In a game like football, where passion runs deep, love is a binding factor that is obvious everywhere. From the stadiums, to the beaches of Copacaban and even the streets of Mexico, fans were spotted kissing in revelry! Rediff.com brings you a glimpse of some intimate moments.
While the world delights at the pace of Arjen Robben and finishing of Robin van Persie, younger, less heralded Dutch players are emerging as a key part of the Netherlands' superb start to the World Cup.
The soccer world was in mourning on Tuesday as clubs, players and fans from around the globe sent tributes and support to Brazilian side Chapecoense following a deadly air crash in Colombia that killed 76 people, including several players.
With the loser likely to face hosts Brazil in the next round, the Netherlands and Chile will go all out for victory when they meet in their Group B match on Monday, even though both teams are through to the last 16.
England expect to face an added danger with a Luis Suarez comeback for Uruguay in World Cup Group D on Thursday even if coach Oscar Tabarez has not confirmed his country's top scorer for the match in Sao Paulo.
Brazil waited for the World Cup for years. They spent billions building stadiums and preparing for the big day. Finally, big party has begun.
Images from the opening game of the FIFA World Cup, between Brazil and Croatia, at Sao Paulo.
After years of construction delays and budget overruns, the World Cup kicks off in Brazil on Thursday under a cloud of discontent at home even as happy foreign fans pour in for the tournament.
As Brazil gears up to host the FIFA World Cup 2014 starting on June 12, lets take a closer look at the biggest football tournament.
Jennifer Lopez, who along with Pitbull and Brazil's Claudia Leitte has sung the official FIFA World Cup song, will not perform at the tournament's opening ceremony, FIFA said in a statement on Monday.
The consequences of failure are nowhere more devastating than at a World Cup, where two previous finals and five semi-finals have been decided by the gut-wrenching lottery of penalties.
The opening match of the 2014 football World Cup, between Brazil and Croatia, will be played on June 12 in Sao Paulo, but according to Indian Standard Time, it will be played on June 13 at 01.30 am. The matches will be telecast on Sony Six.
'It doesn't really make a big difference if I go and drive like I do right now because I have already lost so much through the year. I can't give up because you never know what can happen. It's unlikely but you never know'
Rain and crashes twice halted the potentially title-deciding Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday with the crowd booing and triple world champion Lewis Hamilton disagreeing with officials.
Formula One driver Sergio Perez said on Thursday he has dumped his sunglasses sponsor for a comment it made on Twitter about his Mexican compatriots after Donald Trump was elected as the next US president.
The PM performed Yoga with over 50,000 enthusiasts at the Forest Research Institute campus in Dehradun.
Fernanda Colombo Uliana, a 25-year-old assistant referee, is fast becoming an internet sensation. It is not just because of her model-like looks, but also her flag-waving work.
Mumbai and New Delhi may feature in the top 10 in the next 10 to 20 years.
A bar owner in Brazil who looks like Osama bin Laden is expecting business to boom when the crowds come for the World Cup.
Carlos Alberto, who scored one of the greatest goals in World Cup history while captaining Brazil to glory in the 1970 final against Italy, has died aged 72 following a heart attack. The marauding right back scored his team's fourth goal in a 4-1 win over Italy in Mexico's Azteca Stadium, a thumping drive that ended a move involving eight players, before hoisting the Jules Rimet trophy as Brazil won the title for the third time. "I am saddened by the death of my friend and brother Carlos Alberto, our beloved Captain, and I remember the times that we were together at Santos, Brazil and the (New York) Cosmos, where we formed a winning partnership," Pele said in one of the many tributes from former greats.
Lionel Messi is back in the Argentina squad for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Colombia after missing the last three due to injury in which his team have dropped seven points. Messi was named on Friday in coach Edgardo Bauza's 26-man squad and will captain Argentina away to arch-rivals Brazil in Belo Horizonte on Nov. 10 and at home against Colombia in San Juan five days later. Argentina have slipped down the South American group standings to fifth after a shock 1-0 home defeat by Paraguay and 2-2 draws with Peru and Venezuela, all without Messi.
Stores are also coming up with novel methods to get Brazilians to pull the trigger on new TV sets, with many offering major discounts.
The German, Canadian and Brazilian grands prix were listed as subject to confirmation on a record-equalling 21-race provisional calendar for 2017 published by Formula One's governing body on Wednesday.
The agency started a PE against unknown officials of Defence Ministry.
The 35-year-old Williams driver, who won 11 races for Ferrari between 2006 and 2008 and finished overall runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in the 2008 world championship, is out of contract at the end of the year.
Motorola's affordable new series gets cool upgrades.
Police shot a mugger near the stadium where the Rio Olympics opening ceremony took place and a woman was killed close to another Olympic site, police said Saturday. The violence on Friday highlighted the task facing an unprecedented force of 85,000 soldiers and police deployed to secure the Olympics. Rio police said in a statement that a man was mugging people near the Maracana stadium when he was intercepted by one of the police officers sent from another area of Brazil to Rio as part of the huge reinforcements.
Brazil got off to a winning start in their home Olympics on Wednesday when the women's soccer team beat China 3-0 in host city Rio de Janeiro. Although the opening ceremony takes place on Friday, the soccer competitions began ahead of time with six women's matches on Wednesday and another eight men's games on Thursday.
Kohei Uchimura's bid to become the first gymnast in more than 40-years to win back-to-back Olympic all-around gymnastics golds began with a costly error as his as addiction to Pokemon Go landed him with a near $5,000 phone bill.
The battle for Olympic medals will take place in 32 venues in Rio de Janeiro.
Argentina's new coach Edgardo Bauza has set his mind to wooing Lionel Messi back from international retirement as he ponders his squad for next month's South American 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Bauza was named on Monday to replace Gerardo Martino, who resigned a month ago after steering Messi's side to two successive Copa America finals which ended in penalty shootout defeats to Chile.
Argentina, still reeling from the shock resignations of captain Lionel Messi and coach Gerardo Martino, have chosen Edgardo Bauza as their new coach, the Argentine FA said on Monday.
The mother-in-law of Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has been kidnapped in Sao Paulo and criminals are demanding 120 million reais ($36.5 million) in ransom, according to reports in a leading Brazilian news magazine.
Argentina captain Lionel Messi pulled his side level in the 57th minute after a handball by Paraguay's Ivan Peris which no-one on the pitch appealed for but was spotted by a VAR review.
The global chocolate market is expected to grow $98.3 billion in 2016.
Roger Martinez scored an outstanding goal as Colombia beat Argentina 2-0 in an exciting finale to a Copa America Group B opener on Saturday that burst into life after a sluggish start.
A lucky race fan will wave the chequered flag at the end of Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix in a departure from Formula One convention.
The Brazilian Grand Prix at Sao Paulo's Interlagos circuit could be axed after this season due to the country's economic crisis, Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Saturday.
Brazil fired Dunga as coach on Tuesday, the national football confederation said, two days after his side failed to get past the group stages of the Centenary Copa America.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
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