‘Few football nations have potentially more riding on the outcome of the World Cup’As Brazilians look forward to the year ahead, no other event matters more to this football-mad nation than the World Cup tournament they will host in June. Since the earliest World Cups, Brazil has earned a reputation as not only the creator of “the beautiful game” – football played with instinctive flair and a touch of magic – but also as the most successful national team outside Europe.There have been major disappointments along the way. In the first World Cup finals tournament held in 1930 in neighbouring Uruguay, Brazil lost their first match and failed to make it to the second round. When Brazil last hosted the World Cup, in 1950, after a long break in competitive in