ZUZU F.C.

If you’re following the Women’s World Cup, you probably caught this beauty of an ad Nike created starring Sophia Smith, “Nice to Beat You.” It slaps because it presents one simple—not simplistic—idea and then uses every single second of it to pound it over our heads. The idea? USNWT’s number 11 is so good it’s scary. It sounds like anyone could have come up with that. Well, that’s why it hits so hard. It’s telling a truth any fan or player had thought about—100% rooted in culture. 

And I’ll nerd this out with a little Brazilian futebol (soccer) tale that connects Sophia with David Beckham. Once upon a time…

Tokyo, Japan,1999. S.E. Palmeiras and Manchester United faced off for the Toyota Intercontinental Cup. This one match-up on neutral soil featuring the UCL Champion versus the Libertadores da America Champion was considered the World Club final, not recognized by FIFA back then. But fans were like “screw that, this is the World Club Final.”  

Manchester United had just won the treble and had in its squad a certain David Beckham. The dude was flying back then, reaching his peak as a player. His hair career, though, was just in its baby steps. But then it blew up. A career to be considered, arguably, even more influential than the player. Are the cornrows & spiky Mohawks more impactful than his distribution and free-kicks? I’ll let you decide. 

ANYWAYS. The night before the match, Brazilian coach Big Phil, Felipão, decided that Junior, his left-back, had the mission to stop Beckham, especially his wicked crosses. After learning that, Junior went into a paranoid state. He was so goddamn nervous that he didn’t sleep. Beckham had installed himself into his head on a level that he began to sob uncontrollably, alone in his room. Sounds familiar? Beckham was Sophia in real life.

Desperate, Junior ran through the hotel hallways, hunted by the gorgeous ghost of the British midfielder, knocking at his teammate Cesar Sampaio’s door, which helped him cool the heck down. Junior himself told the tale during interviews years after.

The next day, Manchester United won the match, 1 X 0. 

 The goal was originated, yes, by a crossing but from Junior’s opposite side. It didn’t come from Spice Beckham. Palmeiras goalkeeper, Marcos, didn’t intercept an easy cross in a move, as we called it in Brazil, like “he was hunting butterflies.” All those tears for nothing. Gotta love the ironies of the beautiful game. 

I’m almost positive there is no Brazilian, which also happen to be a Palmeiras fans, working as a creative at W+K, Portland, so… wait a second YES, THERE IS! Creative Director, Pedro Izique 🤯🤯🤯 I literally discover this while writing this post. So, it’s not just random coincidence, uh?! Not saying that’s how they got to the insight but, hey, what’s the freaking odds!

However they landed on this idea, the team together with the mega-talented Fluer Fortune, truly captured this human emotion to its core. They took it and applied every ounce of creativity to work that feeling until it became physical. It’s in your head, but you feel it in your bones. 

If you are wondering, what happened to poor Junior?? He did recover from that loss by winning, you know, just the World Cup for Brazil in 2002, being the immediate sub for legend Roberto Carlos. Fun fact, Brazil eliminated Spiky Mohawk Beckham and England in the quarterfinals. Tears of joy for Junior this time. Heart emoji. (Still freaking about this coincidence, WTF 👀)