Brazil media calls for unity on World Cup

Fuleco, the World Cup's official mascot has not yet
 conquered the national fans, producers of toys said
they are targeting international tourists

It's finally happening. The World Cup starts today after 7 years of (not very good) planning, discussions and protests. In the past year, particularly, the World Cup helped Brazil show its true face to the world. The "football nation" is now an angry emerging middle class nation, that claims for more quality in the public services. It's also a stable democracy nation, which went through massive protests without a single change in its institutions. It is still a struggling nation, that suffers to put investments in due course, but it is learning.

No, we are not the skyrocketing Christ statue The Economist showed back in 2009. In fact in today's Folha de S. Paulo edition, Vinicius Torres Freire, an economics columnist, calls attention to the possibility of a technical recession (two quarters of decrease in the economic activity) in the first half of this year.

But we are not that bad. The fact the country managed to go through the protests maintaining its institutions should not pass unseen. Unlike any other emerging country with recent upheavals (Turkey, Thailand or Egypt, just to name a few) Brazil's democracy has not been questioned by the protests.

The truth (or at least the close we can get to it) lies as usually in the middle. Brazil is a country which is just learning how to invest -- as states another Folha's article, signed by Marceo Miterhof. After decades of crisis and after addressing the more pressing issues of inflation, economic stability and income distribution, the country has just started to focus its attention on the infrastructure problems. Differently than the last big investment decade of the 1970's this time the investments came under the democratic regime with all its checks and balances. It's been a tough learning.

This is why today the Folha's balance of the World Cup infrastructure legacy showed that little over 50% of the 167 planned improvements were completed in time for the games. The rest was either abandoned or postponed to after the games.

As Folha's editorial states today, it's time to bring attention to the event itself and to support the national team. This does not mean forgetting all the criticism, it means remembering the positive aspects that the event also has. I don't think anybody in Brazil believed the World Cup would bring an end to all of the country's problems. It actually contributed to expose the naked reality of a country that has improved recently but still has a long way to go.

As I already mentioned here, I believe the games will occur without any major problem. The main strikes of metro workers and homeless in São Paulo were controlled in the last minute, just in time for the event. It's the Brazilian way, always finding a solution at the last moment.

I'm also curious on what will be the political result of the games. So far, it seems the World Cup has backfired for the Worker's Party. But who knows what can happen after the World Cup nationalist marketing flood. The latest presidential poll published last wednesday showed that for the first time Dilma lost the upper hand when compared to the sum of her two main adversaries. A second round in the elections is now more likely than ever.