One Iceland fan went to primary school with a player’s father. Another supporter’s son used to regularly wait on the team at a bar. And yet another fan is related by marriage to the squad’s chef.
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One Iceland fan went to primary school with a player’s father. Another supporter’s son used to regularly wait on the team at a bar. And yet another fan is related by marriage to the squad’s chef.
Russians in World Cup host cities – some of them remote or industrial towns where tourists rarely tread – are bending over backwards to help visiting soccer fans, dispelling some preconceptions and spreading an upbeat atmosphere throughout the tournament.
For a nation in dire economic straits, the Olympics could have offered a distraction from politics. Instead, they have mostly shown just how heavily politicized Venezuelan sport has become.
Those too sensitive to even squint underwater are amazed at Olympic synchronised swimmers, who do upside-down splits and soar out of the pool with wide-open, dolled-up eyes staring straight at judges.
Brazil's raucous fans may dominate most Olympic venues, but Mexican supporters in sombreros and loud Argentine contingents waving flags are also reveling in the first South American Games.
Strobe lights, blaring music, and dancing Brazilians may be fixtures at Rio's legendary night clubs, but they aren't usually spotted at Olympic venues.
Though Argentina carry Latin America's only hope of lifting the World Cup, many in the region are balking at the prospect of their "insufferable" peer landing the ultimate football triumph.
Lionel Messi's brilliant World Cup form is banishing memories of the goal drought the mercurial striker suffered in South Africa four years ago and electrifying one-time wary Argentine hearts.
Long on the soccer sidelines, more and more South American women are striking back by lacing up their boots and embracing the region's most cherished sport.