During yesterday’s FIFA World Cup kick-off, I ended up watching a segment on MSNBC about just how HUGE the World Cup is all over the world. Apparently, about 46% of the population of the whole world will watch all or some of the World Cup games. Which makes it difficult for me to say “Eh, I don’t really care.” For what it’s worth, I’m equal-opportunity ambivalent. I don’t care that much about any sport. But I’ll try to be delicate to all of the football fans out there.
These are some pics from the opening ceremony in Sao Paulo, just before the Brazil-Croatia game. Jennifer Lopez performed with her friend Pitbull and a Brazilian singer called Claudia Leitte. Leitte, J.Lo and Pitbull recorded “We Are One (Ole Ola)” as the official song for the Sao Paulo games, and that’s what they performed live yesterday. Apparently, there were a few little glitches during the performance (especially as Pitbull and J.Lo were trying to be rising up out of their little ball cocoon).
I’m kind of meh on both J.Lo and Claudia’s costumes – I guess they’re supposed to be wearing the colors of Brazil’s flag, which is green, blue, gold and white? It might have actually looked better/cleaner if they had coordinated costumes between the three of them though. Because Pitbull and his MOM CAPRIS totally stole all the thunder. You’ve got to love Pitbull. He was all, “Y’all, I’m about to bust out my highwaters. Sh-t’s about to get real. Where my white loafers at?”
Also, this happened during the Opening Ceremony:
Performers are thrown into the air during the #WorldCup opening ceremony in São Paulo (@REUTERS / Ivan Alvarado) pic.twitter.com/opZ7SMCIUR
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) June 12, 2014
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
J.Lo looks like she is wearing a shredded ice skating costume. Pitbull looks like he raided Benedict Cumberbatch’s closet.
folded cuffed pants on men bothers me to no end. BC is chief offender, but i’d forgive that if he stopped wearing so much pink and salmon.
Your assessment of JLo’s booties are spot on.
Completely agree, it is not a good look
blue marie, I’ve missed you! Don’t stop, believin, hold into that feeeeeeeeeelin…..
Oh, I thought that Pitbull looks like a Latino Dr. Evil and that J-Lo Camel toe looks like she’s wearing diapers made of radioactive lettuce, but yes, now that you mention it, I see what you see too.
Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!
Latino Dr. Evil for the win! Spot on!
hahahhaha!!! Latino Dr. Evil—Brilliant observation!
baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa! jlo camel toe!
Yeah, Dr Evil or maybe Travis Bickle sans Mohawk and on a Disney cruise.
LOVE IT! Latino vampire Dr. Evil on a cruise wearing Cousin Eddie’s white kicks from National Lampoon’s vacation.
Radioactive lettuce! Great, you made my day. Also, the song is fugly. Here in Germany public life stops when our team is playing, though.
I think Pitbull raided Amal’s closet-certainly from the waist down. OMG, did no one at least have one mirror in their dressing room?! Pitbull looks like he should be walking up and down a beach with a metal detector-my grandfather used to do that until my grandmother sold the thing.
I think her costume is actually perfect for a big flashy Brazilian event. I mean, there are people in gigantic sparkly blue jester costumes with full mime makeup dancing behind her–girl’s gotta stand out somehow. Part of her enormous success is knowing both her U.S. audience and her Latin American audience and how to play to each.
As for Pitbull… Dr. Evil on a cruise is spot on.
Yep. And the costume also refered to the carnival which is, after all, an emblem of Brazil. Her costume is an absolute replica of the platform costumes during the carnival (more modest than many, of course). Nice touch and a compliment.
I’ll say it, they look all right to me, I’m reading plenty of snark but JLo looks all right to me and cuffed capris are called for at the beach, so whatever. Also, if you think that’s a camel toe, think again.
Posing or performing, she really does make that same stupid facial expression ALL the time, doesn’t she?
Yeah, despite the stratospheric levels of cheesy costumery it was her facial expression that I immediately noticed and immediately eye-rolled/snickered.
Right? I mean she’s a beautiful woman but yeesh.
Same here- intense bitch face- her version of blue steel- fierce platinum.
she looks concerned about stuff
Love the dotted tights
I thought she said she wasn’t performing at that event.
Well yes that is what her ‘people’ put out until FIFA quietly put in a word about her contract and legal responsibility and how much money they would sue her for and she was on that ‘plane faster than you can say ” Casper Who?”!!!!!.
FIFA are rich and you don’t play diva with them.
I expect she did not rehearse properly as she was ‘bounced’ into behaving !!!!
I think everyone in that first photo simultaneously realized how stupid they look.
Lol, I certainly did. I saw that picture and thought ok, it’s time to blow up the world and start over.
hahaha.
lol
AHAHAHAHA!!
All I can think is J. Lo’s hair looks AMAZEBALLZ!!1!1!1
It’s fake! 🙂
And great fake too!
She does looks fabulous. IMO the hair is a whole back piece or wig with her hair combed over.
She’s a beautiful lady though.
The Opening Ceremony was horrible.
That performance was such a disappointment to me. I was second hand embarrassed.
Double Post. Sorry.
They should have gone for Carlos Vives & David Correy’s song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxy1pNqvm94 although I think coca cola nabbed it now. It is Brazil unofficial song
Yeah, but I dislike the fact that Portuguese speaking countries tend to use songs in English and Spanish… Where’s the Portuguese language?.. at least, the Euro 2004 in Portugal, the chorus was in Portuguese…. Though she was terrible with the accent…
Such a lame tendency…
@ Nighty:
For the Euro 2004 they chose someone (Nelly Furtado) that would not only have a connection to Portugal but also be recognized outside (it is a business after all). She is Portuguese-American after all. She speaks good Portuguese with a mix of Azorean accent (the Portuguese islands) and obviously accent of someone who was raised by Portuguese parents in a foreign country. It did sound a bit funny, but it was a great effort IMO 😉
Edit: but true, I also don’t understand that tendency for the Spanish-English songs. I would really have liked a Brazilian song for this one with Brazilian rhythm.
