Showtime in Brazil but woes sap hopes behind sport extravaganzas (Reuters)

By Paulo Prada RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – All but diehard fans of international soccer could be forgiven for not knowing, much less caring, about the Confederations Cup, a two-week tournament that kicks off in Brazil on Saturday. For 200 million Brazilians, though, the competition is the first in a series of big events that will say a lot about their country, their first-world ambitions and the government’s ability, amid fading confidence in Latin America’s biggest economy, to deliver on the promise of a Brazil transformed. …