Simmering civil tension and the stench of corruption threatens to sully Brazil's global soccer party when the World Cup kicks off on Thursday against a backdrop of protests, unrest and alleged political graft.
Less than 48 hours before the month-long soccer World Cup kicks off in Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff defended the cost of hosting the tournament, vowed to punish corruption and urged her compatriots to give visiting fans a warm welcome.
Cristiano Ronaldo provided Portugal with a major confidence boost ahead of the World Cup when he made a successful return from injury in a 5-1 romp against Ireland on Tuesday.
Members of England's World Cup squad made a flying visit to Brazil's largest shanty-town on Monday, yet observers were left wondering if it achieved little more than 'para ingls ver'.
A new study has revealed three words that are most widely used by people around the world to describe each of the 32 teams in the ongoing World Cup.
Rediff.com brings you the best quotes of the day from Brazil!
Rediff.com brings you the best quotes of the day from Brazil!
The facts are hard to dispute. Suarez bites people; he is a scofflaw; he is a racist. Most fans outside Uruguay would write him off as an out-of-control gunslinger, who should literally be muzzled before being allowed on to a field again.
They came to watch their men turn up the heat on Uruguay, but all that they got was boring football and a ticket back home. Italian WAGS were left dejected by their partners.
Brazil's poster-boy striker Neymar fulfilled a nation's expectations to score twice in a 4-1 destruction of Cameroon on Monday while the Netherlands again showed their potential to win the World Cup with a third straight win.
Goals from David Villa, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata gave deposed champions Spain a comfortable consolation win over Australia in Curitiba.
England's failure at the first hurdle at the Brazil World Cup caused heartache to captain Steven Gerrard.
Luis Suarez emerged from a month of treatment on his injured knee to score both goals as Uruguay beat England 2-1 to keep his team's World Cup hopes alive and leave England's hanging by a thread on Thursday.
Greece could have emerged victorious from their 0-0 World Cup Group C draw with Japan on Thursday were it not for Kostas Katsouranis's first-half red card, coach Fernando Santos said.
Cameroon went down fighting - off the ball and amongst themselves - as they exited the World Cup on Wednesday with Alex Song adding a red card to the ill-disciplined African nation's long list in a thumping 4-0 defeat by Croatia.
World Cup sidelights: All the news from Brazil right here...
Brazil failed to win for the first time in 11 games with their own lacklustre midfield as much to blame for the 0-0 draw with Mexico as the inspired goalkeeping performance of Guillermo Ochoa.
The Portugal defender, who has a long history of losing his cool and lashing out at opponents, leant into Germany striker Thomas Mueller with his head, making contact and applying pressure in a needless altercation that could bring him a stiff punishment.
In a World Cup packed with thrilling high-scoring matches, own goals are playing a prominent role as the drama unfolds in Brazil. Even Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan is amazed at the number of own goals scored so far in the competition.
United States defensive midfielder Kyle Beckerman is like former Brazil captain Dunga, a scrappy player willing to do the dirty work needed to unleash more creative talents, coach Juergen Klinsmann said on Sunday.
Japan are hoping for strong support from Brazilian fans when they take on Ivory Coast in their opening World Cup Group C game in Recife's Pernambuco arena on Saturday.
Argentine players laughed off criticism of their supposed defensive weakness on Thursday and vowed there would be no repeat of their 2010 World Cup quarter-final thrashing by Germany.
England's opening Group D game against Italy on Saturday could be another free-flowing classic of the kind that has already lit up this World Cup, manager Roy Hodgson suggested on Friday.
Containing Colombia's potent attacking game, even without injured striker Radamel Falcao, will be key to defensive-minded Greece's attempt to upset the World Cup Group C favourites on Saturday.
World Cup sidelights: All the fun news from Brazil right here...
Under attack over their proposed government-funded trip to Brazil to watch the football World Cup, six Goa legislators on Friday decided to pick up the tab for the visit themselves although opposition the Congress said it would only believe them if an official notification confirmed their decision.
Mexico and Cameroon would be prime contenders for the title of most fortunate qualifiers for the World Cup but both will fancy their chances of progressing from Group A if they can win their opening encounter on Friday.
Coca-Cola ran an interesting campaign in the run-up to the Football World Cup, which has just kicked off.
The vanishing spray used by referees to mark the 10 yards distance between a free kick and the defensive wall of players made its debut at World Cup level in Thursday's opening game between Brazil and Croatia.
World Cup sidelights: All the fun news from Brazil right here...
"On average, the victor outperforms the global market by 3.5 per cent in the first month - a meaningful amount, although the outperformance fades significantly after three months," the Goldman Sachs report says.
Brazilians say they will find their trademark exuberance once the goals start rolling in. For now, though, many of the international soccer fans descending on a country renowned for its Carnival celebrations, samba and soccer are disappointed.
As the World Cup nears, expectations of goals, goals and more goals rise. With the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo in prime form, Brazil could well turn out to be a goal-fest.
For Sao Paulo's most popular football team, the World Cup has provided a new home after 100 years playing in rented stadiums. Thousands of neighbours, however, say it has left them homeless.
Be it protests or a kind word, football fans think out loud through these banners at the World Cup in Brazil!
The Dutch football team has been made an offer that is out of this world and quite literally so!
Cristiano Ronaldo hit his first goal of the 2014 World Cup to lift Portugal to a 2-1 victory over Ghana in Brasilia but both sides bowed out of the tournament as Germany and USA advanced to the last 16.
Lionel Messi's World Cup double for Argentina in Wednesday's 3-2 victory over Nigeria suggests the four-time World Player of the Year may be ready to take his place among the all-time greats of the game.
Argentina's Lionel Messi continued his World Cup dual with Neymar by scoring twice in a 3-2 win over Nigeria while Switzerland's Xherdan Shaqiri got in on the act with a magnificent hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Honduras on Wednesday.
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