@minime: Nelly Furtado is Canadian, from Victoria, British Columbia.
@ harpreet
you’re totally right!
sorry, I was thinking of something else while typing. Sure, she is Portuguese-Canadian. Both nationalities, born in Canada from Portuguese parents.
Oh c’mmon.. I’m Portuguese… couldn’t stop laughing at her accent, one doesn’t understand what she’s saying, it’s not even azorean accent.. she’s descendent of Portuguese, true, but she doesn’t speak Portuguese..doubt her parents taught her… I have friends in other countries and their kids speak Portuguese with a really good accent, you don’t notice they were born outside Portugal, because parents solely speak Portuguese at home…
When she gave interviews here, she spoke solely English… she doesn’t know her parents’ language…
eheh I will have to disagree, but it’s just an opinion.
And she gives plenty of interviews in Portuguese (most of her interviews for any portuguese channel are in Portuguese, you find them all in youtube). I also made fun of it at the time, but now that I think about it with the distance of the past I don’t think it’s that bad and it was a good effort from her.
Nothing could save that mess of a song tbh. Fifa out did themselves this year in the Lets Ruin This By Picking A Popular But Talentless Star To Do This department. And I thought Shakira with her goat bleeting and condescending song in 2010 was the lowest we could sink. I still think K’Naans Waving Flag should have been the Official Song then and trying to find its equivalent for this year.
I gotta say that if nothing else atleast the Brazillian singer had fun with it. This was clearly a dream come true for her and I love that kind of enthusiasm.
@ Madi
That song is SO much better!
Nothing will beat ‘Wave Your Flag’ from the SA World Cup though. Best. Ever.
@ Jayne
Shakira’s song was LOVED in Africa. No one there found it condescending. One of South Africa’s hottest bands (Freshly Ground) was involved in making it.
I don’t think J.Lo is talentless. She was a frickin’ Fly Girl. Homegirl can dance. That being said, this performance was dreadful.
@Mich
I am African and many of us found it offensive. She took a much loved Cameroonian tune, the sound track to my childhood incidentally and ruined it with her crappy voice. Then she decides to ruin the song chorus with that ridiculous line “This Time For Africa”. Well gee Shakira, thanks for giving us a turn, we know it appeases your political liberalism but first, this wasnt just about being our turn. We earned it damn it! And secondly, we are a continent of 53 countries, would you write a song about this time being for Europe because say Germany was hosting?? Then she relegated Freshly Ground to singing backup even though they are infinitely more talented than her. I mean if this time was really for Africa, why not give them a more prominent role?
And the visuals of the pale woman with her black female dancers in that video, I just cant. Not that it mattered though, most of us just adopted kanaans song as the official anthem and pretended the Shakira mess did not happen.
@ Omega
All I can say is that we in South Africa loved it – but agreed with you about the relegation of Freshly Ground. I admit I didn’t know it was based on a Cameroonian tune. I just wandered over to YouTube to listen to the original. Very nice. I definitely prefer it to Shakira’s version.
I think everyone agrees that K’naan OWNED the World Cup. Shakira was a distant also ran.
@ Jane & Omega. Get over it. The Africa world cup team & shakira were given the rights to sing that song. People loved it. The world loved it. Money from the song was donated to soo amny foundations in Africa. Don’t make this something political o racial.
The world cup is a business. FIFA profited the most from the event.
Also Shakira has done so much for people in need.
Not only in her country but many more. Including countries in Africa.
Shakira has supported the following charities:
ALASChildren’s Defense FundCHOC Children’sGlobal Campaign for EducationHabitat For Humanity
Live EarthONE CampaignPies DescalzosTreatment Action CampaignUNICEF
I watched it. The sound was really crappy (looked like some partial/major playback was happening and they couldn’t hear themselves), but well, the song is crappy, so maybe that’s how it’s supposed to sound anyway.
I also wonder why Cláudia Leite was chosen for this…I don’t really know her songs, just heard about her here and there, but in a country with voices like Daniela Mercury or Ivete Sangalo (just to name a few in the same style as hers) I really can’t understand.
It was SO bad, like epic bad.
It’s like the stadium didn’t have the proper sound system so it just sounded like music being piped in before an actual concert.
Pitbull’s trousers were hilarious
Yeah, it felt more like a rehearsal to me o_O I thought the sound was crappy and Kaiser is right – it really seemed like the ball-thing didn’t work properly as Pitbull and Jenny tried to get on the stage. It was a fiasco. Also, I don’t like the song very much. To be honest, I was angry that it turned out to be a typical Pitbull/Lopez song like the ones they did before. Nothing against them, but I expected something different – something that captures the spirit of Brazil.
Have to agree @minime about Claudia Leite.. I listen to a lot of brazilian music but never Claudia’s … just listened to a song…. meh… Ivete, Daniela, Maria Creuza, so much better voices..
The whole thing was just so strange! I mean, dancing veggies? A Spanish-English song for a tourney in a Portuguese speaking country? Never mind those silly white pants, lol. All I was thinking was “What the hell were these people smoking?”
So many things about it were wrong or mistakes. Without even the hindesight we all have now people producing it should have known better from rehearsals.
Pitbull is revolting, eh? And Capri pants on men – just NO. Ryan Tedder wears them as well, and looks like an idiot doing so. So unsexy.
