(Image source from: FIFA World Cup 2014 opens to a roaring start})
The World Cup is back, and as always, with a bang! The greatest sporting event on earth – the FIFA World Cup 2014, kicked off to a roaring start at Arena de Sao Paulo in Brazil amid star-studded opening ceremony and tons of jubilant performances last night.
The grand opening of the 20th edition of the month-long tournament had over 600 entertainers paying tribute to the host nation, it's people and nature and it's extraordinary craze for football, as the gymnasts, trampolinists, stilt walkers and dancers, decked as colorful trees and flowers, leaped and hopped and waltzed around a “living” LED ball, leaving millions of audience across the world speechless. Truly spectacular!
The 30-minute, £4.5million worth mega-event, which had all the frills and fancies, whoopees and hooplas of Olympic scale, had pop sensation Jennifer Lopez, American rapper Pitbull and Brazilian pop rage Claudia Leitte belt out this year's World Cup Anthem, “We Are One (Ole Ola)”
The colorful extravaganza, choreographed by Brazil's Paulo Barros, a two-time winner at the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, opened with a group of splendidly bundled up kids in colorful clads, representing the 32 participating nations, hopping and bouncing on the trampolines, while a group of performers garbed as trees and flowers strutted around the center of the grand stadium. Not to forget the life-size footballs and referees that left the gathering of 68,000 greatly entertained.
This is the first time in 64 years that Brazil is hosting a World Cup. The opening gala set the stage for the first match of the tournament, played between Brazil and Croatia, with the home team beating the guests 3-1. But more on that later.
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The opening ceremony, however, wasn't without it's fair share of glitches, with technical snags and bloopers, leaving the crowd bemused. Audience complained that Miss Lopez's performance was barely audible and the backup track echoed around the arena. The fans also booed down President Dilma Rousseff and FIFA president Sepp Blatter at the wake of protests against the massive amount of cash being frittered from the poor and infrastructure funds to host the gala.
The lack of performers and coherent performances faced a Twitter lash with many deeming the opening as lack-luster and raw.
A total of 64 matches will be played across 12 Brazilian cities in the next 31 days. Each eliminated team in the group stage will walk away with USD 8 million while teams who exit in round of 16, will get USD 9 millions each. Eliminated teams in quarterfinals will get USD 14 million each, while the fourth placed team will cinch a prize money of USD 20 million. The third placed will get USD 22 million while the Runners up will get USD 25 million. The team which lifts the FIFA World Cup 2014 will be rewarded with a whopping USD 35 million prize money.
The official ball for 2014 World Cup is Adidas Brazuca, manufactured by Forward Sports of Sialkot, Pakistan for Adidas.
AW: Suchorita Choudhury
