Much of the stories over the past few days about the World Cup have been about how what is arguably the world's football mecca has given the every-four-year spectacle a less than enthusiastic welcome.

We like nuanced narratives, so here's a bit of video taken by Claus Wahlers, a software engineer based in São Paulo.

As he describes it, he turned on his video camera over his neighborhood. The streets were eerily quiet, because everyone was inside watching Brazil's national football team — or the seleção Brasileira — taking on Croatia on Thursday.

After every goal, the city came to life. Listen:

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