LONDON, January 7, 2014 - Brazil will be “ready” for World Cup business in time for the Opening Match in Sao Paulo in June. Just about. Allowing for essential corner-cutting.
Meanwhile world federation FIFA casts envious glances at preparations for next month’s Sochi Winter Olympics and looks ahead with yearning to the prospect of working with Russia for the 2018 World Cup.
Whatever private views President Sepp Blatter and secretary-general Jerome Valcke may hold about Vladimir Putin and his regime, the prospect of dealing with a project-focused, centralised bureaucracy has enormous allure after the ‘FIFA Samba’ headache which is Brazil.
Blatter laid bare the extent of Brazil’s World Cup failings last weekend, saying no host had ever been as far behind at this stage of preparation in all his 38 FIFA years as development director, general secretary and president.
Hence that damning verdict encompassed no fewer than nine tournaments. These included 1986 when Mexico had only three years to prepare (albeit for 24 teams), 2002 when co-hosts Japan and South Korea barely talked to each other and 2010 when South Africa’s entire event had to be built from scratch.
In an interview published in the Swiss 24 Heures, Blatter was asked whether host nations always understood the enormity of World Cup organisation.
He said: “No. Brazil has just found out what it means and has started work much too late. No country has been so far behind in preparations since I have been at FIFA even though it is the only host nation which has had so much time – seven years – in which to prepare.”
This was not the first time either Blatter or progress-chaser Valcke had taken issue with the dilatory approach of the Brazilians. Both have always expressed confidence that everything will be “ready” by the Opening Match but then, there is no Plan B.
The modern standard had been to award the World Cup to a country with five years to prepare. In fact Brazil was awarded the finals in October 2007, almost seven years ahead of time.
Half of the 12 World Cup stadia have yet to be delivered formally even though FIFA had set a deadline of December 31 last year.
The outstanding six are the Arena Corinthians (Sao Paulo), Arena da Baixada (Curitiba), Beira Rio (Porto Alegre), Arena Pantanal (Cuiaba), Arena das Dunas (Natal) and the Arena da Amazonia (Manaus).
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, without referring directly to Blatter’s comments, emerged suddenly from holiday hibernation to explode on to Twitter with words of reassurance.
She said: “Brazilians go into 2014 confident about hosting the cup of cups. In Brazil, the World Cup will be at home, because this is the country of football.
“Tourists will have chance to come to know this multicultural country whch is working hard to confront the challenges of ending poverty and creating opportunities for all.”
According to Rousseff, the record demand for match tickets demonstrated how enthused both Brazilians and foreigners were about the finals.
She said: “The demand for tickets to the games – the highest in the history of the World Cups – shows that fans around the world rely on Brazil. We love football which is why we are proud to host the Cup.”
Rousseff was supported by a statement from the Sports Ministry whose Minister, Aldo Rebelo, has been caught out consistently in over-optimistic statements about the rate of progress.
A statement from the Ministry said: “The information sent to the Ministry by the authorities responsible for preparing the host cities for the World Cup and approved by the minister who visits the works every three months, demonstrate that the country will be ready on time.”
Beyond a shadow of doubt the World Cup will go ahead as scheduled. But interpretations of the word “ready” can mean almost anything.
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