| MANAUS // As provisional World Cup squads have trickled out this week, so too have flags, signposts and other paraphernalia around Brazilian cities. With 27 days to go until the opening match takes place in Sao Paulo between the hosts and Croatia, the buzz is quickly building, even if the same cannot be said of the country’s stadiums, of which three remain under construction. Streets are lined with yellow and green ribbons. Restaurants and bars are beginning to decorate their interiors with the national flags of the 32 qualified teams – and, in the case of one Sao Paulo cafe, the flag of Togo too. English-language signposts are also popping up in host city metro stations directing tourists to stadiums and Fifa fan zones. In several shopping malls, temporary exhibitions display memorabilia and photographs from previous tournaments, and even as many Brazilians so far refuse to fully surrender themselves to the excitement of football’s grandest showpiece arriving on their shores, several have surrendered themselves to the addictive pursuit of trying to complete a Panini sticker album. (If anybody needs Honduras’s Jorge Claros and has Didier Drogba to swap, get in touch). To continue reading, click here. |
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Gary MeenaghanSports scribbler. Pedant with prose. Alliteration addict. Omnivore. Archives
June 2015
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