Vinícius Júnior et al land in unlikely outpost of Townsville as Brazil reboot begins | Joey Lynch
The Seleção’s rebuild after their latest World Cup exit begins against the Socceroos in a place better known for rugby league than joga bonito
It’s a safe bet that Vinícius Júnior, who plays week in and week out for Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu, doesn’t know about North Queensland Fury. Why would he? Indeed, it is likely that none of the Brazil side that landed in Townsville on Thursday are aware of Australian football’s history in the region. Nor, perhaps, the city itself, until recently.
Maybe in the spirit of cultural exchange, then, Raphinha will be posting #BringBackTheFury on his Instagram page by the time the Seleção departs the Sunshine State next week. Such a post would only feel slightly more surreal than the Barcelona attacker rubbing shoulders at Townsville airport with almost 80 junior rugby league sides from around Queensland, jetting in for the Gordon Tallis Cup.
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Nor would it feel more incongruous than Carlo Ancelotti beginning his first full World Cup cycle as Brazil boss by staying a 10-minute walk from the Mad Cow Tavern on Flinders Street, preparing for games in Townsville and Brisbane against a Socceroos side led by Tony Popovic who, once upon a time, served as his guest as both AC Milan and Bayern Munich.
“We are good friends,” Ancelotti said. “Sometimes we have the possibility to meet to talk about football. We spent time together when I was in Milan, we spent time together in Brisbane two nights ago. It’s a pleasure to talk about football [with Popovic]. He’s doing a fantastic job here. A really passionate manager. I hope the best for him. I think the World Cup he had was a really good World Cup. The team showed strong quality, a compact team.”
Brazil touring Australia isn’t completely unheard of. They last played the Socceroos and Argentina here in 2017 and would have faced Argentina again at the MCG in 2022 had La Albiceleste not pulled out. But the Socceroos themselves have never played an A international in Townsville, a city in rugby league heartland with a population of just over 200,000 whose A-League representative collapsed in 2011.
So it is with a sense of bemusement that the region has welcomed the five-time world champions; hotels across the town are booked out and the occasion will be marked by a street party on Friday afternoon featuring Brazilian jiu-jitsu and capoeira demonstrations, a Brazilian band and line dancing.
A brand just as much as a football team these days, Brazil are in the Sunshine State because the Queensland government worked with promoters and the CBF, and forked out, to bring them to “the events capital of the north” as part of its major events strategy. The state’s minister for tourism, Andrew Powell, bombastically declared in the media release accompanying the Socceroos’ squad announcement that the “Crisafulli government went out and secured” the games to make sure we wouldn’t forget it.
