World Cup 2014: Rio horror show or a samba sensation?

[Jonathan Wilson]

It is up to Cristiano Ronaldo and co to ensure Brazil is remembered for the football and not protest, delay and intrigueLast time the World Cup was held in Brazil, in 1950, it was designed as the propaganda centre-piece of Getúlio Vargas's Estado Novo, the concrete sweep of the Maracanã, a modernist wonder that would be reflected in Oscar Niemeyer's designs for the new capital, Brasília. Football, though, can be delightfully unpredictable and rather than consecrating the new Brazilian state, the World Cup offered a national disaster "our Hiroshima", as the playwright Nelson Rodrigues tastelessly put it as Brazil, needing only a draw in the final game to seal the title, were beaten by Uruguay.
When the Brazilian government under president Lula authorised the bid to host the 2014 World Cup, a right it won unopposed after Colombia withdrew, it is safe to assume it similarly envisaged the tournament as confirmation of Brazil's place in the world, as a means of showing that the country is more than just the hedonistic home of carnival, capoeira and Caipirinha but is also a thriving modern economy. Already that is looking a forlorn dream.
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