Wink wink: No, Samba. Brazil is somber after being knocked out of the World Cup.
Per custom, the national anthems of both Brazil and Croatia were played before their quarterfinal match at the World Cup in Qatar. Per usual, a camera ran the gauntlet of starters standing stoic, bellowing out their anthem in the soccer cauldron. The Brazilians seemed deeply emotional, with several players closing their eyes, holding back tears as they sang-cum-ranted. But not Vinicius Junior, who strangely winked at millions and billions of viewers.
It was so off-putting and peculiar that I gesticulated towards my television. How dare he wink! He’s had a decent season at Real Madrid, but not that long ago, their fans were booing him, and players didn’t want to pass to him.
I hope he has a fine career, but he hasn’t accrued the credibility to be winking to a vast audience. Not even Ronaldo or Messi winked, for heaven’s sake.
It wasn’t a nervous twitch. A fly didn’t fly into his eye. Instead, the World Cup upstart blatantly winked at billions of fans, which is peculiar in such a robust venue. Winking can represent overconfidence, affection, or flirtation. The popular winking emoji lists similar sentiments but also includes “general positivity,” the kind one might express before delivering a speech or encouraging a child.
Though I don’t think Vinicius had that level of consciousness, perhaps he did want to flirt with all the genders watching. Maybe it was his way of protesting the ban on the OneLove armband. More likely, the subconscious motivation being transmitted to his eyelids was arrogance. That makes it worse, Brazil lost, and Vinicius’s performance was underwhelming.
Indeed, his player rating was quite miserable — as reflected by this 5.5 — a consensus of pundits rated his performance as underwhelming. More importantly, his coach was unimpressed and didn’t blink at the opportunity to sub for Vinicius in only the 63rd minute, replacing him with Rodrygo.
Croatia had schooled a winking Vinicius as they stormed his side of the field.
Vinicius is still young; his last name is “Junior.” Perhaps a wink may be somewhat less intolerable when he is more senior and after he has helped lead Brazil to a couple more World Cup titles. Perhaps, after he has won the Ballon d’Or a few times, he can flirt with the camera.
For now, though, he and other Brazilian players are somber instead of doing the Samba.
Nudge nudge, wink-wink, say no more….
