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World Cup Players Say Muscles and Makeup Mix Just Fine, Thanks

Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photos by Christian Hartmann/Reuters, Loic Venance/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images, Lionel Bonaventure/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

For her third World Cup, Francisca Ordega wanted to stand out. She had worn her hair in dreadlocks for her first and had a wavy, blonde ponytail for the second, but this time she wanted something bolder.

“I was looking for green and white,” she said about her search for hair extensions in the colors of her native Nigeria. “But then I saw the blue and purple — and I had to have them.