Brazil mourns World Cup exit, fan dead

Jul 03, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE - A young Haitian football fan was so distraught at Brazil’s World Cup exit that he killed himself by leaping in front of a car.

PORT-AU-PRINCE - A young Haitian football fan was so distraught at Brazil’s World Cup exit that he killed himself by leaping in front of a car, according to witnesses contacted by an AFP photographer.

The 18-year-old died after the incident, which took place in Nerette, on the outskirts of the Haitian capital, following Brazil’s 2-1 defeat by the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

During the World Cup, Brazilian wins were celebrated by street parties that brought a rare dash of colour and joy to a country still struggling to rebuild after the devastation of the January earthquake.

Dunga blamed


Plunged from a nationwide party into deep despair, Brazilians lambasted their team’s lack of heart and style and begged for a return to the “beautiful game” by the time they host the World Cup in 2014.

“This is painful. It’s a miserable pain,” said a sobbing, bikini-clad Maria Elisa as she left Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach where about 20,000 fans, most wearing canary-yellow, endured the 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands.

Many blamed coach Dunga for fielding a team that lacked some of the country’s greatest stars, such as Ronaldinho.

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