At the Copa… Copacabana
Sombreros, samba music, wrestling masks, green-white-and-red shirts.
Mexico City? Nope. Rio’s famed Copacabana beach.
The beach was awash in La Fiesta De Mejico Friday, with hundreds of fans reveling in Mexico’s opening match 1-0 triumph over Cameroon. Watch the fun from VOA’s Brian Allen and Scott Bobb.
From Sao Paolo to Brooklyn
Brazil wins and they go crazy in… Brooklyn?!
New York City has one of the largest populations of Brazilians and Brazilian-Americans in the United States (eastern Massachusetts has the largest). So no surprises that they were going bonkers in one neighborhood in Brooklyn Thursday when the Seleção opened their World Cup bid with a 3-1 victory over Croatia.
Check out the scene at this VOA photo gallery from photographer Adam Phillips.
Thanassis Stavrakis | AP
The 2014 World Cup kicked off yesterday with Brazil beating Croatia 3-1. But the game was not without controversy: Croatia alleges an early penalty that gave Brazil the lead shouldn’t have been called.
Speaking to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Croatia’s players could hardly hide their anger:
Dejan Lovren was judged to have fouled the Brazil striker Fred, resulting in a penalty. The Southampton defender was the most furious among Croatia players. “I can hardly hold back the tears,” he said. “Why don’t they just hand out the trophy to Brazil right away? Everything is going their way, everyone is saying they must win it, so why do we play then?
“The ref didn’t even speak English. I asked him why did he give the penalty and he just mumbled something. My team-mates tell me the same thing – how can you have an international ref who is officiating the opening match, but he doesn’t speak English and you can’t even speak to him?”
Was the ref’s call justified? Or are the claims of favoritism for Brazil true? Tell us below, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
Jose Gomez | Reuters
For play-by-play, minute-by-minute coverage of every ball touch, throw-in, direct kick, indirect kick, yellow card, red card, corner kick, goal kick and every other possible football feat in every World Cup match, tap into VOA’s unparalleled multilingual, multinational analysis.
At 12 PM ET (4 PM UTC), Mexico takes on Cameroon. Click here to follow the match.
And for even more exclusive VOA coverage with a special focus on Africa’s national teams, check out VOA’s Francophone blog.
Follow Live Match Coverage
Paulo Whitaker, Antonio Bronic | Reuters
For play-by-play, minute-by-minute coverage of every ball touch, throw-in, direct kick, indirect kick, yellow card, red card, corner kick, goal kick and every other possible football feat in every World Cup match, tap into VOA’s unparalleled multilingual, multinational analysis.
VOA correspondents will be tweeting and providing commentary and critiques of every match in Brazil, beginning with the kick-off match of Brazil v. Croatia, beginning at 4 p.m. USEDT (8 p.m. GMT)
Check it out here.
And for even more exclusive VOA coverage with a special focus on Africa’s national teams, check out VOA’s Francophone blog.