"The reaction from the fans to the anthem has been amazing," goalkeeper Julio Cesar said after the opener against Croatia in Sao Paulo. "It brings them closer to us and we get closer to them."
Croatia's players appeared surprised when the crowd kept singing. Some looked to the Brazilian players to see what they were doing, but remained in line respectfully. FIFA said the fans' singing has not prompted any special instructions, and it was not immediately considering changing the rule. "I don't think FIFA can stop us from doing this, we will sing if we want to, nobody can stop us," said 36-year-old Brazilian fan Vanessa Molica Teixeira. "It's a way for us to express our nationalism, to show how proud we our or our Selecao."
The first time it happened was before the match against Mexico in last year's Confederations Cup, the World Cup warm-up tournament. Cesar said everybody was caught by surprise when the fans kept singing. The players quickly joined in, and a new tradition was born. In addition to singing, Brazilian players have started to enter the field with their hands on each other's shoulders. Silva asked the fans to embrace side-by-side while singing, just as the players have been doing. Most of the fans did that in Tuesday's match against Mexico in Fortaleza.
