MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

FIFA's Valcke downplays 'favelas' violence: “finally we will be talking about football”

“I have received several messages asking me if there is a civil war in Brazil, and I have replied no”, revealed Valcke

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke downplayed recent violence in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro as a threat to the upcoming World Cup. The city was the scene of violent outbursts last week when a dancer was found dead with his friends and family blaming the killing on the police.

 “It is a tragic episode which causes sadness, but it is not sufficient to say the Cup is at risk,” said Valcke. “I have received several messages asking me if there is a civil war in Brazil, and I have replied no.”

Rio's Maracana is scheduled to host seven matches during the World Cup, including the final on July 13.

At the end of his four-day inspection and an LOC board meeting, Valcke told a news conference in Rio last Friday: “I feel happy we are close to the World Cup - and finally we will be talking about football”.

After delay-hit preparations over seven years, Valcke said Brazil would deliver when it came to the World Cup opener between Brazil and Croatia on June 12.

Sao Paulo has been one of the most problematic stadiums, due to financial problems early on in the project, delays which led to threats to strip the opener from the city and the tragic deaths of three workers on the construction project.

Valcke said the 68,000-seat Arena Corinthians would “have all what we asked to organize the World Cup”.

Ricardo Trade, CEO of local organizing committee, said Sao Paulo would host a Brazilian league match as a test event on May 18. Brazilian sports minister Aldo Rebelo provided the government perspective on the final World Cup preparations.

“We’re at the stage where everybody – national and state governments, city councils and the LOC – has to pull together to overcome the last remaining obstacles,“ Rebelo said.

”There is still work to be done in some stadiums and a number of construction projects to be finished. But with hard work everything will be in place for the opening Game at the Arena de Sao Paulo and for the competition as a whole. We are fulfilling the task that we were set, which is to organise the unforgettable festival of football that the whole world is expecting.”

On Sunday, a Brazilian second division match between Luverdense and Vasco da Gama served as a test event for the Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba.

Watched by a crowd of 17,808, the match allowed the Brazil 2014 LOC to partly validate operations in the following eight areas: cleaning and waste management, transport, spectator services, volunteers, catering, technology, competitions and safety and security.

Speaking afterwards, organizing committee stadium operations manager Tiago Paes expressed his satisfaction with the tests. “We are pleased with how things went in each area and with operations at the Arena Pantanal overall,” he was quoted on FIFA.com

“We are also aware, though, that we need to improve. The fact of the matter is that not everything worked perfectly, though it should be said that we didn’t expect everything to go 100 per cent to plan because this is only the arena’s second game and the first LOC test event here. We know we need to improve and we’ll be doing that step by step” (World football insider).