Google Doodle Marks The Start of 20th FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup starts today and Google has already posted a doodle on its homepage which marks the launch of the most awaited sporting event on the planet. Although it is not an interactive one but once you click on the doodle you can see the schedule of the match of the day. This is the 20th staging of the global football extravaganza.

In the doodle, you will see a yellow and blue colored bouncing football onto the screen, in the similar green and yellow colors of host nation Brazil's official flag. The ball comes to a halt in the center of the screen, at which point the letters making up the word Google come alive and begin to jump up and down in a carefree manner.

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It features a bobbing, brightly-colored Doodle with iconic landmarks in the background, including the 100ft statue of Christ atop the Corcovado Mountain, and cable cars traveling to the Sugar Loaf Mountain.

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The first matches to be played in the tournament on Thursday will be between Group A teams Brazil and Croatia, at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo.

The host country i.e. Brazil has won the competition five times before (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002) but never on home soil.

For the record, this year the official football Brazuca was co-produced in Pakistan (but that's a different story altogether).