"After a couple of days learning the ropes and staying out of trouble, I was offered the chance to cover one of the World Cup soccer games from Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, " Dinan recalls.

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That's since changed, with the pacification of dozens of Rio's "favela" hillside slums, the discovery of offshore oil deposits that have flooded the city with petrodollars and Rio's role as host for the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

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With the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games to be staged in Brazil , the South American's growing sporting prominence has been recognized with the addition of a second Brazilian tournament in Florianopolis for 2014, adding to an event which will debut in Rio de Janiero this year.

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Over the next four years the Brazilian city will be a global hub of sport as it hosts the soccer World Cup in two years and the Olympic Games in 2016.

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Poised to become the United States' first home-grown soccer star if he has some breakout games in this year's World Cup in Germany.

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