In the 10th minute in the highly-anticipated Round of 16 match between US and Belgium, a man wearing a blue shirt with the Superman logo on it has invaded the field, slicing the tension between the two teams in their quest to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals stage. Apart from the recognizable logo, invader Mario Ferri's shirt also has the hashtags #SaveFavelasChildren #CiroVive at the bottom of the logo as well, Buzzfeed reported.
Yahoo Sports pointed out that the handsome invader has already invaded a World Cup field before. At the previous World Cup in South Africa during a semifinal match between Spain and Germany, Ferri invaded the field in a wheelchair before bolting onto the field with the same blue Superman logo shirt but with a different set of slogans. His shirt then had the words "peace in the world" across the top of the logo, and then a phrase at the bottom which read, "Cassano in Nazionale - Lippi I told you so". Ferri's shirt was reportedly his take on Italy manager Marcello Lippi's decision to not include Sampdoria striker Antonio Cassano on Italy's national team.
Ferri might have realized that his invasion tactics would be an excellent platform to highlight a social issue in Brazil. ABC News said that the #CiroVive hashtag has been recently used by people in their support of a Napoli fan, Ciro Esposito, who was shot in may during fan violence ahead of the Italian Cup final. The fan died last week, no doubt from his wounds.
On the other hand, favelas are known in Brazil as the country's impoverished slums. The Brazilian government received backlash for spending billions in preparations as host of this year's World Cup and the Olympics, which will be held in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. Moreover' the favelas received national attention at least after reports by news outlets like The Mirror said that children in favelas have been selling World Cup tourists cocaine for as little as £2.70 for two grams, which is dirt-cheap when compared to prices in first-world countries.
