Cities, Football and Macaw

The wait is over and the World Cup is about to kick off, its that time of optimism for all the teams and supporters before a ball has been kicked.  The symbolic bird of choice is the macaw, hybridised especially by the artist in the colours of Brazil.

Each of the host cities have their own poster (which also appear on a stamp set) and one of my favourites happens to be the place where England start their Word Cup campaign in the heart of the world's largest rainforest. I wonder what the two macaw are saying?  Continuing a theme of goal posts here is the first ever World Cup poster

designed by Guillermo Laborde (1886-1940) in one of the golden eras of poster design and whose paintings now hang in the same city as the inaugural  tournament, Montevideo.  Of course Uruguay won the first ever World Cup final and  England will be meeting the present day team on the 19th in Sao Paulo, an area that has the nickname Terra da Garoa (Land of Drizzle).  Coming from an island whose climate involves rather more than drizzle I hope this is good omen

It will not be the first time Sao Paulo have hosted World Cup matches

for that was in 1950 when the World Cup trophy was renamed Jules Rimet in honour of the 25th anniversary of the FIFA president. Once again Uruguay won the cup, this was unexpected as Brazil were the favourites. England were also part of a one of the great upsets, defeated 1-0 by a team of amateurs that played soccer, the USA.

Flying on to Belo Horizonte (whose stadium can be seen in the background of this poster)  England will either play their last match here on the 24th against Costa Rica or will be on the move into the Second Round to either Rio or Recife.  I will not tempt fate by including the posters so here is the official 2014 World Cup poster designed by Karen Haidinger showing

the exotic flora and fauna of Brazil in the design with the shape of the country contained within the legs and border.