Brazil won the right to organize the 2014 World Cup without opposition from other South American nations. Whether it should still have been given the tournament is now open to question as FIFAwarned that the country “is not on the right path.” With the difficulties of South Africa’s World Cup front and center, FIFA doesn’t want to go down the same road with Brazil.
“It isamazing that Brazil is already very late,” said Jerome Valcke, the FIFA general secretary. “I got a report on the status of the Brazilian stadiums and I have tosay it is not very nice. The stadiums are the basic points we need to have a World Cup and in Brazil, for the time being, most of the deadlines are already over and we have to work on newdeadlines.”
Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Brazilian soccer federation (CBF), said the 12 host cities will be dropped if they don’t show theyhave their financing in order. Five new stadiums are scheduled to be built, while Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana, site of the 1950 World Cup final, Sao Paulo’s famed Morumbi and five other stadiums needmajor renovations.