What surprised me was how much the death of every BRAZILIAN singer on the planet was under reported. After all, it can be the only explanation for hiring Jenny from the Can’t Sing and the Cuban Vanilla Ice.
And the first game sucked balls – the referee was useless!
“the Cuban Vanilla Ice” – FUNNY!
Gee, I hope you meant “dearth” of every Brazilian singer… 😉
I agree! Brazil has one of the most amazing sounding music in the world. The only difficulty would have been which singer to choose! Why this?!
Yepp, the referee was terrible. I felt so bad for the Croatians.
Well, I did until I heard (via ESPN Brazil Sportscenter and their website) that the Croatian players vandalized the locker room after the match. It took hours for the workers to undo the mess (which included a broken table and things that were actually torn from the walls).
I don’t care how angry you are because the result wasn’t fair or whatever, you don’t go around destroying other people’s property. Act like a civilized human being.
You’re kidding…Nice guys(!)
They didn’t vandalise anything. And who wouldn’t bre angry. We were robbed. A country of 7 million registered PLAYERS needed so much help to beat a country of 4 million PEOPLE? No wonder the stadium wasn’t finished, the referee had to be payed, Brasil was among my favourite teams, but now I hope they lose every single game.
@ SpookySpooks:
They did. I wish I had the picture to show you but the press isn’t allowed in the locker rooms (although I’m almost certain somebody took pictures will a cell phone and they will eventually surface). ESPN, however, *IS* a reliable source for sports news here. They don’t usually post things they didn’t check before.
I repeat: it doesn’t matter how angry you ar or if you were robbed — that gives you HAVE NO RIGHT to destroy other people’s property.
Croatia just lost my sympathy, I was actually rooting FOR them — maybe that serves me well, for rooting against my own national team.
If they indeed did such a thing, I’m sure they will pay for repairments. I still don’t blame them .But, I wouldn’t believe everything you read, the press tends to make up stories about our players. The same thing happened in Iceland.
I don’t really blame Brasil. I blame FIFA. They were to afraid of riots to let Brasil lose. The crowd tossed rocks at the booths where the commentators were. Imagine what would have happened if they lost.
I repeat: I didn’t read that on a gossip site, or any “inflammable” one. I heard and read from ESPN Brazil.
I really don’t care if they pay or not pay for anything. The women who had to clean the room up until 9:30 p.m. yesterday already did their job. No one should behave like that. That’s common decency. I’m CERTAIN you’d be as pissed as I am had the players from *MY* team vandalized *YOUR* stadium’s locker room.
If your country was so clearly ROBBED by my country, I wouldn’t be surprised if they wrecked the entire stadium.
And I get why the protesting happened, but I don’t really get why they tossed rocks at english commentators.
Oh, if BraZil had lost, it would be on their own fault (poor Marcelo scored on his own goalkeeper…) . But the penalty should have never existed, since it wasn’t a penalty…
No reason to destroy property, nevertheless…
Oh and Brazil protesters don’t care much about the game or the results, they cared about the amount of money used to build the stadiums…. That isn’t being spent on Education and Social Welfare and I agree with them…
@ SpookySpooks:
I’d be f*cking embarrassed had my team destroyed anyone else’s property. Again, it’s common decency however…some have it, some don’t.
@ Nighty:
“Oh and Brazil protesters don’t care much about the game or the results, they cared about the amount of money used to build the stadiums…. That isn’t being spent on Education and Social Welfare and I agree with them…”
Exactly! Extremely expensive stadiums being built where there’s no strong football club whatsoever (the one in Manaus, for instance). It was just another excuse to spend public funds (and rob people blind).
The saddest story happened right here where I live: public schools’s funds for students’s meals (for many that’s the only meal they’re going to have all day) were cut so they could finish the stadium here.
@ SpookySpooks:
“If your country was so clearly ROBBED by my country, I wouldn’t be surprised if they wrecked the entire stadium.”
Your country was robbed by FIFA, not Brazil. You should be angry at them or at the people you claim make up stories about your country.
Brazililians have never had anything against Croatians, at least nothing that I know of. Had it been Argentina or any other traditional winning nation/team (italy, Germany….) I’d raise an eyebrow — there’s a lot of rivalry among these teams. But a small team like the Croatiaa? An underdog like someone said downthread? We usually root FOR said team.
You’re being unbelievably unfair with Brazilian people. You’re practically faulting a country’s people for rooting for their own nation.
“The saddest story happened right here where I live: public schools’s funds for students’s meals (for many that’s the only meal they’re going to have all day) were cut so they could finish the stadium here.2
That’s just awful…. I don’t understand.. I didn’t understand my own country with the building of 10 stadiums for Euro 2004, when only 6 were needed… Just because the teams like Sporting and Benfica refused to pay to rebuild Jamor (it’s a municipal stadium in Lisbon that can and is used by both teams… ) Each team wanted its own stadium.. The same in OPorto with OPorto club and Boavista… Now we have 6 stadiums being destroyed because the clubs can’t actually afford to keep them from decay… Only when Expo Lisbon was done in 98, did they do something useful since most buildings were designed to have other functions afterwards… something that happens nowadays.. the money wasn’t a total waste…
@ Nighty:
I remember that from Euro 2004.
The opening match should have been held at Morumbi stadium (that belongs to São Paulo, not the city but the football club). All they had to do was some repairing. FIFA, however, wanted a way more than São Paulo’s executives were willing to do. They counter offered some changes, with a smaller budget and FIFA refused it. So they rushed the building of Corinthians Stadium — a stadium that was going to be build anyway but NOT for FIFA/World Cup purposes.
