My First World Cup: Marina Izidro on being the eyes of Brazil in Australia and New Zealand

When it comes to the World Cup, few countries experience the same pressure to deliver as Brazil. Despite a global image of carefree, free-flowing football, Joga Bonito and a philosophy of beauty over brutal efficiency, winning still matters more than anything. “In Brazil, some people are always expecting that you’re going to win,” explains Brazilian multimedia journalist Marina Izidro.

Izidro is familiar with this level of anticipation more acutely than most. She has covered the men’s national team at a range of international tournaments over the past decade that include both a World Cup and an Olympic Games on home soil. Although both of those experiences were “magical”, Izidro seems to thrive under the pressure of presenting to millions on live television in the way that many of the great Brazilian teams of the past embraced expectation to deliver on the pitch.

“When you’re live anything can happen,” she accepts, not long after saying she comes away from almost every broadcast feeling there is something she could have done better. “You have to be focussed, otherwise you are going to mess up. But at the same time you have to kind of go with the flow. For example, if you’re doing a live football match, you cannot be that composed right? You have all of that excitement around you, and one of your jobs as a reporter is to show people at home what you are experiencing because you are their eyes.”

Now based in London but born and raised in Rio, Izidro sees similarities between the football cultures in England and Brazil but the way in which she describes the experience of watching the successful Brazilian men’s national team of the 1990’s and early 2000’s sounds otherworldly. “You have streets where people draw on the pavement and put flags and decorations up. You won’t be working when Brazil are playing, you either leave early or arrive late so you can see the national team playing.”

Those formative experiences played a foundational role in Izidro pursuing a career in journalism, and although she now covers events as high-profile and varied as the Coronations of Kings and Wimbledon Championships, this summer she will be travelling to Australia and New Zealand to report on her very first Women’s World Cup.

Brazil are yet to win a World Cup in the women’s game, and Izidro again draws comparisons to her adopted homeland when explaining how they can enjoy future success in a sustainable manner. “England has managed to create a football culture in the women’s game, it’s amazing what you see here. I covered the Finallisima between Brazil and England at Wembley [in April] and it was a brilliant atmosphere with over 80,000 people there – that’s what women’s football is able to achieve.

“I think in terms of creating a culture of watching women’s football, people going to the stadiums and following the players and the players becoming an inspiration for girls, and having a very strong professional domestic league, England is the benchmark – a big example. Brazil still has a long way to go.”

This is one way in which Izidro clearly differentiates herself from Brazilians who value success on the field above all else. She recalls how there was no women’s football for her to watch on television growing up beyond World Cups and Olympic Games, and whilst accepting that progress has been made, she is realistic about what success at this tournament and beyond would look like.

“Of course you want to win [the World Cup], everybody wants to win,” she says. “There are so many other things that sport entails. I think there should maybe be an adjustment of perspective, because there’s so many important things to talk about with the women’s game and the women’s team. They are amazing. They are amazing players. But we still don’t have that culture of watching women’s football.

“Sponsors need to invest in the women’s game. Broadcasters need to show matches on TV. It comes from everywhere; politicians, if they are building cities and infrastructure, they need to invest in public transport so people can go to the stadiums safely and return. It’s not something you are going to do in a year, you need to insist.”

There are few players in Brazil’s storied history that can claim to be quite as amazing as Marta. The 37-year-old is set to feature at her sixth World Cup in Australia and New Zealand having scored in all of the previous five iterations of the tournament to hold the record as leading goalscorer, male or female, in World Cup history. Whilst Izidro unsurprisingly lavishes praise on Marta as a player, it is her presence as a role model for others that she seems most impressed by.

Following Brazil’s round of 16 defeat to France at the last World Cup, a video went viral of Marta in tears, imploring Brazilian girls to follow in her footsteps. “I’ve had the experience of meeting her and interviewing her a few times, and she is very aware of her responsibility,” says Izidro, noticeably enjoying the opportunity to speak about the six-time World Player of the Year. “She is special… one of the heroes of the women’s team. She deserves everything that she has.”

Izidro’s unmistakeable professionalism comes to the surface once more as the conversation returns to how she expects her own tournament to play out. She has no interest in sightseeing whilst in Australia or New Zealand, and she has no worries about missing home. Her approach to covering the biggest stories is tried and tested: “You work so much that it’s best to not have any expectations in terms of doing anything like tourism. It’s such a privilege to be able to cover these massive events.”

There is still a part of her that gets nervous when interacting with the biggest stars from sport and beyond though. “I try to disguise it as much as possible because you have to be composed and professional, but of course, inside you are nervous,” she admits. “I think it is good because you have to feel something right? If someone tells you that they’re not, they’re lying.” The sporting superstar that has made her most nervous? “Usain Bolt. He has such an aura. When he comes into a room everybody’s kind of starstruck by him.”

Her adoration is not reserved solely for those on the field or track though. For someone who envisioned a career in sports journalism from such a young age, it is no surprise that Izidro has always had idols on camera and in print. “I always looked up to Tino Marcos (the former host of popular Brazilian sports news show Globo Esporte). I’ve had the opportunity to work with him side by side, covering matches and in the same newsroom. He’s one of the best. His voiceovers, the way he writes…,” she pauses, seemingly overcome by a feeling of reverence that is usually reserved for the likes of Marta and Bolt, “it’s amazing.

“I covered a Brazil match with him. I had to do a piece to camera, a news piece, and he was right by my side. I was like ‘oh my God, I’m gonna do it! He’s gonna see! He’s gonna hear me!’ I was already very experienced so it was all fine but if I said something [wrong] is he going to think it’s really bad? Of course he wouldn’t. I’ve never had a bad experience, in journalism there is a lot of teamwork. You have to rely on each other.”

Reporting on a World Cup on the other side of the planet would appear to be a dream for someone who is so clearly engulfed by the life of being a sports journalist. But regardless of who she will be approaching in the mixed zone or sharing the press box with, Izidro ends our conversation by making a very clear distinction between the wonderment associated with watching a World Cup from home and being on the ground, working day upon day at game after game.

“It’s completely different if you’re covering something,” she says. “You’re not able to fully enjoy it because you’re working so you have to make sure you’re focused and you don’t cheer or anything. But at the same time, as a journalist it is one of the special moments in your career because you’re not in a pub or with friends, but you are there and experiencing it and being able to tell the story to millions of people who might be watching you or reading what you’re writing. This is priceless right?”