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Brazil’s Lula: ‘I’ve never been so angry’

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Think they don’t take soccer seriously in Brazil?

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was apparently beside himself with anger after Brazil’s 3-0 thrashing at the hands of arch-rival Argentina in Beijing.

Witnesses told O Globo that Lula, in a closed-door meeting, labeled the Olympic defeat a ‘humiliation,’’ and was fuming.

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‘I’ve never been so angry in all my life,’’ Lula, a devoted soccer fan, reportedly said. ‘I saw a team that didn’t show any will to win. … It’s shameful to lose this way to Argentina.’’

The front page of O Globo’s sports section was designed as a funeral notice, announcing the ‘passing’’ of the national soccer squad, (five-time World Cup champion), saying, ‘Please do not send flowers.’’

Marcelo Soares in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Patrick J. McDonnell in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Photo: Brazil’s Lula at the opening of the Beijing Olympics. (Reuters)

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