Truth, wisdom dictates, must invariably lie towards the middle of two polar opposite views. So if two sides are telling you something completely different about a given topic, you can be fairly sure that neither are totally right and neither are totally wrong.

Gold in the Olympic football has never mattered quite as much to the host nation as it does in 2016 to the Brazilians. Although they have lifted the FIFA World Cup a record five times and have the unique distinction of taking part in every World Cup tournament, they have never been crowned Olympic football champions.

Brazil is in crisis. The government of President Dilma Rousseff is teetering on the brink of collapse, barely mourned by a population who equate her term in office with widespread corruption and economic mismanagement. Rousseff’s coalition partners recently pulled out of the government, pushing her ruling party closer to the exit door. Ministerial resignations have become commonplace: last week the Brazilian Sports Minister, George Hilton, departed. Suddenly the preparedness of Rio for the opening of the Olympic Games on Aug 5 has been put into stark perspective. The country appears to be in chaos.