A popular statement about soccer is:
 
“Os ingleses o inventaram, os brasileiros o aperfei oaram.” (Portuguese)
“The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it.”
 
The saying has been popular since at least the World Cup year of 2006. Brazil won the FIFA World Cup in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002.
 
 
Google Books
The Global Art of Soccer
By Richard Witzig
New Orleans, LA: CusiBoy Pub.
2006
Pg. 306:
If so, it will then require a massive effort to disprove the modern soccer cliché, “Football: the English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it.”
 
New York (NY) Times
WORLD CUP 2006 | THE LEGENDS
Most Bonito
By JOHN CARLIN
Published: June 4, 2006
(...)
That electric sequence of events — barely four seconds elapsed between Ronaldinho’s receiving and dispatching of the ball — captured, for the watching millions, one of soccer’s great truisms: the English invented the game, but the Brazilians perfected it. They found the game brick and left it marble. They patented what has become known the world over as jogo bonito, the beautiful game, a style of soccer that combines exuberance with success and that Ronaldinho, more than any other player alive, embodies
 
Google Books
World Cup 2010:
The Indispensable Guide to Soccer and Geopolitics
By Steven D Stark and Harrison Stark
Indianapolis, IN: Blue River Press
2010
Pg. 291:
As the saying goes, the English may have invented the game, but the Brazilians perfected it.
   
The Guardian (UK)
What does Brazil have that the UK doesn’t?
Brazil has now officially overtaken the UK as the world’s sixth largest economy. Here’s how to tell the two nations apart
Posted by Jon Henley
Tuesday 6 March 2012 09.30 EST
(...)
Football: Now we’re getting to it. As they say in Brazil: “Os ingleses o inventaram, os brasileiros o aperfeiçoaram” (“The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it”). The most successful national football team in the history of the Fifa World Cup, Brazil are the only national team to have played in every World Cup finals and have lifted the trophy a record five times
 
Google Books
Travel Safe: Brazil:
The Definitive Safety Guide to the World Cup 2014
By Lou Boyle
Bloomington, IN: Booktango
2014
Pg. ?:
Soccer
“Os ingleses o inventaram, os brasileiros o aperfei oaram”
“The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it”
   
Twitter
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Soccer - the English invented it, but the Brazilians perfected it. #FUNFACTS #BRAZIL2014 #WAKANOW #WORLDCUP http://ow.ly/i/5AztF
3:00 PM - 16 May 2014