Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
As many as a thousand Brazilian soccer fans marched to NRG Stadium ahead of their match on June 29, 2026.
A sea of yellow and green flocked to NRG Stadium on Monday morning as more than 1,000 Brazil soccer fans marched to the stadium ahead of the national team’s World Cup knockout match in Houston against Japan.
They chanted “Mil gols!”, a reference to the late soccer legend Pelé’s world-record 1,279 goals in 1,363 games. Fans dressed in green wigs, green makeup and — in one notable case — as a Brazilian pope.
Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
A Brazilian soccer fan named Recardo, dressed as a Brazilian pope, blesses fans on June 29, 2026.
A man who, like a real pope, said his name was only Recardo, took photos with a number of fans. He did not speak English but spoke to Houston Public Media with translation from another Brazil fan named Alessandro Bereira. Recardo’s mission, Bereira translated, was to give peace and union to the people.
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“The union makes the force,” Recardo said, according to Bereira’s translation. “Everybody together is stronger.”
Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
A Brazilian soccer fan named Recardo, dressed as a Brazilian pope, takes a photo with a fan on June 29, 2026.
Their prayers for a Brazil victory ultimately came to pass as the team, which has a record five World Cup titles, continued its quest for a sixth. Despite Japan scoring the first goal of the match, and then spending much of the match in a tie, Brazil scored late in second-half stoppage time to win 2-1.
Brazil will now go on to face either the Ivory Coast or Norway in a round-of-16 match on Sunday, July 5 in New York.
Bereira told Houston Public Media he had traveled from Rio de Janeiro to attend the match in Houston for his first World Cup experience.
Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
As many as 1,000 Brazil soccer fans marched to NRG Stadium ahead of their match on June 29, 2026.
“It’s like a dream,” he said of traveling for the World Cup. “I’m planning this for two years. It’s expensive travel, of course, but it’s a dream. And we will do this once in a life, of course, so it’s a dream for me.”
David Panico, too, traveled to Houston from Brazil for the match, and he plans to follow the Brazilian team as long as they continue to play in the tournament.
Standing about a mile away from NRG Stadium, the Southeast Texas humidity was brutal.
“Brazil is not this warm, even in the summer,” Panico said. He wasn’t worried about the heat, though, because the stadium was climate controlled.
Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
David Panico holds a Brazilian flag ahead of the team’s match on June 29, 2026.
“From an organization standpoint, I think there’s no better place [than the United States hosting the World Cup],” he added. “Because you are in a World Cup, and sometimes it doesn’t feel like you are in a World Cup because everything works fine. The transportation is good. You don’t see a lot of traffic. When we had the World Cup in Brazil [in 2014], we had several problems with infrastructure.”
Though Brazil fans appeared to make up the bulk of the fans attending Monday’s match, there were also a number of Japan fans. Some, like Yuki Yamada, traveled all the way from Tokyo to be there.
“I’m so excited for this match,” he said, walking into NRG Stadium. “This is the most important match of my life.”
Others, like Case Yamamoto, live in the United States but still traveled to Houston. Yamamoto drove from Chicago and had been following the Japanese team.
“[There are] lots of Japanese fans in soccer, coming all the way from Japan, spending lots of money by purchasing a high-priced ticket,” Yamamoto said with a laugh, his face painted white with the red circle of the Japanese flag.
Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
Case Yamamoto holds a Japanese flag, with messages from World Cup fans, standing outside NRG Stadium on June 29, 2026.
Standing outside the stadium he held in his hands his own Japanese flag, scribbled with notes from fans attending the match on Monday. Fans approached Yamamoto to add their own messages to the flag.
“They request me to take a picture together, then in return I request them to give some messages — anything good, positive, friendly — no matter opponent, player, or supporter of Japan,” he said.
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Houston hosted five group-stage matches earlier this month. The final World Cup match in the city is scheduled for noon Saturday, July 4, when Canada will play a round-of-16 match against either the Netherlands or Morocco.