6th June, 2014
FIFA is “not afraid” things will go wrong at the start of the World Cup, despite preparation problems in Brazil.
Soccer’s governing body said it’s “in control” of what needs to be done to get the tournament off to a good start in a week.
“The general feeling is that we have done all we need in order to ensure that the World Cup will start on the 12 June,” secretary general Jerome Valcke said after a meeting of the local World Cup organising committee.
The meeting took place the day Sao Paulo was thrown into transit chaos as subway and overland commuter train operators went on strike, putting at risk the only means that most fans will have to reach the Itaquerao stadium which will host the opener between Brazil and Croatia on 12 June.
“We are in control, we are not afraid of the next days,” Valcke said, noting that he was confident local authorities would do everything possible to keep events such as strikes and protests from “impacting” the tournament.
Asked if the country was ready, Brazil Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo admitted there were some preparation problems and said it was impossible “to hang a diploma on the wall saying everything is ready”.
“We know of our difficulties,” he said. “We have done everything that was within our reach … to give visitors a warm welcome.”
After local organisers presented their latest report on the country’s preparations, president Sepp Blatter said FIFA was “confident” the tournament will be successful.
Valcke said it’s normal there’s still work to be done in some of the stadiums, including the addition of seats and the installation of generators. The secretary general downplayed the unfinished work at the Itaquerao.
“It’s true that if you go to “Itaquerao it looks like around the stadium there’s quite a lot of work still going on,” Valcke said. “But I would say it’s quite normal, and it’s even more normal when some of the stadiums were late.”