It was mess and, as of now, three workers have died during its construction. I’m worried about *THAT* sort of thing. I’m worried about our daily lives here. I don’t care if Brazil wins or loses this World Cup. I care about the bill that we, the people, will be left with once this thing is done.
I said I did blame FIFA. I’m sorry I got a little heated, I tend to do that. I’m a huge football fan and it fricking hurt so much 😀
I’m not blaming Brazilians. It’s horrible what is happening. Did you see the segment on the World Cup John Oliver had in his show? It was disgusting. In Brasil, but even more in Qatar where people are dying. Awful.
@Eve you read my mind, I was going to ask you, because I couldn’t remember, which stadium had partially collapsed during construction and killed workers…. It was all over the news here in Portugal… Terrible, terrible… their poor families…
Oh, the bill is going to be big and the revenues from tourism won’t be enough…
With Euro2004, many Portuguese wondered why it hadn’t been done between Portugal and Spain… the bill would be cheaper i divided by both, and since it’s always in June, july,.. both countries already have a major income from “normal tourism”; so it would be just adding up football fans to the list of tourists… Would be much better…
@ SpookySpooks:
Seriously, you shouldn’t be angry at us. I live here. I know about what’s happening here a way better than some foreign press journalist — some blow up things out of proportion and flat out tell lies about our country. They want the hits on their websites. It’s always been like that.
The ironic thing is: some of the worst stories weren’t reported by them — I know them because I live here, I speak the language and, unlike many Brazilians, had a good (mostly private) education.
The best source for sports news here is ESPN Brasil. I watch their news and read their articles/stories. The ones from other channels/newspapers I check just out of curiosity and only every once in a while.
@ Nighty:
You know what’s worse? I’d be sad had it happened to anyone else’s stadium (it happened in Manaus, too, if I’m not wrong)…but it broke my heart that it happened right to us, Corinthians supporters. Corinthians is my one and only team. The only sports related thing I ever passionately cared about. As I said, our stadium was going to be built anyway but not for this specific World Cup, its construction was rushed in order to replace the Morumbi’s one.
I want to believe these horrible things wouldn’t have happened in other circumstances. Corinthians (the football club) is not necessarily the one at fault here (although I think the club is indirectly responsible for that), but the company hired — at great cost — to build it. Still…I’m ashamed.
I swear there’s WAY more than just bad referees and favoured teams during any World Cup. What happens to the host country and its people is what should really worry people but that’s not what happens.
As I said Eve, I’m really sorry. I wasn’t blaming Brasilian people. I blame the referee and FIFA ( and Neymar and Fred ).
@Eve: sorry to hear that, really feel bad for the Brazilians that got affected by the preparations. FIFA is really a leech. A friend posted something on his FB page a few weeks ago about how FIFA was basically robbing Brazil. FIFA gets all the revenues from ticket selling, merchandise, etc., while Brazil has scrapped everything to build infrastructures and gets little to none. Can you at least hope for income from the tourists coming to watch the World Cup?
@ SpookySpooks:
I understand. But you have to calm yourself down. It’s only the beginning of the competition and there’s a huge chance Croatia will be in the next phase.
As for the referees, you can blame FIFA’s politics. They bring referees from countries with weak leagues — in that “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” way. That’s one of the biggest complaints made by the press during every World Cup. The best referees are the ones from countries where the leagues are strong, where they work under serious pressure (that means: Latin America and Western Europe).
@ lenje:
Some will come from tourism indeed…but also many problems, too. Like prostitution (and, even worse, child prostitution). There have been TV, billboards ads trying to educate the people on the matter, but it really doesn’t help having a company like ADIDAS, for instance, making t-shirts that showed Brazil as a sex paradise. Apparently they removed the t-shirts from the market, but not even an apology was issued.
http://blog.clothes2order.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rio.jpg
@Eve @lenje @ this is one of the main problems in Brazil right now…
The image, painted by a street artist says it all…
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/05/20/paulo_ito_world_cup_a_brazilian_street_artist_has_created_the_world_cup.html
*Hoping it will be accepted since it conveys a very important message… Kaiser please… *
@ Nighty:
It does say it all…like, literally (I’m talking about my post mentioning public schools funding forthe kids’s meals being cut).
FIFA is the most corrupt organization on the planet. At least if they pull out from Qatar and the US got it, we wouldn’t have to build any stadiums or really spend any money at all on infrastructure. Same with the UK.
Eve, apropo our players trashing the locker room – they say that one old table couldn’t hold the weight of the things on it and that the flood was caused by the broken installations on the statium that wasn’t finished.
I believe them. No way would they ever dilierately trahs a locker room.
@ SpookySpooks:
I sincerely hope that it was something of the sorts (the broken table). As for the flood, I didn’t say it was caused by the Croatians (and said thing was addressed by a Corinthians former executive — André Sanchez — just as you said, a flood).
I still find the things torn from the wall fishy — I believe the women who had to clean the room (they’re the lowest paid workers, usually very humble, honest people who have no reasons to lie). Hopefully, I’m wrong because I truly hate when players do that, no matter who they are or where they come from. I don’t want to hold anything against Croatians as having a rough path ahead of them is hard enough — and I like their coach Niko Kovac.
Now, on the subject of bad referees…did you see what the Italian referee (works in a strong league, knows first hand all the players shenanigans) did against Holland? You know, Spain’s first goal (that penalty didn’t exist either). Granted, the Brazilian player naturalized Spanish (Diego Costa) didn’t actually fake being hit, he just fell and from the referee’s angle, it may have looked like a fault. But still…it just shows you how some of the most hardened, experienced referees who work in major European leagues can make mistakes, let alone a Japanese one (love their passion for football but their league is nowhere near European ones and their referees are often naïve or simply not that prepared for an event like the World Cup. I still think he made a mistake, not that he was ill-intended).
