Fear, fun coincide in Rio on opening day of World Cup

RIO DE JANIERO – Suddenly, everyone was running.

It was not clear at first what people were running from. But the fear was etched into every face – eyes wide, heads on a swivel. The food stands on the seaside street cleared out as if a storm had suddenly dropped buckets of rain. Hundreds of soccer fans, most of whom couldn't get into the packed fan fest on Copacabana beach to watch Brazil's opening World Cup game, were darting through one of the most famous escapes in the world, trying themselves to escape.

"Everybody starts running, and then you start running," said Roman Blecic, one of a few Croatian fans in an ocean of green and yellow. He and his wife, Luciana, who is from Brazil, had come to the beach as a household divided. The two met on a cruise ship, years ago, and here they were in soccer heaven. They gave their kids Neymar jerseys and painted their faces checkered red and white – to be fair. It was a great time.

Then they were carrying their kids to safety.

"Right away, you run," Luciana said. "You don't wait to know."

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Roman Blecic (R) and his wife, Luciana, pose for a photo outside the fan fest at Copacabana Beach. (Yahoo Sports)

Roman Blecic (R) and his wife, Luciana, pose for a photo outside the fan fest at Copacabana Beach. (Yahoo Spor …

After a moment, the reason for the fear was clear: protesters were storming down the street toward the fan fest. They were surrounded by police in full battalion gear, with helmets and leg pads and bulletproof vests and their blood types written on their nametags. The protesters were unarmed and chanting; the police were ready for a riot. And the fans were scared of whatever might happen next.

Tensions have been building here for weeks. A lot of people in this city and elsewhere in Brazil don't understand why there was a rush to pour resources into a soccer event and no apparent hurry to provide resources to the poor and infirm.

"What mobilized people is to see what great effort was made for the stadiums," said Flavio Pastos, 33. "And we see no effort to resolve other needs of the people."

That inconsistency led to emotions ranging from vexed to irate. Soccer fans like Pastos want to see Brazil win, but they worry that a triumphant end would justify the wrong means. It's as if a World Cup victory is a win for both the right and wrong people. A man dressed as Batman carried a sign saying, "It doesn't make sense to be the soccer country if there's no health and education."

Yet thousands of people don't flock to the beach to cheer for health and education. In fact, the schools and businesses shut down for the first day.

"What I'm afraid of is I'd like Brazil to win but I'm afraid we'd forget," Pastos said after the initial panic had given way to a tense quiet. "Oh, Brazil is the country for soccer and the best. But it's not the best place for our people to live in."

Pastos isn't some anarchist dropout, either. He works for the government.