Back to English
Back to Writing
Back to Compare and Contrast
Compare & Contrast Football in the UAE and Brazil: Sample Essay
In the UAE, football is
one of the national obsessions, and fans keenly await matches between
long-established rivals such as Al-Ain and Al Wahda. However, this
excitement is nothing compared to the passion aroused when watching the
undisputed South American masters of the field, Brazil, play in
international matches. In this essay, I will attempt to explain why
Brazilian football is just so much more exciting than football here in the
UAE.
The three main reasons why Brazilian football outshines soccer from all other countries are experience, skill and style. The first one is experience. Brazil has been playing and dominating the World Cup since it started in the 1930s. That means more than three-quarters of a century of training and practice, whereas in the UAE there are no fully professional teams even now, and the sport, like the country, is relatively new.
The second
major difference is skill. Brazilians have it in spades. They excel in
footwork, in passing, in the air, in basic ball control, and in complicated
maneuvers. This skill comes from training, of course, but it also comes from
natural aptitude and ability. With its huge population of 140 million
compared to the UAE’s tiny 2 million locals, it is not surprising that
talent will find its way to the top. A related point is that in a country
with so much poverty, soccer is often seen as a way out for many street kids
or rural poor. Contrast this with the affluence of the UAE, where generous
incentives of cars and Rolex watches are still not enough to generate the
commitment to the game that players need in order to excel.
However,
perhaps the most significant difference is in style. There are many skilled
players in the UAE teams, and the country has gained experience rapidly,
winning regional championships and places in the World Cup. But do the
Emirati footballers, however hardworking, have style? While style is hard to
define, it is easy to recognize when you see it, and even people
uninterested in soccer can see that there is a magic, a flow, a rhythm to
Brazilian football that leaves other countries’ games looking wooden and
unimaginative.
In conclusion, it is very easy to see the difference between UAE football, or that of almost any other country, and the mix of talent, passion and dizzying speed seen in Brazil. It is much harder to explain why Brazilian soccer is so different. Perhaps the best thing to do is to relax and simply enjoy the game!
Student Essays
Here are two (unedited) essays from Abdullah Saeed and Abdulrahman Ahmed in CRC using the same layout
Back to Compare and Contrast
Back to Writing
Back to English