By Andrew Warshaw
August 29 – Six months being after told he would not be welcome any longer because of a highly publicised rift, FIFA secretary-general Jérôme Valcke is once again back in Brazil on another visit to 2014 World Cup venues having seemingly patched up his differences with the tournament organisers.
Valcke (pictured above, centre), who caused a storm with his “kick up the backside” comments over lack of sufficient preparation, visited the city of Manaus yesterday and was due to move on to Cuiabá today before ending his trip by sitting round the table with Brazil 2014 officials in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow.
“The visits are very important not only to see the stadiums and the general infrastructure progress but also to be able to discuss with the host cities and states representatives our joint mission, as they are providing the essential playing field for the teams and their fans,” Valcke said.
Located in the Amazon rain forest, Manaus will throw up all manner of travel logistics as the most cut-off of all the 12 World Cup venues.
Cuiabá is set to host four group matches in 2014 at its Pantanal Arena which is being rebuilt and should be ready by the end of this year.
Valcke hopes to have visited all hosting cities by the end of the year with special emphasis on those staging the 2013 Confederations Cup, the warm-up tournament for the World Cup.
At present those include Rio, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza, although some of them have still to prove their capabilities, with November being the cut-off point.
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