Confederations Cup: Protests hit Brazil's opening match(ufunzi wakumbwa na maandamano)
Brazil's opening Confederations Cup match was affected by protests
at the amount of money the country is using to stage next year's World
Cup.
Up to 1,000 Brazilians demonstrated outside the country's national stadium to vent their anger.
Police used tear gas and pepper spray to control protestors, who moved closer to the stadium as fans arrived for a match in which Brazil beat Japan 3-0.
There were also reports rubber bullets were used, with 15 arrests made.
Demonstrators held up posters reading: "We don't need the World Cup" and "We need money for hospitals and education".
BBC Sport's South American football correspondent Tim Vickery told BBC World Service: "Brazilian society was explicitly told in 2007 that all of the money spent on stadiums would be private money.
"It hasn't worked out that way at all. More than 90% of the money being spent on football stadiums is public money."
The Confederations Cup is a dress rehearsal for the World Cup next year and the stadium in Brasilia used for the inaugural match was one of the most expensive of the six built, costing around £380m.
Vickery added: "Of the 12 stadiums for the World Cup, some of them are in the heartlands of Brazilian football will be very well used indeed.
"But there are four - Brasilia plus three others - that you really wonder where the long term viability will be.
"Brasilia does not have a team in either of the first two divisions of Brazilian football and doesn't really have much of a local football tradition at all.
"The idea seems to be that it is going to be viable with pop concerts. I'm a little bit dubious about that one.
source:bbcsports
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