World Cup 2014 kicks off with colourful ceremony

BBC Sport ^ | 12th June 2014 | BBC Sport

[the scotsman]

'The 2014 Fifa World Cup officially got under way on Thursday with a colourful opening ceremony before hosts Brazil beat Croatia 3-1 in the first match.

A cast of 660 dancers paid tribute to the country's nature, people and football with a show around a "living" ball on the Arena de Sao Paulo pitch.

The final act saw a performance of official World Cup song "We Are One" by Jennifer Lopez and rapper Pitbull.

The month-long tournament sees 32 nations compete in 64 games.'

[nickcarraway]

Colorful? In Brazil? Impossible.

[the scotsman]

No soccer haters please. If you don’t like soccer, farenough, but please just don’t reply to this thread. As those of us who hate baseball ignore the World Series threads.

[the scotsman]

Brazil 3 Croatia 1

‘Neymar stole the show as Brazil came from behind to open the World Cup with a victory over Croatia in Sao Paulo, but the match turned on a controversial penalty.

The poster boy of this World Cup came into the tournament with the responsibility of delivering Brazil the trophy they prize above all else.

At the Arena de Sao Paulo, he stepped up to the mark, finding the net either side of half-time to bring Brazil back from the brink after Marcelo had scored an early own goal.

Oscar cemented the result with a wonderful individual goal late on but the adulation went to the man with the No.10 on his back.’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25285029

[JimSEA]

I like the way Brazil scored all the goals in a 3-1 defeat of Croatia.

[re_nortex]

I don’t hate the game of soccer — at least in in the abstract sense. I do dislike that it’s mostly played by a bunch of turd-world types, commies and globalists. It’s becoming more widely accepted in these United States and for that I’m not happy. I stand with the “Old Gray Wolf” (thus the ping to dfwgator) when it comes to soccer...and it ain’t football, no matter what they call it elsewhere.

[canuck_conservative]

For the record, we don’t “hate” soccer, just find it boring.

[dfwgator]

You mean the Ref stole the show.

[dfwgator]

So keeping a running tab of which clubs are scoring the most in the WC:

Barcelona 2 - Neymar(2)
Chelsea 1 - Oscar

And this is what I hate about OGs, IMHO, the last offensive player to strike the ball should get credit for a goal.

[mikrofon]

I’ve taken in the occasional soccer match —torn between that and waiting for a coat of paint to dry— some are more interesting and others are outright dogs, just like with any game.

From a photographic standpoint, however, there don’t seem to be as many opportunities for “good” action shots when compared to other sports. Probably the best in this regard involve the goaltenders, e.g. where they snag the ball fully-extended, or deflect a sure score at the last moment (or just miss doing so). On the other hand [sic], pics of players covering their privates or “writhing in excruciating pain” on the pitch get old fairly quickly ;-)