“Rotting, crumbling, covered in graffiti, overrun by weeds, the hulking wreck of a building known as the Aldeia Maracanã would make an unsightly addition to any neighborhood. But it happens to stand next to Rio’s Maracanã Stadium, the soccer cathedral that will host some of the World Cup’s most important matches, including the final. To get to the stadium, tens of thousands of fans will have to pass the Aldeia Maracanã’s ruined walls, now unattractively shielded by a 10-foot mesh fence. If the Maracanã is the celebrated face of Brazilian soccer, the Aldeia Maracanã is the scab on its nose.” NY Times

“The 2014 World Cup is finally underway. Soccer-loving host nation Brazil plays Croatia inside São Paulo’s Arena Corinthians Thursday afternoon. Like so many tournament story lines formed around excessive government spending on the event ($11.3 billion total), the $525 million stadium has been a source of embarrassment for Brazilian politicians and World Cup organizers. Three workers were killed building the facility. Completed six months past deadline and $150 million over budget, today’s game will be the first it hosts at full capacity.” City Lab

“Brazil’s heroic midfielder from the 1980s had a political conscience that’s needed today. You have to wonder what Socrates, the legendary socially-conscious Brazilian midfielder, would have made of what is happening in Brazil. Soccer and socioeconomic issues defined his personality and his career. Were he still alive, he would no doubt be helping us contextualize the craziness of this World Cup. They don’t make Brazilian players, or athletes in general, like Socrates these days. This Seleçao team follows the lead of coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who, when the team bus was surrounded by striking school teachers last month, dismissed the issue and said the problems of his country are not his concern. Not yet, anyway.” Fusionn

“The metro strike has ended in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, for now. Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s Secretary General in town for the FIFA Congress, says there is no Plan B to get 61,000 fans to the nearly finished Itaquerão stadium. Of course, there might be a general strike across the country on Thursday, but it’s maybe, probably just a rumor. Panic has ensued. Calm Down! Hurry up! Slow down! How do I get to the stadium?” Fusion

“The Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro has a special, rueful place in the Brazilian psyche. It is beloved by all who have seen it, even at its rundown worst. When it came to be renovated for the first time, it was feared it was an impossible task. So much human urine had been expelled over its concrete foundations that it had made the stadium structurally unsound. It was also the venue of an event that Brazilians had never forgotten, from the last time the country hosted the tournament: the 1950 World Cup final. Those who weren’t born then have never been allowed to forget it either.” CNN – James Montague

A protester argues with police during the Sao Paulo demonstration on June 12. Two CNN journalists sustained minor injuries at the scene.
“A Brazilian policeman stands behind shields during clashes with protesters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Thursday, June 12. The buildup to the World Cup has been plagued by mass demonstrations over the estimated $11 billion cost of staging the soccer tournament. Many protesters, angered by the state of Brazil’s public services, believe the money would be better spent elsewhere.” CNN

“Just days before Brazil kicks off the World Cup against Croatia, warm-up matches and training sessions around the country reveal the two sides of Felipe Scolari and regional feelings about the team. June 3, 2014; Brazil v Panama; Goiânia, Brazil. Luiz Felipe Scolari is answering a question about Neymar. Scolari answers a lot of questions about Neymar. And about David Luiz, and Hulk, and all the other members of the Seleção. He also answers a lot of questions about pressure, and preparation, and a thousand other subjects connected with the most important, and least answerable, question: Will Brazil win its sixth World Cup this summer.” Fusion

“Brazil’s list of feats since ending authoritarian rule in the 1980s is as long as it is varied, including antipoverty programs pulling millions into the middle class, the democratic election of presidents who suffered indignities under the dictatorship and the surging growth of tropical agriculture to help feed the world. But instead of coming together to extol such triumphs on the global stage as the host of the World Cup, the soccer tournament starting on Thursday with teams from 32 countries, Brazil is marked by rifts, with some people genuinely excited about the event while others are simmering with resentment over its ballooning costs and a sluggish post-boom economy.” NY Times

“As the world focuses on the World Cup, which opens in Brazil in less than a fortnight, many Brazilians are wrestling with painful discoveries about the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1964 to 1985. The BBC has found evidence that the UK actively collaborated with the generals – and trained them in sophisticated interrogation techniques.” BBC (Video)

“Metro workers in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, have suspended a strike over pay to allow for negotiations. The five-day stoppage had caused traffic chaos in one of the world’s most congested cities just days ahead of the football World Cup. The union warned that the strike would resume on Thursday – when Sao Paulo hosts the opening match – if its demands are not matched. A strike would make it hard for fans to reach the stadium on Thursday.” BBC

“Brazilian riot police have used tear gas against protesters in Sao Paulo, three days before the World Cup opening game in the city’s main stadium. The BBC’s Katy Watson at the scene said about 300 demonstrators were there and helicopters circled overhead. The protest was called by Sao Paulo metro workers who are striking in support of a 12.2% salary increase. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said she would not allow violent demonstrations to mar the World Cup. Sao Paulo metro workers have been on strike since Thursday, creating traffic chaos in one of the world’s most congested cities.” BBC (Video)

“RIO DE JANEIRO — Close to the geographical heart of Brazil, in the little-known state of Tocantins, soccer players remonstrated with a referee over a decision. Tensions ran high at the state championship match in the small town of Peixe, and in the midst of the ruckus, an official observer called an Afro-Brazilian player a ‘monkey.’  The incident barely made a ripple outside the town of 9,000, and police ignored the victim, a middle school teacher. But as Brazil pulled behind its defender Daniel Alves after a banana was thrown in his direction while he was playing for Barcelona, the episode in Tocantins revealed the country’s complicated relationship with racial identity.” Al Jazeera

“The volume rattles the bones. The gyrations evoke scenes of lustful abandon. In some of funk’s most explicit forms, tracks sprinkled with the prerecorded sounds of machine-gun fire exalt the drug gangs still in control of some of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. On certain nights, the bass from the amps resonates from the hillside slums into the bastions of the privileged classes, as if to remind them: Rio doesn’t belong just to you.” NY Times

“Since 1994, World Cups and presidential elections have taken place in the same years, creating an unintended but poetic synchronicity between football and politics. In 1994 the Tetra [the fourth time Brazil won the World Cup] was followed by the election of the centrist Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a cosmopolitan former sociology professor, who served for eight years. In 2002 the Penta was followed by the election of the left-wing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former shoeshine boy and lathe operator, who also served two terms.” Guardian