World Cup Weekly: Close Call, Curitiba! Donovan's Last? And, The Civil Unrest Juggernaut Rolls On..

Arena da Baixada Concept

A month ago, the city of Curitiba, Brazil was close to being stripped of its World Cup hosting rights because its stadium, the Arena da Baixada, was so far behind schedule that it was expected not to be ready in time. 

On Tuesday, those concerns were put to bed. Four group stage matches will take place in the south Brazilian city after FIFA assessor Charles Botta declared that sufficient progress had been made to give Curitiba the green light for hosting its allocated share of World Cup games. 

FIFA made the decision not to look for an alternative stadium - the venue at Porto Alegre was being touted as a replacement - after receiving financial guarantees for the work still to be done in Curitiba.

The stadium is 91 percent complete, according to its owners, the soccer club Atletico Paranaense. Hundreds of extra workers have been brought in to ensure that construction will conclude well in time for the first kick-off on June 16. 

The revised estimate provides a mid-May completion date. Ricardo Trade, the CEO of the local organizing committee, said that this estimate would leave enough time for proper testing of the stadium, but stressed that there is “no time to lose,” as Curitiba races towards its most important deadline.

The club’s president, Mario Celso Petraglia, admitted “they did not have a realistic view” of the time frames they would need to undertake a project of this magnitude when they commissioned the build. 

LA Galaxy's Landon Donovan

One player who is unlikely to see the Curitiba pitch is United States’ Landon Donovan. The 31 year-old striker and U.S.’s leading goal scorer said he expects the 2014 World Cup to be his last tournament. His team will not play in the city, which would mean Donavan is unlikely to have an opportunity to play at the Arena da Baixada. 

Donavan has indicated that his retirement from international football is not far off and has all but ruled out the possibility of playing in the 2018 edition in Russia. “It’s hard for me to imagine, sitting here, that I’ll be able to walk in four years, much less play soccer,” he said “If it is my last World Cup, I want to make sure I enjoy every minute.” 

Donavan’s career may have its cutoff date set, but there is nothing similar in sight for the civil unrest in Brazil with protests continuing steadily over the last week. Brasilia was the latest to play host to the wave of unrest sweeping the country, which saw 15,000 people from the Landless Worker Movement march from the Mane Garrincha football stadium to the office of President Dilma Rousseff. 

Protests outside the State Building, Brasilia

The workers held the demonstration in commemoration of 30 years of their union’s existence, which aims to campaign for agrarian reform. They want some of what they call “unproductive” land, owned by the state or big businesses, to be allocated to landless farmers and they are making a lot of noise about it. They erected a tent under the World Cup stadium and stayed there for four days before heading to the state building. 

Aggressive clashes ensued as protesters threatened to invade the building. They were dispersed by riot police, with injuries on both sides, ending with 30 police officers and 12 protesters needing medical treatment. 

-Firdose Moonda

Firdose Moonda is The Atlantic Post's South Africa Correspondent and covers sports news. She is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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World Cup Weekly: Ticket Sales Soar and Teams Setup Shop

Good news. Finally...

A good week for Brazil’s 2014 World Cup endeavor saw ticket sales skyrocketing and the 32 participating teams finalizing their base camp venues.

With the deadline for this stage of ticket sales fast approaching (this Friday, in fact!), fans have been clamoring to get tickets for this summer’s premier sporting event. FIFA have announced that, already, 3.5 million tickets have been requested from over half a million fans from 199 countries.

The Itaquerao Stadium in Sao Paulo, under construction in 2013

Of course, about 80 percent of those requests came from the football (soccer) hungry Brazillians and the remaining 20 percent, from fans abroad, for whom there is a permanently reserved 16 percent seating availability at every game of the sporting spectacle.

Tickets are being allocated by the Caixa Economica Federal bank, Brazil’s Ministry of Sport and a notary public, through a public draw scheduled this month after which, successful applicants will be notified by March 11.

The competing teams on the other hand, finalized their travel plans and their base of operations. Teams chose their base camps from FIFA’s approved list of 83 venues, each a combination of hotel and training center, spread across Brazil, and revealed their choices this past Monday.

