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Waiting for Godot…

It might be a dreadful sporting year for Britain, including England's worst ever World Cup performance, results-wise, and probably the country's nightmare final of Germany versus Argentina, but it is hard not to feel sympathy for Brazil - especially given the friendliness with which Brazilians have greeted fans from around the world, and the passion they have shown for their team.

After watching Brazil scrape through their last-16 tie against Chile, we entered the Maracanã for the Colombia - Uruguay match along with one of my school friends and two of his friends.

We were sitting right in the heart of what turned out to be the epicentre of the post-match trouble, with Colombians in front and to the left, and Uruguayans behind and to the right.

Alas, the Uruguayans were not particularly pleased to find a bunch of Englishmen in their midst, and one of them spent the first-half throwing popcorn at us. Intimidating.

It seemed that every single Uruguayan came equipped with a Luis Suárez mask to show solidarity with the biter.

Rarely have I seen international fans - who tend on the whole to be happy-clappy types - so intensely involved in both watching the game (the Mexican waves found little favour with them) and willing their team to win.

Yet the positivity of the Colombian fans also deserves a mention. Though they were not quite as intense as the Uruguayans, I was still impressed by their level of support. (Word before this game was that the Colombian government had banned the sale of alcohol after 6pm because celebrations of the team's success were becoming so raucous.)

At the end of the game, a few scuffles broke out as the Uruguayan fans struggled to accept defeat. After one last stint as the main man, Suárez now faces a long spell out of the spotlight.

Phew. The hosts are through.

If there's one thing that would've killed the tournament, it would've been the elimination of Brazil. (One of my companions has already remarked that, if and when Brazil are beaten, we're locking ourselves in our hotel for the night.)

Brazil's 4-1 victory over Cameroon produced a carnival atmosphere on the streets of Rio, with every goal sparking wild celebrations.

What made the experience even better was that we were sitting on the terrace of a Brazilian bar, opposite one of the few Mexican bars in town - and therefore one of the only places showing the Mexico match instead of Brazil's.

The joint-celebrations after the final whistle between the Brazilians and the Mexicans involved creating a Mexican-flag-bordered tunnel through which traffic passed - in addition to the usual capering, dancing and singing.

Football, football and more football. With matches at 1pm, 4pm and 7pm local time, every day is structured around football.

Bars are crammed from midday to mid-evening

When we were feeling down after England's elimination last Friday, one of our tour companions cheered us up by reminding us that we were in Brazil for the World Cup, and that "the hardest decision we have to make every day is where to watch the football".

Indeed - while posing on the beach and posting a selfie with Christ the Redeemer might be more typical touristic activities in Rio, the pinnacle of the world's favourite sport is the true attraction at the moment. As the same tour companion, when asked if we'd seen the 'breathtaking' views from Sugarloaf, put it: "We're here to watch football, not climb mountains."