A football match lasts 90 minutes but the memories can stay with you for a lifetime.

There were just a handful of us in the lift coming down from the press box in the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo last week when the doors opened and in walked... ‘O Fenomeno,’ I heard myself involuntarily mutter under my breath.

As Brazil prepares for the World Cup, Rio de Janeiro has worked to tame the crime-ridden favelas, but at what cost? asks Mac Margolis.