Sao Paulo and Rio were the top two choices by competing teams with the former playing host to 15 teams including former WC winner France, Portugal and the four Central and South American teams of Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia and Honduras. The party, though, is going to be at Rio where the hosts Brazil are going to be camped out along with European heavyweights Italy, England and the Netherlands. Minas Gerais and Bahia will host 3 teams each, aside from Rio and Sao Paulo. As a consequence, the Brazilian south-east will be where the party is this summer.

Meanwhile, across the pond...

Across the Atlantic, WC fever seems to be spreading in Europe, with Algeria and England announcing welcome news to their fans with regards to their respective teams.

Algeria’s sports ministry has announced plans wherein fans of the team may travel with the team if they want to and have opened registrations for this opportunity. Registering for this option would cover return flights, a three-star hotel accommodation, travel to the stadiums and tickets for the 3 first round games as well as one round of 16 match, should the Algerian team, which is going to be based in Sao Paulo, qualify. This a costly endeavor, however, for fans with the price set at $4,465 per person.

England fans at a pub during the 2010 WC. Source: Daily Echo

In England, Prime Minister David Cameron called for a rethink of pub opening hours after the UK Home Office turned down requests for extended operating hours on the England team’s match-days. English match-day pub culture is a hugely significant part of their football culture and the PM said that there was “significant national interest” in allowing watering holes to close their taps during England’s matches, especially the group stage game against Italy which kicks off at 11pm BST. The pubs have asked to be given permission to serve patrons until 1 am on this particular match-day and have also requested longer trading hours during the opening and closing weekends of the WC. The latter request is still “under consultation”.

-Firdose Moonda

Firdose Moonda is The Atlantic Post’s Southern Africa Correspondent, and also covers sports news. She is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Visit the Atlantic Post.com for a more comprehensive look on the latest World Cup news from Brazil, 

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World Cup Weekly- Curitaba's lack of progress threatens WC schedule

Arena de Baixaba, Curitaba in December 2013. Source: Folha

Last week, Brazil’s largest southern city, Curitiba, was put on notice. Since Curitiba has already missed the deadline for the completion of its stadium, FIFA has given the city until February 18 to provide evidence the stadium will be complete in time for the tournament or if alternate venues need to be found.

The teams directly affected by the stadium’s readiness will be Australia, Spain, Honduras, Ecuador, Iran, Nigeria, Algeria and Russia, who all have group stage matches scheduled in the city. Construction delays are synonymous with major tournaments and have affected everything from the Sochi Winter Olympics to the Korean Grand Prix. The Brazilian hold ups have attracted attention as well as severe criticism this week.

Carlos Alberto Parreira, who coached Brazil to victory at the 1994 event and is Brazil’s assistant coach, told Radio CBN he thinks the Brazilian government “missed an opportunity” to benefit its own population by not starting infrastructure projects earlier. Although Parreira is confident the stadiums will be ready in time for kick-off, he made the point that “fans can’t live in a stadium.”

Carlos Alberto Parreira (right) with former WC winning coach Zagallo. Source: Google

He lashed out at Brazilian administration for not being more timely in its upgrades to public amenities, such as airports and hotels. The bidding process to work on transport hubs only opens in March, even though Brazil has known for the last seven years that it will host the World Cup.

Parriera was particularly critical of Rio de Janeiro, the place he says can become more user-friendly for its own people. “Rio will always continue to attract tourists. It’s a wonderful city. But we all know that it could offer us a lot more comfort, a lot more safety and a better quality of life,” he said.

-Firdose Moonda

Firdose is The Atlantic Post's Correspondent in Southern Africa. She writes and analyzes Cricket and Football news around the world.

>>For more on the situation and latest updates on the protests, click here

World Cup Weekly

Official FIFA WC Logo. Source: FIFA

The Football World Cup is the largest single-sport competition around, which attracts viewership from almost half the world. In 2010, when the tournament was last held, an estimated 3.2 billion people (46.4% of the population at the time) watched some part of the event. 

With global reach that wide, the 17 countries who have hosted the tournament are in elite company. Brazil, as one of only three to have organised the World Cup twice, is in an even more distinguished group. 

The South American giants last saw the competition played on their soil before there was color television, in 1950. Theirs was the first World Cup played after the Second World War and was in many ways representative of the world order at the time. 

