Soccer and Brazil have always been inextricably linked (they've won the World Cup more times than any other country and many of the sport's greatest stars have hailed from Brazil), from the children playing with rag balls on the street to the bright yellow jerseys that, like the players, make themselves very well known wherever they go. The most famous of them, Pelé, is featured numerous times on A Trip to Brazil, Vol. 5: Copa do Mundo 2006, both in the songs that honor him ("O Rei Pelé" and "Obrigado Pelé") and in the two tracks in which he adds his slow, lazy vocals ("Meu Mundo É uma Bola" [My World Is a Ball] with Gracinha Leporace and "Perdão, Não Tempo" with Elis Regina), but there are also tributes to Fio, Tostão, Zico, and Afonsinho, as well as Chico Buarque's ode to his five favorite footballers, Didi, Pagão, Pelé, Mané, and Canhoteiro, on "O Futebol." Not that any of these references are necessarily clear to non-Portuguese speakers, but it isn't really a problem. Arnaldo DeSouteiro, who compiled and produced A Trip to Brazil, Vol. 5: Copa do Mundo 2006, also includes detailed notes about each of the songs, as well as the album as a whole, making it easy to follow along. And anyway, it's the music that matters more, and is a lot more interesting and translatable. The songs on the album range from 1960s and '70s MPB and samba (Milton Nascimento's "O Jogo" and João Nogueira's "Samba Rubro-Negro") to contemporary pieces, including Marcelo Salazar's loungey "Caminho do Gol" and "Samba da Copa" by the Fabio Fonseca Trio, the latter made specifically for this record, which came out just in time for the 2006 World Cup. And so long after the teams have gone home, the songs on A Trip to Brazil, Vol. 5: Copa do Mundo 2006 can continue to play. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide