Sporting a bone through his nose, a jaguar’s tooth pendant, multicolored feathers in his ears and tribal body tattoos, not many England fans would give credence to the soccer “expertise” of Amazonian sorcerer Jaraquii, but the striking Paje believes England’s World Cup opener in nearby Manaus today will be cursed by Italy striker Mario Balotelli.
“Balotelli’s magic will help you beat the English,” Jaraquii, speaking to Italian news agency ANSA, said with a serious grin revealing a row of sparkling gold teeth.
“He [Balotelli] is like us colored people. He’s not white, he’s not like [Argentina’s Lionel] Messi. That’s why we love him,” Jaraquii said.
Jaraquii’s local fame stretches beyond his status as a local leader within Brazil’s National Indian Foundation, a government body that establishes and carries out policies relating to indigenous peoples.
Although his tribal affiliation is unknown, by local standards he is wealthy, the rumor is he struck gold on the Parana river where he lives on a houseboat near the city of Santarem.
Although his prediction is unlikely to hold sway with England manager Roy Hodgson, Jaraquii’s believes the emergence of a player who resembles Balotelli and who plays in the regional indigenous championships is a portent.
“For the first time ever the Wai-Wai [tribe] are reaching the highest levels in the league in [the state of] Para, just like the Remo and Paysandu have in Belem,” he said. “There’s a young player in the team who is amazing, a real indian Balotelli.”
He may not admit it, but Jaraquii’s preference may in part be inspired by his dislike for all things Anglo-Saxon.
“I’ve been like that since an obnoxious Englishman, or he might have been American — they’re the same to me — said that he was afraid of me and asked if there were cannibals,” he said.
Grinning widely, he added: “I told him to keep quiet, because we ate them all.”
Dressed like a colonial explorer and wearing a wide-brimmed Australian hat as he rides on a bicycle adorned with a large flag of Brazil, Antonio Batista is just as striking.
Batista’s love for Italy is just as potent, but has been driven by his admiration for Roberto Baggio, the legendary Italy forward who is infamous for missing the deciding penalty in the 1994 World Cup final which handed the trophy to Brazil.
“In Manaus, I’ll be supporting Italy. I’ve loved them since I was little,” Batista said. “I am a native of this region, which has forest and wild beasts everywhere, but I’d give it all up if I could be Baggio.”
Known locally as a caboclo because of his mixed Indian and European heritage, Jaime Rodrigues prefers to look at the bigger picture.
If Italy qualify from Group D and get through to the round-of-16, a possible quarter-final clash with Brazil awaits.
“I’m supporting England because if Brazil meet Italy, it could be trouble,” Rodrigues said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite