Brazilians take the World Cup seriously. All the people we’ve met, even those who profess not to be fans, know more about the tournament than most Americans. Taxi drivers rattle off the locations where the national teams have their base camps. TV news shows cover every angle on what seems like a continuous loop. Newspapers have whole sections devoted to news of the Selecao (the Brazilian national team). Stores of all sorts have futebol (pronounced “FOO-che-bawl”) paraphernalia displayed prominently. The games don’t start for another three days, but for all intents and purposes, the Copa has begun.
This is supposed to be the Cup of Cups. The first time in Brazil since 1950. The spiritual home of the global game. A sense of destiny for the Selecao. But there’s a cloud hanging over the Cup. More and more Brazilians are unhappy with the billions spent to put on the tournament while hunger, poverty, corruption, and unemployment plague the country. They are ramping up protests and the police and are responding with an intense presence and what seems a harsh crackdown. We saw no fewer than 50 police officers in a one-hour stroll along Ipanema Beach and the news showed protesters being tear-gassed in other parts of the city on a day when a million citizens took to the streets in multiple cities across the country — Rio, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Belem, and others. As one painted sign said near the Botafogo metro, “Copa para quem?” Who is the Cup for?
A lot to take in on day 1 of our adventure.