AS THE clock ticked towards 90 minutes, the terraces of the Estádio Castelão in Fortaleza seethed.

The Brazilian fans grew more and more restless, booing their heroes.

It was an outpouring of unabashed frustration underpinned by relentless passion.

Victory against Mexico - Brazil's bogey team - was beyond them and, unexpectedly, passage to the knockout round of the world's biggest competition would not be secured yet.

Four and a half thousand miles away, in Glasgow, the scenes were similar: on a smaller scale, but no less tense.

At Boteco do Brasil on the Trongate, what seemed like every Brazilian in Scotland hollered and urged the Seleção on.

"We are so tense because Brazil is not winning," said Sao Paolo-born Marcita Copertino between frantic glances at the big screen.

Others slapped the nearest available surface as chances went wide or into the side netting.

In a corner at the back of the heaving pub, a smaller enclave of green-shirted Mexican fans cheered as their brilliant goalkeeper, Guillermo Ochoa, thwarted attempt after attempt by the star-studded Brazilian attack.

I had never met anyone from Mexico while doing this job, and here were tens of them at once, right in front of me. Incredible.

After the final whistle I spoke to some of the regulars about their home from home

"Everyone who is Brazilian and lives here comes here, to Boteco," says 22-year-old Bruno Gomes, who moved from Sao Paolo to study at the University of Glasgow.

"It's such a great, friendly vibe here," said Gomes. "When I come here I forget I am in Glasgow and I feel like I'm back home."

As well as making the Brazilian diaspora a taste of home, it also gives us slightly-less-exotic Glaswegians a slice of Samba culture, and for that I love it here.

Should Brazil, as expected, make it through the group and continue toward the final, make sure and catch a game at Boteco - it's as close to the Maracana as we Scots will be getting for quite a while.