The 'tributes' that went viral: fans couldn't recognise their own national-team stars
Murals of Vini Jr., Neymar, Paquetá and others painted in Rio communities went viral ahead of the World Cup for all the wrong reasons. Here's what happened.
With nearly one million views on a single video, paintings of Brazilian national-team players on walls and in communities across Rio de Janeiro became the biggest comic hit of the pre-World Cup season. The problem: almost nobody could identify the stars being portrayed.
According to ge, the tradition of painting streets and walls in tribute to the Seleção returned in force on the eve of the World Cup — but the final results were surprising, and not for the best reasons. In Campos dos Goytacazes, a fan filmed the neighbourhood artwork in good humour and the video exploded on social media. In Jacarépaguá, Vini Jr. and Paquetá received side-by-side portraits; the reaction was so great that the Flamengo midfielder ended up being included in the tributes almost by accident. Nova Iguaçu went even further, displaying a wall featuring six names: Vini Jr., Paquetá, Raphinha, Alisson, Casemiro and Igor Thiago — not all of them easily recognisable.
For the World Cup, popular engagement around the Seleção matters: it reflects the pressure and expectation Brazil carries into the tournament. Golmetria's model gives Brazil a 4.66% probability of winning the title and a 91.22% chance of advancing from the group stage — figures that capture both the favouritism and the genuine uncertainty of any World Cup. The market, meanwhile, implies a 8.67% probability of Brazil lifting the trophy.
The next chapter of this comic and heartfelt story will be written at Brazil's World Cup opener: will the murals get a second chance — or will they live on for posterity exactly as they are?