Spain’s Confederations Cup semi-final win on penalties over Italy in Fortaleza was marred by more protests as 5,000 protestors clashed with police who responded with tear gas prior to the game.
Inside the stadium a 58,000 capacity crowd watched Spain break the world record by marching to 29 consecutive competitive matches unbeaten. A match that to the world’s TV audience had drama and celebration of the positive football kind – in abundance.
The vast majority of colour in the stadium was the yellow of Brazil and TV pictures couldn’t resist the image of the parents feeding their baby at half time. And, to be fair, it was a great shot.
The contrasts that the scenes outside the stadiums are throwing up this tournament is becoming perplexing and fascinating.
FIFA of course contributed to the drama, or perhaps they didn’t. It wasn’t the best day for the world governing body to make the announcement of the ‘official FIFA Champagne’ for the 2014 World Cup – Taittinger at about $60 a bottle if you fancy some.
As it turns out FIFA hadn’t released the information at all, although it captured headlines worldwide. A Taittinger marketing guru, presumably devoid of any social and/or socio-political awareness, released the information – which was promptly attributed to FIFA. A fizzy diversion for the hard pressed FIFA comms folk could have done without it.
More seriously, the Brazilian government put their case for hosting the 2014 World Cup into numbers in a press release from sports minister Aldo Rebelo.
According to Rebelo, nearly all of the projects were already included in Brazil’s Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). “This means that they are strategically important to Brazil and that they would be carried out regardless of whether the country receives the World Cup,” said Rebelo.
“These projects are geared toward urban mobility, ports and airports in an effort to expand and modernize infrastructure in Brazil’s metropolitan regions for the benefit of the population. There are also investments to develop tourism and business services.”
The numbers released bring some perspective to the infrastructure spend in Brazil and the requirements and the costs that can be directly associated to the hosting of the World Cup.
Investment by sector:_
– Urban mobility – R$ 8.9 billion
– Airports – R$ 8.4 billion
– Stadiums – R$ 7.6 billion
– Security structures, equipment and training – R$ 1.9 billion
– Ports – R$ 700 million
– Telecommunications – R$ 400 million
– Tourism – R$ 200 million
Rebelo also breaks down who is paying for what:
– R$ 8.7 billion are federal investments
– R$ 6.5 billion are allocated from the federal budget
– R$ 7.3 billion are local resources (state and municipal governments)
– R$ 5.6 billion are private resources
And as regards the impact of the investment in Brazil, Rebelo uses figures from a report by accountants Ernst & Young/FGV: “Sustainable Brazil – Socio-Economic Impacts of the 2014 World Cup “.
– More than R$ 112 billion is additionally expected to flow into the Brazilian economy from 2010 to 2014.
– 3.6 million jobs are also forecasted to be created.
– For each Real invested by the public sector, an estimated R$ 3.4 will be invested by the private sector for infrastructure projects.
– R$ 63.48 billion in income is expected to be generated for the Brazilian population from 2010 to 2014.
Whether this will pacify the protestors on the streets entirely remains to be seen, but certainly all reports are that the scale of protest is decreasing but Rio on Sunday night will be a testing point.
Meanwhile, in London, former Argentine World Cup star Ossie Ardiles put his own perspective on the debate saying he can fully understand the protests sweeping through Brazil.
“I share their concerns 100%,” said Ardiles, who was speaking at the launch of the Fans All Star Global Vote (FAS) in London. “It shows how much Brazil is changing. It would have been unthinkable 20 or even 10 years ago in a country known mainly for samba, carnival and football.”
“They are protesting basically because Brazil is becoming a big economy but how is all this money that is arriving in Brazil being distributed inside the country? The people want it to be distributed more equally.”
Although the great Pele has called on Brazilians to be more restrained, Ardiles says the fact he has been largely ignored is another indication of people power in countries where public uprisings against unaccountable governments have become commonplace.
“Beforehand, people would have obeyed Pele and gone home,” said Ardiles. “But Brazil is changing and changing for the better, I believe.”
The Confederations Cup now moves back to Rio for its final this Sunday, the final that all neutral football fans wanted to see between Brazil and Spain – in the Maracana, perhaps the most iconic football stadium in the world.
There will certainly be some celebrations. There will likely be some protests. And, if so, the Brazilian police will almost certainly react with the uncompromising force they have demonstrated to date.
And the final verdict? There won’t be one. Except perhaps for the teams.