*Sorry, “ill-intentioned” or malicious.
Despite that one controversial decision (the penalty), Brazil was indeed better. Technically all four goals were made by the Brazilians 😉
Neymar should have been send off for elbowing Modrić, Olić’s goal should have been accepted, Brasil’s penalty wasn’t a penalty and despite Marcelo scoring that first goal , the action before it was brilliant. There were much more than one mistake.
Neymar got the yellow card he deserved. Fred should have gotten one as well for faking that fault.
Neymar should have gotten a red card.
Technically. Barely. Agree with spooky. They looked like shite, especially for being Brazil.
Yes, go figure how someone as talentless as Pitbull even has a career.
I was watching it on a computer and parts of it looked like AVATAR. Jennifer certainly loves her spangly tights, doesn’t she?
Thanks Kaiser, for posting..Her outfit isn’ the best, but ok… The colours are right, green, yellow, blue and white… 🙂
I watched the first game, and for a large portion of it the stadium flood lights didn’t work at all. So, the sound issues may have been technical problems with the stadium.
Also, man capris = no.
At least Pitbull looked comfortable. Lol.
Cheese platter
Who cares about the TERRIBLE opening song written by people who dont actually know what football is, this is the World Cup! The biggest event on the planet. American’s, watch and learn. Get good at this sport and the world will approve. There are more FIFA members than in the entire UN.
Watch and learn what exactly? Piss poor refereeing and fake injuries?
I love soccer but yesterday’s game just reminded me of how frustrating it can be to watch sometimes.
Now imagine if you were Croatian and got robbed. I wonder how much the referee got payed.
“Piss poor refereeing and fake injuries?”
This is why I do not watch it. I’ve tried. Every time, there’s some kind of ridiculous refereeing and the players go way over the top trying to pretend they were horribly hurt in an attempt to get people from the other side kicked out of the game. AND IT WORKS. No thanks.
How is any one sport more valid from another and why should all nations focus on it? Also, I think the Olympics is bigger, just saying.
America has it’s own national sports that it prioritizes, like a lot of other nations. Hell we have GAA which is only played here and it’s not even a full time gig for the players, they do it because they love it.
Having said that, the UK response to the first televised game on SKy was nothing short of amazing
http://balls.ie/gaa/twitter-hurling-reaction/
Why would the States learn about football.. I’m from a country that thrieves on football, and I think other sports should be given equal importance: tennis, basketball, handball, swimming, etc… Some athlets win medals and you practically don’t hear about it, and it s*cks.. usually it’s people on facebook and twitter that cherish those winnings, not national tv.. it’s so sad…
Tennis, basketball, handball, swimming and waterpolo are huge in my country. Especially handball and waterpolo since we’re among the best in the world.
Here people get interested in a sport after an athlete does really well. Skiing wasn’t popula, but after Janica and Ivica Kostelić it became very very popular. Mybe the same would happen with football in America if their team did very well in the World Cup?
Yeah, but here the problem is not the people… it’s the news.. looks like only football exists… Really, it’s awful….
I mean Portugal wins medals in the paralympics, Judo, etc and you don’t hear it on the news, just on newspapers… and it’s a shame…
@ Nighty:
The very same thing happens here in Brazil. Other sports leagues struggle to exist here in Brazil while football gets everything: funding (especially the public one, which pisses me off), sponsors…
The entire opening ceremony was a flop. The performance was so cringe inducing. When the giant ball/flower opened up and Claudia came prancing out I actually groaned cause I knew Jlo and Pitbull will soon follow. Say what you will about Shakira but her Waka Waka song and dance was so catchy. People still dance to it at parties. This song was juat so terrible.
I only enjoyed the acrobats and the people on stilts.
P.S. The opening game sucked too
Can she ever do a song without Pitbull now? lol
The opening ceremony was vey disappointing. I hope the closing ceremony is a lot better.
The official song is also terrible. The offcial Coke World Cup song with Aloe Blacc is so much better.
I’m confused. I thought she said she wouldn’t be performing?
I miss Ja Rule
lol first time i have read that
Well the songs Lopez did with Ja Rule were better than these more recent songs with Pitbull, so I concur.
But I’m probably just nostalgic…
That is a whole lotta fug for a single stage to handle.
Jennifer’s costumes are so dated They always look the same.
I really wish the bodysuit trend for female performers would die already. I’ve seen way more camel toe in a handful of years than I ever thought I’d see in my entire life.
I agree. It’s odd to think Madonna seems more current than these girls over 20 years ago in concerts, because she had a lot of different costumes, not just a bodysuit. J-LO is predictable every time. It’s gotten so old and at 42 just screams dated. Mix it up, J-LO. You would think one of these performers that always revert to the straight-up leotard costumes would want to be the first to show the world the others are out of touch and mix it up.
I love this costume of Madonna’s 24 years ago doing Holiday and dancing away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPK53Ko1WO4
Thank you so much for covering this!! I was watching the whole time yesterday and thinking WTF is he wearing?! And also bonus points for calling it football which is the proper term for it!!
Those capris are INCREDIBLE. This has made my day!
They’re mocking the hell out of Leitte’s outfit here in Brazil, comparing her to a very popular comic character here (Galinha Pintadinha — something like “little dotted chicken”).
http://entretenimento.r7.com/blogs/fabiola-reipert/files/2014/06/claudia-leitte-galinha-pintadinha.jpg
By the way, it’s said that outfit’s cost was around a million dollars…LOL!
waving @Eve
Are you Brazilian Eve? I’m really curious about the Brazilian perspective on this all thing from the “outside of the game” point of view. Are there a lot of manifestations going on or are things slowing down now that it really starts? (sorry, just curious about how accurate the news are on it)
Not Brazilian here, but I don’t think protests will slow down… last night’s news were again confrontations between police and protesters…
@ Minime:
Yes, I am. And I live here. Four matches are taking place in the city where I live — it’s an unbelievable mess here. There haven’t been any major riots though. I didn’t hear or read about any confrontations between the police and manifestants.
