The World Cup draw was expected to be a celebration of the football world turning its attention to Brazil next year, but it appears to have in fact highlighted deficiencies in Brazil’s preparations.
Whenever there is a massive event such as the World Cup or the Olympic Games there are alarmists who claim the venues will not ready in time. At the Athens Olympics this very nearly was the case with some facilities only being finished hours before the opening ceremony.
The World Cup Organisers in Brazil have admitted that all six of the new stadia under construction, including the venue for the opening game in Sao Paolo, are behind schedule and will not meet FIFA’s deadlines.
However there are even bigger doubts that venues, transport and accommodation required for the 2016 Olympic Games can in fact be finished in time. Public demonstrations on the cost of staging two global events so close to each other have not helped. Justifiably the people of Brazil would prefer to see the money spent in areas that will help the nation and its people.
The site for the proposed Olympic Park is still just an expanse of mud, many journalists have revealed after being requested to check things out while in Brazil for the World Cup draw.
Another venue, the Diodorus Sports Complex which is to host nine sports is 15 months being schedule. This is said to have been due to political indecision, corruption and bureaucracy.
Many in Brazil have questioned ever since the World Cup and the Olympic Games were awarded to their country as to whether they have the wherewithal to pull it off, now concerns are beginning to become greater.
Of course this is nothing new, the very first World Cup in 1930 saw the showpiece Stadio Centenario which was supposed to host all World Cup matches not ready on time. Heavy rains in Montevideo prevented the end of the construction of the stadium, which meant that several matches had to be played in the Pocitos Stadium of Club Atlético Peñarol, and the Parque Central home to arch rival Club Nacional de Football.
