Regular as Mother’s Day, the alarm bells are ringing of Brazil’s flagging preparation for World Cup 2014.
It’s practically a World Cup hosting rite, almost as if by decree from men who hold high places. About this time, a couple of years out, stories of anxious concern tell of facilities and infrastructure are well behind schedule. Things look bleak.
It happens with Olympics, too. Athens back in 2004 comes to mind as particularly alarmist (perhaps deservedly so).
Of course, this kind of global pressure, when properly applied, punches up the pace of construction and planning. Generally, everything works out fine – even if the final coats of paint are being applied up the 11th hour.
The Guardian in England had this story just yesterday. The gist is FIFA taking the unprecedented step of adding its own executive committee members to Brazil’s World Cup organizing body. The reason, as the Guardian piece explains:Preparations for the tournament in Brazil have been dogged by delays in the building of stadiums and other infrastructure such as airports, local transport connections and hotels.
Those worries have been increased by plans to have teams travelling to different parts of the vast country for their group matches rather than staying in the same venue.Wednesday’s move does seem to expand the angst over it all, perhaps moving the worry ahead one tick on the Defcon scale. So, it does bear watching.
