Brazil vs Ghana was a thrilling clash of cultures and philosophies - just a shame none of it was on the pitch

By Ian Winwood

Published 12:58 09/09/11

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If I were to describe the difference between a football match in the UK and a baseball or ice hockey game in the United States, the word I’d use is ‘energy.’

At domestic football fixtures there is usually an energy in the air. It inspires people to chant, often long before they’re even in the stadium, and sometimes it moves them to throw punches at one another.

Often it is not a giant leap of the imagination, even in these days of house-trained fans and comfortable stadiums, to picture some kind of skirmish taking place, even if it does not.

Energy, though, is one of the things that gives football it’s edge, and that makes it special.

But at Craven Cottage on Monday night, for the first time in my life I experienced a completely different kind of energy for a match staged on home terra firma (or “terracotta”, as Del Boy would have it).

The fact that the match featured non-English teams – on this blustery night it was Brazil kicking-off against Ghana, in an international friendly – surely accounted for this change in tone. For while sometimes being at a Championship game – the league that houses the team I support – can be like attending an Oasis gig with 15,000 people all of whom have had a bad day, on this Monday evening in Fulham, Craven Cottage had become the site of a carnival.

A carnival of mad-people at that.

Three stands of this appealingly old-fashioned ground were teeming with Brazilians, and those of Brazilian descent. The vibe was one of good-natured chaos. People stood wherever they damn-well pleased, waved banners and flags, danced, banged drums and blew whistles, and generally did all they could to break every rule the perplexed stewards have been briefed to apply.

The stand housing the Ghanaian contingent seemed equally as lively. The African team won a corner in the first five minutes and their supporters celebrated as if they’d won the World Cup. I was willing them to score just to see whether this would result in a whole section of supporters literally blowing up.

Meanwhile, in the Brazilian quarters the Hammersmith Road stand was juddering as if it were about to collapse. The structure has been in place since Fulham returned from two years exile at Loftus Road, and has about it a quality that even now seems temporary. On this Monday evening it felt very temporary indeed, like it might last no more than the next 15 minutes.

It’s just as well that there was so much entertainment off the pitch, because on the pitch there was virtually none. Ghana had a player sent off – bear in mind that to be dismissed in a friendly usually involves assault with a chainsaw – and Brazil scored the one goal they required to win the game.

Fortunately for the sold-out crowd, the sold-out crowd was on hand to entertain itself.

As to the question of which football experience I like the most – English tension and ill-temper or South American and African bedlam – the answer is simple.

I like them both.

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