Exeter City 0 Brazil 1*
And, of course, it was *almost* just like watching Brazil, possibly like watching Brazil on a widescreen telly when you’ve got the aspect ratio wrong, but REAL ACTUAL WORLD CUP WINNERS nutmegging Steve Flack and arguing with Gareth Sheldon, none the less. The Exeter lads looked to be having a whale of a time with huge grins on their faces, even whilst being nutmegged. The game was hardly fizzing end-to-end conference-style action (the single goal was a penalty, and each side had only 2 shots on target) with the Brazilians happy to stroke the ball around, but there was certainly a carnival atmos in St James Park, although the lack of partisanship was a little disconcerting. The Big Bank tried a few choruses of “City ’til I die” etc, but they weren’t really taking, everyone was kind of happy to sit back and watch the fun. As Dunga said “the real winner was football” (although the club’s bank balance probably edged it on points).
Certain TMFD contributors were as excited about the Exeter City Legends game that preceded the Brazil match, as it featured several of his boyhood heroes, and he was certainly more excited about the presence of Tony Kellow (City’s all-time leading goalscorer) than Dunga and his mates…
*Yes, REAL ACTUAL BRAZIL, well, OK, the Brazilian Masters, who are a CBF-approved exhibition team, made up of former internationals, mainly from the 1994 World Cup winning squad. For the three of you who haven’t heard the story already, Exeter were sent to South America by the FA in 1914 to spread the footballing gospel where they faced several sides, including the first Brazilian team to include players from both Rio and Sao Paulo which went on to form the actual national squad the following year. Exeter lost that one 2-0, so there’s been some improvement in the last 90 years.