Germany and Japan, who were both still occupied by Allied forces, were not allowed to compete. Eastern European teams, which included most nations behind the Iron Curtain such as the Soviet Union, Hungary and France refused to take part. 

Argentina, Ecuador and Peru withdrew during qualifying because of disputes with the Brazilian federation in Argentina’s case and financial worries. India pulled out after qualifying ostensibly because they would not be allowed to play barefoot, which they had done at the 1948 Olympics, but logistical issues also hampered their case. Turkey could not afford to travel and France did not arrive after citing too much travel in their group. 

That left 13, out of which Brazil were expected to triumph. They reached the final, only to lose to Uruguay. They see 2014 as a chance to put that, and many other things, right. 

This competition will be bigger and better than the one before. Instead of 13 teams, there are 32. Instead of six venues, there are 12. Instead of 1,045,246 people at the games, there are expected to be more than three million. 

The 32 national teams playing this summer in Brazil. Source: DailyMail

Making that happen has not been easy. Brazil has had to prep and prime and still has some way to go. Those who want to bring attention to the plight of people in favellas to those who are campaigning against worker’s wages have punctuated the planning with protests. Income inequality has been highlighted. So has fiery passion for the game that has been said to unite the world. And now, the event is less than six months away. 

For those of you who are busy buying your nations' colors and planning a trip to Brazil in the summer, here are some things you can look forward to:

Venue Update:

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke will conclude his four-day inspection visit to Brazil on Thursday when he will meet with members of the local organizing committee in Rio.

Valcke’s trip started with a trip to Sao Paulo where the tournament will kick off with the match between Brazil and Croatia on June 12. The construction of the stadium has been severely delayed after two workers were killed when a crane collapsed late last year. He urged Brazilians to work together to ensure the arena is built and the opening game takes place without incident. “The pressure is a little bit bigger here. It’s the first game. It has to be a success. The world will be watching,” he said. 

The Itaquerao Stadium is expected to be ready in mid-April and is one of six stadiums that missed the December deadline. Arena da Baixada in the southern city of Curitiba, is another. Valcke changed his travel plans to inspect this venue and then moved to Natal to look at the Arena das Dunas. 

Travel Planning: 

If you’re worried about visiting the theaters of dreams described above, your concerns will be eased with the knowledge that a second Brazilian airline has agreed to cap fares. Avianca Brazil has joined Azul in putting a limit on one-way fares. The most travelers will pay is 999 reals (US$425). 

Brazil is expecting more than half a million tourists, who will join the throngs of locals in trekking across the country to watch their teams but prices threatened to  quash their plans. Airlines and hotels had inflated their charges, much to the criticism of the local government and are now responding. 

Even with the lower prices, there may not be enough flights to go around. TAM, the largest airline the country, may put on an additional 1,000 flights in the World Cup period but airlines have asked for at least 523 more to be added to the schedule. With limited infrastructure, an agreement on this has yet to be reached. 

Local News: 

Should you get no further than Sao Paulo or Rio, don’t despair. There will be something to watch there, especially this weekend. Around 1,000 people are expected to gather at the JK Shopping Center with 8,000 expected at a mall in Rio in a flash-mob, known as a “rolezinho,” to protest against racism and inequality. 

The Financial Times quoted academic Rafael Alcadipani as saying the current demonstrations can be seen as a continuation as last year’s protests, Brazil’s biggest in two decades. But, Alcadipani says this  time is includes “people from the city’s periphery.” 

One such movement has already taken place. Last week, 6,000 teenagers occupied a shopping center in Sao Paulo and numerous other groups sprang up around the city. They were organised via social media, with Facebook in particular, playing a role and military police used rubber bullets and tear gas to break up the protests. The demonstrations are believed to be a way of Brazilian citizens voicing their concerns over inequality. 

Wednesdays’ World Cup Weekly is the Atlantic Post’s watch on the World Cup. Every seven days, we’ll bring you a selection of the most important updates from Brazil as we approach the tournament. 

-Firdose Moonda

Firdose is The Atlantic Post's Correspondent in Southern Africa. She writes and analyzes Cricket and Football news around the world.