I’m at home right now, I couldn’t afford any of the tickets (I would have gone to one of them just for the “World Cup experience”, you know? Even though I don’t really care for any of the teams that are playing here).
I’m waiting for my sister to come home from work…it’s pouring rain here and her route passes right next to the stadium.
Olá @Nighty and @Eve 🙂
That is such a bummer that these tickets always end up being so freaking expensive. I was planning to be around Lisbon when the final of the Champions took place and I checked for tickets 3 months in advance and they were crazily unaffordable.
I’m glad to hear that no major riots are happening, since in the end, it’s always the “small” people who get hurt. I was reading what you and Nighty posted up-thread and I couldn’t agree more. It’s really sad what is in the background of what should be something fun for people and a source of legitimate profit for the country. I’m a bit apprehensive of what will happen in Brazil after the cup with all the social problems that dragged with it, so I’m hoping for the best.
It looks like a cheap gymnastic outfit. If it cost a million dollars, there would have been a lot more good use to put that money to. Like maybe feeding the starving kids with a soccer ball on their plate.
@ Tessy:
That mural was a sarcastic criticism towards the World Cup being held in Brazil. Brazilian children need actual food (and education, and safety, etc), they can’t eat footballs, they’re gaining nothing with this World Cup.
That was the point the artist was trying to make, that we have a whole lotta more SERIOUS priorities than hosting a sports event.
The opening match was a DISGRACE. Neymar should have gotten a red card for elbowing Modric, our second goal was a goal and Fred should get a fricking Oscar for that fall. Brasil just had to win, ha? I wonder how much the Japanese referee got payed? Croatia was robbed. F**k you FIFA, f**k Sepp Blatter and f**k you you referee.
Your second goal WASN’T a goal. The player was offside. Show some objectivity for crying out loud!
Really, it pisses me off that your comments are making me DEFEND Brazil (when I was all the time against it).
It was a goal. It was a clear goal. You show some objectivity. Pretty much every foreign newspaper agrees. And Neymar should have been sent off and that last penalty shouldn’t have happened. So even if that goal didn’t count, it would have been a draw at best.
It wasn’t. Really, you’re losing your sh*t over nothing.
Neymar got the yellow card he deserved. What the referee should have done, besides NOT giving that penalty, was giving Fred a yellow card as well (for faking it).
And me showing some objectivity? Are you kidding me? I’m one of the people who didn’t want this World Cup here in the first place. I said that just about everywhere I could (including here on CB — I even remember showing support in a reply to one of your comments some threads ago).
I don’t root for Brazil therefore I’m not biased in the slightest. Don’t accuse me of that because it’s something I’m not when it comes to the Brazilian Football Confederation (a festering nest of corruption), FIFA or our team.
I am aware that there’ll be a lot more favouring towards Brazil. It is always like that with the hosting countries.
It was.
I totally agree with you BUT just for the fun of it, KARMA HITS HARD, CROTIA
No, I still can’t forgive what you did to Laurent Blanc in semi finals in 1998 :p
It was a goal, Eve. Brasil was clearly favourited. I think FIFA was too scared of riots.
FIFA isn’t scared of anything. They never lose (money, clout, you name it) no matter what happens to/with the people from the host countries.
Blatter couldn’t have looked more bored during the match. FIFA executives only care about one thing and thing only: how much money *they* are going to make.
Riots will happen, even if Brazil wins… the amount of money spent is ludicrous and people are angry, and they have total right to be…
Blatter is an id*ot, Portuguese can’t stand him…. Cristiano Ronaldo winning the Golden Ball was fantastic, after Blatter’s comments ..
@ SpookySpooks
I was very disappointed at Neymar yesterday. For who is suppose to be the best player in his team he resorted to not so pretty plays…Still! I was also thinking that the elbowing should give him a red card but then I was schooled about soccer rules (something to do with blocking someone’s play and so on) and even though it’s not pretty, it’s according to the rules, so we can’t really blame the referee (at least for that). Not the type of fair soccer I like to watch anyway.
All the rest, I think both teams were pretty bland, so much that I fell asleep on the second part, so I can’t really tell about the rest of the game. Hope next games are at least a bit more exciting.
Oh, can’t wait for tonight’s Spain Netherlands… huh huh… 2 fantastic teams… let’s see what comes out of it… Tonight I’ll be Spanish… Sorry, Dutch people… 🙁
Oh that will be interesting…hmm…I think I’m also rooting for Spain on this one 😉
@Nighty and @minime: I also think Spain is the better team. I rooted for the Dutch 4 years ago (because I happened to be in the Netherlands for a short course at that time, so of course I was rooting for my host country LOL), but I was very disappointed at the finale when they showed the worst game ever. I lost count on the dives alone. Spain deserved its victory, however much I refused to acknowledge that LOL.
Oh, I’m rooting for Spain because I’m Portuguese and live 12 miles from Spain, also a Spanish teacher,,, grew up with both cultures… 🙂
They’re “nuestros hermanos” ( our brothers)…
The same with Brazil, same language, half the family is Brazilian, my grandma was born in São Paulo, Brazil…
It’s the heart.. 3 favourite teams, Portugal, of course, Brazil and Spain… the heart…
I’m rooting for Spain because Robben once kicked Ronaldo. That’s how minimalist my choices in soccer are 🙂 (kidding)
Sorry ladies, I’ll be rooting for the Dutch. I can’t stand the way Spain play. So boring! It should be a good (re)match though.
