Mick Jagger: I didn’t put World Cup curse on Brazil

London: Since appearing at a USA game with Bill Clinton at the World Cup in 2010 — and subsequently watching them lose — Mick Jagger has become something of a footballing curse. After witnessing Germany’s 7-1 thrashing of Brazil earlier this week, the Rolling Stones’ singer has now been forced to defend himself against angry tirades on social media.

“I can take responsibility for the first German goal but not the other six!” he said, according to the Sun, after Brazilians dubbed him ‘p frio’ [‘cold foot’], meaning a jinx. Jagger watched the game in Belo Horizonte with his son Lucas, whose mother, model Luciana Giminez, is Brazilian. Giminez took to Instagram to defend Jagger after disgruntled Brazilians looked to deflect blame from David Luiz onto a 70-year-old rock star.

“He is suffering cyber bullying and I would like to ask you guys who do this kind of bullying to think before you do it,” wrote Giminez. “Even though it only seems like a small thing, Mick is a person like us all, and he does not deserve to be treated this way by Brazilians.”

After witnessing (some might say ensuring) USA’s loss to Ghana in 2010, he then supported Brazil in the quarter finals, who lost to the Netherlands, and also turned up to England’s 4-1 loss to Germany.

Carrying his bad juju to the current World Cup, Jagger then tweeted support for England before their games against Italy and Uruguay, both matches the team went on to lose. He also told fans at Rolling Stones concerts in Portugal and Italy that their teams would go through to the knockout stages where both teams failed to progress.

Brazil fans were therefore wise to the dreaded hand of Jagger, with one even creating a cardboard cutout of him with a speech bubble reading ‘Let’s Go Germany!’ during Brazil’s semi-final match in an effort to deflect the curse onto their opponents. Fans were also seen toting Photoshopped images of Jagger in an Argentina shirt to protect the Netherlands against the singer’s capricious wrath during their own semi-final.

In the end, such tactics failed. The Netherlands and Brazil both lost, and Argentina and Germany will no doubt be praying he stays well away from the Maracana on Sunday as the competition reaches its climax.

— Guardian News & Media Ltd