By Andrew Warshaw
June 14 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter is down playing fears that a number of stadiums will not be ready to stage the Confederations Cup, the traditional World Cup warm-up tournament that gets under way in Brasilia on Saturday when hosts Brazil take on Japan.
Brazil has been under constant pressure to complete construction projects, not least at the iconic Maracana in Rio which stages Italy versus Mexico on Sunday.
However, Blatter said he was not unduly worried by the delays. “I have seen worse situations,” he told a news conference. “Yes there is still work to be done, but it will get done.
“I have been to many tournaments when the painters are still painting the stadiums an hour before the first match. It is not a surprise to me that people are still working. It just means that something has not been finished and they need to finish it.”
Heavy rainfall in Recife has also raised doubts about the playing surface at the Arena Penambunco where Spain meet Uruguay on Sunday but Blatter was not prepared to criticise his hosts so close to the start of arguably the most scrutinised Confederations Cup so far.
“Since I was first involved in 1978, I have witnessed a lot of problems like this, but when the tournament started, everything went well,” he said. “Let us see. Let us hope this is the same.”
Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, who has been at the centre of months of media attention, reacted angrily to suggestions the Maracana might not be ready and said only cosmetic tinkering was required.
According to reports, he turned on a journalist who had posed a question in English but was in fact Brazilian. “If what they are doing there is called major construction in your country, then frankly I pity the people of your country,” said Rebelo. “The stadium was delivered and there were two test matches with complete success in the most absolute tranquility and security.”
While workers are still putting the finishing touches on stadiums, it appears that ticket collection is another concern.
“There are thousands of people who have paid for their tickets and not collected them,” said FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke. “They need to do so now. … at the World Cup it will be even worse so we need people to understand that.”
Three times the number of tickets have been sold for the tournament compared to the last Confederations Cup in South Africa four years ago and Valcke added: “We don’t want to have thousands of people collecting their tickets on match day.”
The tournament, featuring the champions of each continental confederation, plus the hosts, defending World champions and Italy (qualified as European runner-up since Spain already had a spot as world champion) marks the first time goal-line technology will be used in a major FIFA tournament.
Blatter is convinced it will prove a success. “It’s not one solution, it is THE solution,” he said. “It will assist the referees in cases of conflict. … (the system is) completely reliable.
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