Brazil will play Croatia to open up the World Cup 2014 tournament in Sao Paulo on Thursday, and millions of fans across the globe will be excited to see the hosts in action to get the soccer fest underway.
Today's big game will start at 9 p.m. BST and can be watched online through live stream via the videoplayer provided below.
This year's World Cup will feature 32 teams and 64 games across 31 days, and at the end of it there can be only one winner. Brazil – the most successful team in World Cups ever with five tournament wins – have to be down at least as joint favorites to claim the title this year in their own backyard.
Brazil last won the World Cup in 2002 and will feel it is time to recapture the trophy. However, even though being on home turf makes them one of the favorites, they have such weight of expectation on them that the pressure on the players will be immense. Some analysts have warned that if they do not perform early on then discontent among the home fans could spread quickly, and if the crowd gets on the players' backs then the pressure could be intolerable for some players and cause their games to fall apart.
According to former England striker Gary Lineker, "Brazil have been given a group that is tricky but not terrifying."
Talking about Brazil's Group A, which consists of Croatia, Mexico and Cameroon, Lineker added, "This is not the best Mexican team we've seen - they only just qualified through the play-offs and they normally cruise through. Cameroon don't seem confident that they can do much and Croatia are a decent European side. We know all about Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric and they will be hard to beat."
He concluded, "Brazil will dominate, but who will go through with them? It will go down to the last match between Croatia and Mexico, but I'm backing Croatia."
After today's game with Croatia, Brazil will face Mexico on Tuesday 17 June, and then will play Cameroon on 23 June.
Watch the first match of the 2014 World Cup online via live streaming on ESPN WATCH, free for subscribers.
Univision will live stream the first 56 World Cup matches for free on its website here.
For viewers in the UK, BBC will be live streaming the match for free.
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