POLITICS

"Brazil muthi will sink Germans!" - Daily Sun

The front page and lead story of SA's largest daily newspaper, July 8 2014

Daily Sun (July 8 2014) - BRAZIL may be without their star striker but they have a secret weapon. Brazil will have super-powerful muthi to help them to the final of the 2014 Soccer World Cup.

VOODOO MAN HELIO SILLMAN VOWS HE WILL USE MUTHI TO MAKE A TOP GERMAN PLAYER USELESS ON THE SOCCER PITCH.

"I'll take their top player and bind his legs so he can't run on the pitch," said Sillman, indicating a voodoo doll of an undisclosed German player that will be cursed in a ceremony before the game.

So not only will Die Mannschaft have to contend with the talented and determined Selecao in tonight's World Cup semifinal, they will also have to overcome Sillman's voodoo curse as well.

In his shop called World of Orixas in the northern neighbourhood of Madureira, Sillman performs a ritual before each Selecao game. Using a small box shaped like a football pitch as his altar, he places lighted candles in the colours of the opposing team in a box along with a doll of that team's most important player.

However, Sillman's curse on James Rodriguez did not stop the Colombian star from scoring a penalty against Brazil in Friday's quarterfinals, although it worked out well for the local team, as they won the match 2-1.

Sillman's muthi also didn't prevent Selecao's star, Neymar, from fracturing vertebrae against the Colombians which ruled him out of the World Cup.

But Sillman points at four voodoo dolls representing a player from each of Selecao's opponents sitting in a bowl.

He claims Brazil's results against Cameroon, Chile, Croatia and Mexico are testimony to the influence of his magic. "Those are the four teams Brazil have overcome," he said.

Germany's Thomas Mueller, Manuel Neuer and Mats Hummels should consider themselves warned.

) Daily Sun sangoma Mahlinza Dlamini said soccer teams around the world use muthi to win.

Dlamini said: "They select two players and put muthi in their socks or boots to distract their opponents. The muthi will be heavy on them and make it hard for them to run on the pitch."

He added that sometimes they use red, black and blue candles. "The black candle is to make sure that the opponents don't see the goal posts; the red candle is to make them feel tired and the blue candle is to make their team score," said Dlamini.

He said he doesn't see the Brazilians winning the World Cup.

"The winner is either going to be Germany or the Netherlands," he predicted.

- SAPA-AFP/SUN REPORTER

See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....

The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 297,614 (Audit Bureau of Circulations 4th Quarter 2013) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.

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