Seems like the Dutch are winning this one.
I’m crushed!!! The Dutch won by 5-1!! Spain was asleep throughout the match!
I already commented downthread,,,, Friday, 13th? Full Moon??
I have never seen a player shake the rep’s hand when walking off the pitch like Neymar did.
It’s sad to see an underdog who clearly played better get robbed so that the big team could win.
Oh, yes. The referee was in the bag. I saw the big brown bag with the dollar sign right at the very moment Blatter handed it to him.
How about he was simply incompetent?
Funny how his incompetence only damaged one team, non?
Mistakes that favour one team happen all the time — and most of the times they’re just that: mistakes, incompetence. You can’t falsely accuse anyone of being dishonest without any proof.
@Lollipop well, it’s pretty common actually. I do not see anything suspicious with that handshake.
That being said, I kind of agree with what Eve pointed out, but, honestly, no World Cup is ever fair. Teams get robbed all the time, unfortunately (even Brazil, for those who think it is untouchable). I recall one fairly questionable match from the 2006 Cup between the Australia and Italy, for instance, but I am sure the 2010 Cup had plenty of examples as well (I did not watch it).
I am not so sure Brazil will win, though. The current team has a few decent players, but fairly inexperienced when it comes to World Cups. However, it might be pointless to discuss it. I suspect another team has already made arrangements to obtain the title… yes, I’m that cynical.
@ Lilix40:
Oh, Australia vs. Italy…that was baaaaaaaaaaaad.
And I’m a cynic, too. But I have seen so much of football’s unpredictability during my life that I believe sometimes not even the worst, most bribed referee can change the result of a match. I mean, they try to fix the result but things don’t go according to plan and the intended team to win loses.
K’naan’s Wavin Flag is the best World Cup song, Period. I couldn’t even listen to Pitbull, JLo & Claudia’s World Cup song in its entirety, it was dreadful. Hell, Waka Waka was better than this years song! Wavin Flag should be the official World Cup song.
Pitbull looks like a soccer dad who has ceased giving a crap a few years back. LOL
Croatia was ROBBED!!!! Just hand the cup over to Brazil already and spare us all of this shameful nonsense.
Tomorrow Italy-England. I’m sure my bf will not speak to me for several days. I.hope it’ll be a draw.
I LOVED pitbull and his milf ensemble.
3 bitches and a camel toe. Amazing.
I was surprised how well Croatia played, especially for such a small country. They have what, 3 million people?
Croatia is decently ranked this year too, expect more good games from them.
Croatia has been predicted as the dark horse in its group.
They won bronze in ’98 too.
My mom is Croatian so her side of the family follows Croatian national teams and they are really good at sports for such a small country. I mean, they were world and Olympic winners in handball, world, European and Olympic winners in waterpolo, they won the Davis Cup, Ivanisevic won Wimbeldon, Majoli won Rolland Garros, they won Olympic silver in basketball ( defeated only by our Dream Team), Drazen Petrovic and Toni Kukoc were great in the NBA, Janica Kostelic is the best female alpine skier of all times, Blanka Vlasic and Sandra Perkovic are amazing in athletics… it’s quite a lot for a country with little over 4 million people.
…that has been independent for about 20 years.
The whole ceremony setting looked like a huge school art project.
Someone tell Paula Patton THAT is how you paint on cleavage.
Worst Opening Ceremony ever. It looked like a dress rehearsal.
I wonder why FIFA hired 2 people from Belgium to create the Opening ceremony as we have many creative professsionals who work for the Carnival in Rio, The Parinting party and the Festa Junina in Paraiba.
Miss M because they’re idi*ts??
Seriously? But it was so… high school. I was rather disappointed – I expected something fun and hip and I really thought that if anyone could bring that it’s Brazil. Wish they supported their own artists and producers.
I didn’t mind the costumes that much but I was like….”how did they sneak that other girl onto the stage without suffering the wrath of J-Lo?”
First match of the day beginning in less than 40 minutes…bye, bye everybody.
*waves*
Bye Eve…
Her leotard thingy is ugly but I really hate the embellishments on her hose. The face and hair, however, are fab. And Pitbull’s capris are hysterical!
Pitbull is so fat and revolting 🙁 JLo looks great but that camel toe, oink, oink 😉
I understand why Brazilians are protesting, but I really hope they don’t ruin the World Cup. Also the World Cup song should have remained “Waving Flag ” or even “Balada Boa” (Tcherere Tche Tche ) by Gusttavo Lima. Yes it’s a little old but it’s a catchy song with a good beat.
They are protesting for their lives, in the name of the poor… how will they ruin World Cup?
We need to bring back Hot Guy Friday and make it a World Cup edition.
YES YES! So many countries so many hot men!
I agree with Jaana… hot guys in the World Cups, always…
Agree!
My nominations for each team that has played so far:
Cameroon– Alexandre Song
Mexico– Dos Santos
Chile– Vidal
Spain– Alonso
Croatia– Kovač (the coach! Phroar)
Holland– Vorm
Brazil– Neymar
Australia– Leckie
Oh, I saw a post on Facebook the other day.. the hottest guy of Football… don’t know where it is anymore…. buaaaaahhhhhhhhhh
Don’t forget: Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo…
Pique also fromSpain..
Claudio Marchisio -Italy…
*crying desperately….*
One list: (don’t know where it’s frm, agree with some, not all…)
http://sporteology.com/10-most-handsome-football-players-of-2014/
Elle :
http://www.elle.com/pop-culture/celebrities/sexy-soccer-football-players-world-cup-brazil#slide-1
Yesss!! Bring it on!
