of headlines in your mind, the story that you will make out of it, that the soundbytes you’ll get will make your editors at Dawn proud of their decision to send you to cover a World Cup again.

“Only one question,” says Willian. You’d planned two but well anyways, you’ll mix the two up. The recorders are ready. Each word will carry a lot of weight. Willian was asked about the early pressure put on them by Mexico, about how did their high-class media affected them and what was spoken at half time, what strategic changes were made that made him so irrepressible in the second-half.

The answer: “It was difficult, it was very difficult. I think we played well and deserved to go to the quarters today.”

It’s because of that very generic nature of the answer that it hasn’t been made into a story and is instead part of this travel diary piece. Mixed zones are a lottery, it’s a hit or a miss. But for every hit, there are countless hours spent waiting by the side for that opportunity to come. It’s all part of the job and that’s why you love it!

P.S: For all of those who are still here, wanting to know what Thiago Silva said, here it is: “We had a clear setup for the game, everyone knew their role. Mexico are an attacking team so the tempo they introduced was not a surprise for us. Little by little we got into the game technically but it was important for us to find the right mindset. I’m glad with the outcome of the game but now it’s time to think ahead because we haven’t achieved anything yet.”

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018