Slick show but rocky road to Rio lies ahead

In journalism, there are few moments less inspiring than writing about the hypothetical ramifications that balls being pulled from a bowl might have six months down the line.

But for once, such a luxurious whine about a fortunate job was, for a while, representative of the greater feeling that existed here yesterday morning.

In Brazil, such indifference transferred across much of a nation in advance of the World Cup draw. After all, for a country like this, it doesn’t matter who you play, only how much you beat them by.