1. Will Brazil win? Thoughts from the Streets

Excitement surrounding The World cup in Brazil, like any good capirinha fuelled night out, is heading rapidly towards party mood. The amount of coverage the tournament is receiving in all walks of life gives the population little choice, but there is no hint of anyone complaining. I went out to gage the feeling of the population with regards to Brazil’s chances of retaining the famous trophy. In a country that is seen globally as the overwhelming favourites for the tournament there is a real mixture of pre-world cup opinion which from my experiences can be spilt into three main areas:

Supreme Confidence

he majority of Brazilians can’t see past their star studded line up and with a run through the starting eleven it’s hard to argue against.

“Brazil will win, Ronaldinho Gaucho is the world’s best player there is no doubt about that, he is ready for this world cup and with him Brazil cannot lose. There are a few other good European teams and Argentina but if we play to our ability then we will win”

Emmano – Tourism student, Teresina, Piaui, North East Brazil

This year is a wide open tournament

Another large percentage of the population have taken into account the views of the highly impressive manager Parreira and believe that this year is a wide open tournament with one of eight teams potential winners.

“For me Brazil aren’t favourites for this years tournament in fact no team is and it is very open. There is England, France, Holland, Czech Republic, Italy from Europe who are all capable and Germany because they are at home are dangerous. There is also the Argentineans who I will be praying to God don’t win”

Luiz – Restaurant and bakery owner, Sao Paulo

This year just isn’t the year

There are also a fair few people full of nerves and doubt more befitting the average English man. This can be hard to accept with Ronaldinho and co. but this lack of confidence can be attributed to the theory highlighted by Alex’s interview with Socrates that everything possible will be done to prevent Cafu from lifting the trophy high above his head once more come July. The idea is that a Brazilian victory will be some how prevented to stop the nations monopoly on the globally competition, the fear being that it would lower the level of global interest in the tournament. There is an slight element of believable truth to this conspiracy theory but it could just be the Brazilians getting there excuses in early just in case the samba group aren’t quite playing to the same tune come the finals.

“I just don’t feel that Brazil are going to win this year, Its going to be too boring for the world if Brazil win again. I think FIFA will do everything they can to prevent this but I hope that I am wrong”

Satie - Architect