Sport

Most Brazilians don’t want it. Major sponsors have fled. Even players balked at the idea. But ready or not, the Copa America, one of Latin America’s most important sporting spectacles, is coming to town. The international soccer tournament, which President Jair Bolsonaro greenlit with little warning late last month, will begin Sunday in Brazil against a backdrop of controversy and fear.

Six residents, from the city’s mayor to a favela dweller, give their verdict on the impact of South America’s first Games. Brazil’s tempestuous World Cup-Olympics doubleheader draws to a close at the Maracanã stadium on Sunday night, but the debate on whether it was all worthwhile looks set to run on long beyond the official finish.