I’ve had about enough of JLo and her support hose
Great GOAL from the Netherlands… awesome… wow….
Woah JLO sharing the stage with another singing gal who is 10 years younger?!! Maybe that is the REAL reason why she almost bowed out (more likely than production issues…this is JEgo after all). I HATE JLos “fierce” face almost as much as I hate her squinty “I’m so sexy” face. She must practice b0th in front of the miror and honestly thinks she looks good. They both make her look ridiculous and like a try-hard. Why does such a beautiful women feel she has to try so hard??!
And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE may all pop singers retire the bodysuits?!! When did pants disapear on singers?!!! Why is this trend continuing?? Which singer has the nerve to stop it and wear REAL clothes?!! Where is the “wear some pants” petition??!!
Love your post! I totally agree. Her sexy face is getting so old and annoying.
Spain – 1 Netherlands 5… WHAT A GAME!!!! Awesome game… Congrats to the Dutch,…
Looks like Friday, 13th, Full Moon is not good for Spain…
The full moon is practically sedating the Spanish team :p
Not to mention Holland could have scored even more goals (at least two more). Now there’s a HUGE chance Spain will be Brazil’s adversary at the eight-finals — not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing (for either team).
Let’s wait for the rest of the games before thinking on the next fase… …. Oh, Monday I’ll be biting my nails… 🙂
One of my favourite things is predicting which teams are playing against each other in the following phases. It’s a bit of science, a little of guessing, but it’s so much fun!
Now, in all seriousness: good luck to you guys on Monday — I actually like Cristiano Ronaldo (in spite of his vanity, you know when he keeps checking his looks/hair when they show him in that jumbotron? I think it’s funny but, at the same time, counterproductive…I mean, he could be paying attention to the match instead).
Don’t have a dog on this fight, but it’ll be nice if Portugal wins.
CR is vain, but he’s a good kid… never got into troubles like some players, lives to help all his family, and considering his family background and part of his life, he turned out pretty good… I perfectly forgive him for his vanity….
I know. I don’t think he’s a bad guy just for being vain. But I always giggle whenever he takes a long look at the jumbtron and adjusts his hair :D.
Have to leave again: Chile against Australia (almost certain Chile will win this one).
Awesome? Awesome??? It was horrible. It hurts so much… I still haven’t recovered…. *weeping*
Yesterday was a disappointment because I rooted for Croatia, but today? La furia roja is my favourite team and they were massacred out there. I can’t even… What was up with the defense? And Iker? And why wasn’t Cesc earlier in the game?
I’m floored.
And I also didn’t win all those pretty EuroMillions in the lottery. What a black day.
@Isadora, calm down… it was one game, Spain will win the others… still, the first goal from Persie was amazing…
Yes, yes it was….
And thanks for the consoling words. 😉
I love Spain, I rooted for them in the World Cup… but they wont be winning games this World Cup. Or at the very least, they wont go far unless Del Bosque makes some serious changes. While their Tiki-taka playing style won them tournament after tournament and eventually the World Cup four years ago, they haven’t evolved. Xavi, the heart and soul of the team, is nowhere near the quality he used to be back in the day. Pique has been having a bad year even before this game, and Casillas has spent too long being benched before this World Cup(with a few games played here and there. He’s been really wobbly) … Pedro should have started from the beginning, Villa should have been put in instead of Torres (who never, ever contributes and is one of the lowest-scoring players– I don’t know why Del Bosque favors Torres so intensely). God, Ramos has been terrible lately as well. Casillas needs to be replaced in the next match (not with Reina, but with De Gea).
They will continue to do poorly until Del Bosque shakes things up a bit. The team and their playing style need to evolve.
Chile is already winning 2-0…. 22 minutes of game…
Looks like Spain will have to play against Chile,,,? Unless Australia turns the score around…
Spain will play against Chile because they’re in the same group. I used to think it’d be difficult but that Spain would win (against Chile)…now, I’m not so certain.
It would be highly surprising if Australia wins, they are quite the outsiders. I like them though.
Australia gave a very good performance, but TBH the second half was a snoozefest for me. Looks like both parties didn’t really strive for it, but at least Chile cemented it by adding another goal. Chile vs Spain will be interesting.
The second half was really good to take a nap… 🙂
The opening was a crapfest, it would have been better to have authentic Brazilian music and a simple stage, with excellent sound.
The game was terrible, I came in rooting for Brasil, love neymar. But at the end had major respect for Croatia. The referee was bought for sure.
I’ve been a lifelong football fan but slowly loosing respect for the game. I like to watch clean fair matches not spiked with dirty tricks and dirty money. Maybe my last world cup!
Why, oh why, do so many female performers not wear actual clothing anymore??? Why are they wearing body suits and bathing suits and underwear?
Smoke and mirrors perhaps?
[*Adele wears actual clothes…just sayin’*]
The whole thing was horrible and I felt embarrassed for all involved. Why oh why were Pittbull and JLo chosen? Did the organizers not realize that Spanish is NOT Portuguese? I bet JLo doesn’t even know what football is. The fact that a few days before the opening she announced that she couldn’t make it is 100% proof that she is clueless about how big the World Cup is. And Claudia Leite was relegated to basically a back up singer? That is so shameful. When JLo and Pitbull were approached for this, they should have had the grace to explain that they were not appropriate performers for this event. What idiots.
I think it’s called eqo, freebees, and an expense paid trip to Brazil. I don’t think either of them care about the world cup – but they care about themselves.
So the girls go out in the costume dept and Pitbull just strolled on from the beach?