Flopper and Chopper begin new lives as marked men

As I walked along the footpath outside Flamengo’s old ground in Rio yesterday, there was a sudden blaring of horns and sirens and I looked up to see the traffic swiftly parting to make way for a big security convoy: motorcycle outriders, a police car, a police jeep, two trucks full of soldiers, an ambulance and, slap bang in the middle, the Netherlands team coach.

It might only have a been another example of the routine overkill with which the authorities go about getting a World Cup team to its training base here in Brazil but, on the day that was in it, it was tempting to fantasise that the security detail had been heavily beefed up to ensure the safe movement through the city of the tournament’s new Public Enemy Number 1 — Arjen Robben.

From choppers to floppers, the Dutchman had replaced Luis Suarez as the World Cup’s scandal du jour — at least until a bit later on a day in which news of one apology would suddenly trump another. But, first things first: the media out here have been as obsessed as the rest of the world with Robben’s leading role — the theatrical allusion seems entirely appropriate — in the Netherlands’ late, late comeback against Mexico.