Just before the 2006 World Cup, Nike introduces what stands today as the greatest collection of soccer commercials ever devised: Joga Bonito. They made us believe anything was possible without even using the popular refrain. They featured Eric Cantona, the spiritual predecessor to lunatic forwards like Mario Balotelli and Luis Suarez, as host, and some of the greatest players of all time, including Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Here's a video showing all 12 commercials in their entirety, accompanied by a breakdown each. Enjoy.
Commercial 1: 0:18: We catch our first glimpse of Cantona, sitting in a chair not facing the camera like a super villain. He might as well be holding a cat. He talks about the beautiful game, then we get some footage of young Ronaldinho interspersed with footage of in-his-prime Ronaldinho. Not surprisingly, he's pretty good in both clips. Ronaldinho figures pretty prominently into these videos.
Commercial 2: 1:16: Cantona breaks into a television station to lament the diminishment of the beautiful game. Then we see some footage of how the game should be played, courtesy of (as usual) the Brazilian National Team, plus Thierry Henry.
Commercial 3: 3:53: The most run-of-the-mill of all the commercials, featuring Cantona imploring players to "Play Beautiful," plus some cool shots of our friends, the Brazilian National Team.
Commercial 4: 4:45: Cantona draws a smiley face on a soccer ball and tells viewers to "make the ball happy," then video of Ronaldinho doing various Ronaldinho things.
Commercial 5: 5:55: The most well-known of the commercials. Ronaldinho is presented with some special Nike cleats, and he proceeds to play ping-pong with the crossbar from beyond the 18. It's a testament to Ronaldinho's skill that many people thought this video was real.
Commercial 6: 8:55: Blue cleats this time, and this time for Ronaldo (Brazilian Ronaldo). Ronaldo proceeds to make all kinds of magic with them. He too can apparently hit any part of the crossbar any time he wants. This one, too, made people believe it was real.
Commercial 7: 10:25: We are led to believe that Wayne Rooney is the only competent player in the world at every position, including goalie. Worth noting here that Rooney is only 5'9".
Commercial 8: 11:25: The Brazilian national team shows up again, this time horsing around in their locker room with a soccer ball and making everyone watching feel inadequate.
Commercial 9: 12:55: My persona favorite, an epic duel between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Christiano Ronaldo. This video is the thing that introduced me to Zlatan, and I am eternally grateful. At the end Cantona says he doesn't know who wins, but I do: Zlatan.
Commercial 10: 13:55: Cantona takes to the streets to watch Thierry Henry school some people in street soccer. My favorite line from the entire series: "Divers are thrown into the pits." I wish this happened in real life.
Commercial 11: 14:58: Cantona returns to the TV station, or possibly a different TV station, and we get to watch Ronaldo, in all his glory.
Commercial 12: 16:02: Who plays the most beautiful football? Argentina or Brazil? Obviously Brazil (this was before Messi was Messi).
And that's it. Maybe these commercials didn't have a higher calling for "playing beautiful" like they implied, but they sure were entertaining as hell.
Follow Sam Klomhaus on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
