The Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup has now begun, with the hosts Brazil playing against Croatia in the Group A opener. It's the first of 64 games in a month long football festival.

Earlier in Sao Paulo, a football-style Carnival kicked off in Itaquerao Stadium. The field was covered in multi-colored rays for the opening ceremony. During the 25-minute event, 660 artists paid tribute to the country's nature, people and football. A standing paraplegic man kicked the first soccer ball of the World Cup, a triumphant moment for a research project aiming to give patients who have lost feeling in their legs, the ability to walk again.

The year's World Cup anthem, "We Are One", was sung by American rapper Pitbull, pop star Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian pop sensation Claudia Leitte. More than 60,000 fans were in the stadium to watch the performances.