Maracanã!

Well, I finally made it to Maracanã today - or at least, to the tube station and a view of the stadium over the heads of several thousand other people who thought they might just get lucky and find someone to sell them a ticket. It didn't matter - it was worth it just to be on the train with all those excited fans of different nationalities. Met a charming couple from Singapore (rooting for South Korea) on the station in Copacabana, some delightful young English people on the train, and came back with some Colombians, resident in the US and opposite some Iranians. Just to add to the party atmosphere, a trio of Argentines from the pampas came in and (despite the somewhat sour expression of the man standing behind them) played to an enthusiastic audience.

I asked a cop where I could find a ticket tout (well, they have to know better than most) and he told me that it definitely wouldn't be in the station - I'd have to go into the streets around, and watch my back to boot. Seems it isn't just the touts who get arrested for selling tickets illegally, the buyers are in trouble too. Either way, I didn't want to make that much of an effort - to have been there and felt the buzz was enough.

Just watched the exciting US-Portugal game - what a cliff-hanger! Both teams still alive, but Portugal hanging by a thread (and despite scoring the last minute goal that kept Portugal in the tournament, Cristiano Ronaldo's amour propre must have suffered at least a few dents.

Our guests had tickets for the game and are not home yet. Took them to collect their hire car this morning. Tomorrow they travel to Belo Horizonte to watch England, and from there the Iguaçu Falls, and back to Rio. In view of the state of Brazilian roads and the distances, not sure if that qualifies as exceptionally brave or decidedly foolhardy, but hope St. Christopher and all the gods of travel will be with them.