Cuiabá and the 2014 World Cup

Deep in the mid-west of the country, Cuiabá is the city that best represents rural Brazil for being an important center of ranching and agribusiness. With its warm climate, the city is the entry point for two gems of tourism: the Chapada dos Guimarães and the Pantanal.
Waterfall at Chapada dos Guimarães, photo by Helio Conde
The impressive Aroe Jari cave in sandstone at Chapada dos Guimarães, photo by Helio Conde
With fantastic landscapes, the national park of the Chapada dos Guimarães has caves, caverns and rocky formations in the middle of sandstone canyons up to 350m high, in addition to waterfalls like the famous Véu de Noiva. 
In the Pantanal in the south of Mato Grosso, you find the largest wetlands in the world, with its impressive diversity of fauna and flora. It is an invitation for fishing, photo safari and bird/animal watching found only in Brazil, which is impossible to refuse.
Jabiru flight during sunset at Pantanal, photo by British photographer Daniel Allen
Capybara and caiman, at PantanaI, photo by British photographer Daniel Allen
Onça pintada, the Brazilian jaguar, at Pantanal, photo by British photographer Daniel Allen
The ultra-modern Pantanal Arena was built to be the main stadium in Mato Grosso. With a capacity for 43,600 spectators, it will be the venue for four games in the group phase of the World Cup. The first game of the new arena was Mixto, a local team, and the legendary Santos. Unfortunately, no goals were scored in the match.
Arena Pantanal, photo by Edson Secopa

The local champ of the state of Mato Grosso is Luverdense, who is also challenging the Series B Brazilian championship. Luverdense has also the first player to score in the new arena: Reinaldo. It concentrates attention away from clubs like Cuiabá, Mixto, Operário and Rondonópolis as well.
Tricky games will take place in this city, like the one with Chile – a potential surprise in a group with Spain and Netherlands – versus Australia. Russia is a strong contender as well, same case of Japan and Colombia, competitors in group C. Nigeria and Bosnia, fighting for a place with Argentina in group F, is a promise of interesting clashes in Cuiaba.
June 13th – Friday - 06:00pm - Chile x Australia (group B)
June 17th  – Tuesday - 06:00pm - Russia x South Korea (group H )
June 21st – Saturday - 06:00pm -  Nigeria x Bosnia (group F)

June 24th – Tuesday - 04:00pm - Japan x Colombia (group C)

Profile of Chilean national team 

Profile of  Japanese national tem