Taken in Frankfurt, 2006 (Nina Flores).

In 2006 I went to the World Cup in Germany. It is a surreal experience being surrounded by fans from around the world. Among the bigger controversies that year were neo-nazi groups in the eastern part of the country that threatened violence.

As the games come to a close in Brazil this week, the biggest controversy has a human price as there are tens of thousands of people (possibly hundreds of thousands) who are still displaced — forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for stadium construction.

While international sporting events are fun to watch, their destruction in host countries remains long after we turn off our televisions (recall the more than one million displaced in China for the 2008 olympics).

Surely, there has to be a better way.