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The Confederations Cup is currently under way in Brazil and chances are it has exposed far more of a complex host nation than FIFA had ever bargained for.
On the pitch, results have been fairly predictable.
Tahiti got flogged, Japan choked yet again, Spain and Italy have impressed in patches and a youthful Brazilian side has reached the final at the revamped Maracana in Rio de Janeiro.
It’s that last point which could give the world game’s governing body further headaches because off the field, a series of dramatic street protests have erupted over the way the country is governed.
In a nation in which widespread economic disparity separates the have-nots from the elite few in power, Brazilians everywhere have taken to the streets to call for reform in a series of increasingly aggressive protests.
At the start of the week, my friend Ash asked me if I planned to attend next year’s World Cup and instinctively I responded that I was.
I can certainly think of worse ways than spending a June afternoon down on Copacabana beach, even if the Socceroos don’t actually end up anywhere near Rio.
But the sheer size and scale of some of the protests currently taking place in this sprawling South American nation have given me cause for second thoughts.
Consider the testimony of journalist James Montague, who found himself caught in the midst of a frightening afternoon of violence during Brazil’s semi-final win over Uruguay in Belo Horizonte.
Montague is an amiable Englishman who reports regularly for CNN and World Soccer, among others, but he’s perhaps best known as the author of the excellent ‘When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone’.
It’s safe to say that if anyone knows about watching football in political hotspots, it’s Montague, so when even he is disturbed by the protests going on around him, the situation is serious.
Which raises the question of whether it’s morally acceptable to travel to a developing nation like Brazil for the sole purpose of watching football?
When the locals are so disenfranchised they begin to rise up against an increasingly repressive state, does ignoring such problems for the sake of a football tournament make you part of the problem, rather than the solution?
The World Cup long ago transcended sport to become arguably the most significant regular gathering on the planet.
Whatever your politics, the tournament is simply too powerful and generates far too much wealth to change dramatically or disappear completely.
Such is its popularity, that anyone who does choose to stay away out of solidarity will invariably be replaced by a fan willing to ignore on-the-ground sociopolitics in favour of concentrating solely on the football.
Indeed, that’s a common symptom of the modern game; whereby issues like sky-rocketing ticket prices and anti-social policing are swept under the carpet because a steady stream of new fans simply replaces those who are disenchanted enough to leave the system.
So does that make travelling to Brazil to support your national team a good thing or a bad thing?
It’s a common refrain that sport and politics don’t mix, however what that particular cliché ignores is the fact that politics are all around us and affect every situation in our lives.
Many Brazilians will certainly be affected by the World Cup and judging by the rising level of local anger, that’s not necessarily a good thing.
When even Romario lashes out – this is a man who played the game as if he’d never had a single care in the world – then it’s safe to say the World Cup in Brazil is facing a growing number of problems.
So where does that leave Socceroos fans?
Will you be travelling to the World Cup in Brazil? Or do your personal politics make that a difficult proposition?
The floor is open for discussion.