Brazil Vs Ivory Coast Fan Reactions
Five time world champions Brazil put on another master class performance to book their place in the second round of the football World Cup.
The South Americans brushed aside one of Africa’s brightest hopes in the tournament, Ivory Coast 3-1, to spark wild celebrations all across the biggest country in the South American continent.
The group G encounter was full of action from the outset and two goals from Luis Fabiano one in each half sealed the fate of the Africans.
Some 20,000 fans took to the streets in Rio de Janeiro to enjoy the occasion and wish their team the best in the knock out stage of the tournament.
Most of the people flocked around Alzira Brandao Street in Rio commonly known as Alzirao.
The venue remains one of the city's most popular venues to watch World Cup games.
The crowd sparked off their celebrations upon the arrival of the first goals scored by Luis Fabiano in the 24th minute of the first half.
The party started to brighten up further as the South Americans hammered in two quick goals to knock the stuffing out of The Elephants. The first goal was scored through a slick move initiated by Kaka which was finished off by Luis Fabiano.
The third goal was added minutes later by Elano, to trigger another spark of celebrations amongst the buoyant fans gathered at the screening.
The Elephants scored a goal minutes before the close, through their captain and star striker Drogba. Yet it did little to dampen the spirits of the crowd.
The celebrations were put on hold for a few minutes as angry crowd chanted slogans against the referee when midfielder Kaka was controversially sent off with only two minutes left in the match.
After the match some of the fans complained about the poor referring, "Brazil did very well. But the referee made a mistake, Kaka didn't do a thing. The team played well and we're going to be champions," said one fan.
Despite the last minute controversy, Brazilian fans claimed that they thoroughly enjoyed their team’s outstanding performance and firmly believe that their team has it in them to win the World Cup trophy.
They added that the party will continue to celebrate Brazil's place in the last 16, whatever the outcome of other group matches will be.
Meanwhile there was disappointment amongst the fans from Ivory Coast, as their team went down to the five time champions tamely.
Ivorian fans watched the action from South Africa on a huge screen placed in central Abidjan, as the South Americans ran riot in the first 70 odd minutes slamming three goals to the dismay of the African fans.
The fans were gracious in their defeat, with some of them claiming that they were proud of their team’ performance against some of the best players in the world "We don't celebrate Ivory Coast's victory today, but we celebrate that it's the second time Ivory Coast is taking part in the World Cup finals. And that's the most important thing. Whether Ivory Coast loses or not, we are proud of our players, we are proud of our national team because it's the Ivorian flag that's sitting at the meeting table of international football," said one of the fans present at the screening.
Despite the loss some of the fans felt that their team can still rally back, and win a place in the second round from the Group of Death that also features North Korea and Portugal, who made it to the semi-final of the tournament four years ago.
The Africans still have a chance to qualify for the knock out stage of the competition, but their fate rests on the results of the match between Portugal and North Korea, and in the case of a win for the Europeans, Ivory Coast would be knocked out of the race.
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