Twenty years ago, when he debuted in national politics, Eduardo Campos, the Brazilian presidential hopeful who died in a plane crash Wednesday, was easy to underestimate. With his elegant suits, camera-ready smile and pale-blue eyes as big as fog lights, the junior legislator from the northeastern state of Pernambuco seemed a better fit on the set of a soap opera than in the two-fisted arena of Brasilia.
Brazil is home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan, with a population of some 1.8 million people of Japanese descent. About 60 percent live in the southeastern and most developed state of São Paulo.
La Sele wasn't the only Costa Rican team in Brazil for the World Cup this month. A team of nine teenagers representing Costa Rica's indigenous groups also competed in the international "Indigenous Cup."
President Luis Guillermo Solís, representing Costa Rica as the president pro tempore of the regional organization, is set to meet with the presidents of China, Brazil and Chile during the week-long event in Brasilia.
It's been said Brazil has never fully recovered from its greatest sporting tragedy, the 1950 home loss to Uruguay in the World Cup final. Despite proceeding to win a record five global crowns and injecting beauty into the beautiful game, for blessing the sport legends such as Pele, Romario and Ronaldo, Brazil remains haunted by the ghosts of "Maracanazo."
In 2006, I stood at a fan fest in the middle of Rome and watched as Italy won the World Cup in a penalty shootout against France. The tension in the air and the silence that came over the crowd of Italians and tourist supporters during the shootout was unnerving, and the exhilaration that radiated through the multitude when Fabio Grosso made that final shot was the most epic celebration of which I’ve ever been a part.
SÃO PAULO, Brazil – As a nearly full moon glowed beyond a corner of Arena de São Paulo on Thursday evening, strange events seized the first match of the World Cup. A bank of lights at the flawed stadium flickered off, casting an eerie shadow as Brazil and Croatia played on.
SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Antonio da Silva sat atop a dilapidated wooden throne in the middle of the city. Below him a man shined his brown leather shoes, and in front, the bustling public square Praça da Se came to life. Street performers and sidewalk evangelists harmonized and sermonized away the final hours before chaos was scheduled to give way to competition.
Police in São Paulo fired tear gas Monday to disperse protesters supporting a subway strike that has unleashed transport chaos three days before the Brazilian mega-city hosts the World Cup kickoff.
