Brazil struggles to finish World Cup preparations on eve of first match

English star Wayne Rooney in a recent friendly against Ireland

English star Wayne Rooney in a recent friendly against Ireland

 

Despite seven years of construction and spending, Brazil hasn’t completed the infrastructure necessary to host the largest sporting tournament in the world. The most expensive World Cup in history threatens to be overshadowed by stories of cost overruns, worker strikes, and workplace death.

In the city of São Paulo, the brand-new centerpiece stadium remains unfinished, and 20,000 temporary seats have been rushed in to act as a stopgap. But no one has yet been seated in them, nor would the stadium pass the safety and security checks common in the UK and other parts of the world. The Arena de São Paulo is also where two workers were killed last November when a construction crane collapsed on the roof.

 

Temporary bleachers at the Arena de São Paulo will be removed after the World Cup

Temporary bleachers at the Arena de São Paulo will be removed after the World Cup

 

In Manaus, the remote rainforest city in northern Brazil, concern over the quality of the playing surface has reached a fever pitch, with English officials questioning the patchy grass and many sandy bald spots. Manaus’ climate makes it difficult to grow soccer-level grass on an international scale, and over-fertilization has exhausted the stadium soil.

In addition, the Arena da Amazônia has come under fire as one of the costliest and least necessary projects of the World Cup. Its $300 million dollar price tag will result in a grand total of four Cup games–including the United States against Portugal, on Sunday, June 22–and an empty shell once the tournament is over. Manaus does not have a top-level professional soccer team, so the stadium will remain tenantless, and the $75 million-per-game price tag a very large and imposing question mark.

The problem of long-term tenants is also front-and-center in Brasilia, the country’s capital. The million National Stadium cost $900 million to build: the final cost is three times the original budget, and makes the venue the second most-expensive soccer stadium in the world. But it will be left empty following the Cup, for the same reason as the Arena da Amazônia; there isn’t a team in the city that can draw enough fans to fill it.

Nor are the stadium troubles the only ones plaguing the country. São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and the de facto host of the Cup, has been dealing with a transit strike for the better part of a week. What began as a disagreement over pay has become a larger dispute over São Paulo State Transportation Secretary Jurandir Fernandes’ firing of 42 employees for “alleged vandalism and misconduct.” Transit workers will return to work today as a show of good faith, but are prepared to resume their strike tomorrow, the day of the opening match between Brazil and Croatia, if Wednesday’s negotiations do not go well.

 

 

Brazil's government would probably prefer that you notice this

Brazil’s government would probably prefer that you notice this

 

Indeed, tension across the country is the highest it’s been since Brazil was awarded the World Cup in 2007. Between their $11.5 billion price and the rising cost of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many Brazilians are wondering if their country shouldn’t have instead spent its money on health care, education, and other social programs. Recent polling has shown that between fifty and sixty percent of the population in legendarily soccer-mad Brazil now regrets hosting the World Cup at all. The question is quickly becoming whether Brazilians will be allowed to speak out or even protest against their country’s priorities; and, on the eve of what will look like a celebration, whether those priorities are as divided as they seem.


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