World Cup Review: Brazil, boobs, and the tube

On Thursday we’ll look back at several of the World Cup round of sixteen matches as well as a preview of the four South American teams that progressed to the quarterfinals. Today, however, we wish to highlight three odd World Cup-related news stories.

* Brazil: Fans of the five-time champs hope that an error in a newspaper ad does not jinx their team. "The team exited the World Cup, but not our hearts…Thanks Brazil, we'll see you in 2014," read the ad placed in the Folha de Sao Paulo one day after the team beat Chile 3-0 to reach the quartrfinals.

* U.S.: Sunday’s Mexico-Argentina match, which was won by the albicelestes 3-1, became the highest-rated program in Univision’s history. According to Nielsen figures 9.4 million people viewed the vital match, compared to 9 million for the final episode of a telenovela in 2007.

* Paraguay: Landlocked Paraguay is a dark horse to capture the World Cup title and the underdog to beat Spain in the quarters. Yet that hasn’t stopped one of the country’s most curvaceous fans from motivating the team (so to speak):

Larissa Riquelme, a curvy lingerie model who loves her national team, has been cheering the Paraguay squad on from Asuncion, clad in revealing outfits. The 24-year-old beauty has pledged to run naked through the streets "with my body painted with the colors of Paraguay" if Paraguay wins the World Cup.

No further comment.

Image – New York Times (“Gilberto Silva and Brazil breezed past Chile, 3-0, on Monday.”)
Online Sources- NBC Sports, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Reuters