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Brazil has been confirmed as host for the 2014 World Cup. It was the only candidate to host the competition that under Fifa's rotation system was due to take place in South America. The announcement received a mixed reception in Brazil. Many in what is often regarded as the world's greatest footballing nation are overjoyed that the World Cup is finally coming home after 64 years. In the final of the 1950 competition Brazil lost 2-1 to Uruguay having been 1-0 ahead. However, the news stirred a degree of scepticism over Brazil's suitability as host nation. An internet survey conducted by UOL, the country's biggest internet service provider, produced largely caustic responses. 'It would be very good to hold a world championship like the Cup if Brazil didn't have problems with the health, education, safety and misery of its people,' read one comment. Many commentators have expressed concern at the amount of stadium-building and refurbishment being proposed and the opportunities such works will offer for corruption. Brazil's two largest stadiums - Maracana in Rio and Morumbi in Sao Pualo - would only be used if they were rebuilt.
Eighteen cities the length and breadth of this huge country are competing to be among the eight to 12 match venues. None of them has a stadium up to the job, so a series of massive construction projects is envisaged. What lies ahead may be what is called farra in Portuguese, meaning a binge, spree or bender. Some of the potential problems may be glimpsed from the Pan-American games held in Rio in July. The TCU, Brazil's public accounts office, found that contracts for construction and refurbishment had run over budget by as much as tenfold. In August, the TCU halted all payments to contractors on suspicion of widespread fraud. One of the failings of the Pan-American Games was that it did not deliver the lasting improvements promised by the organisers, such as new public transport and cleaning up pollution in Rio's central lagoon. Alarm bells have rung in the press over the constitution of the organising committee, presided over by Ricardo Teixeira, the veteran president of the Brazilian Confederation of Football. The committee's statutes explicitly leave it free from oversight by government, even though public money will pay for much of the work to be carried out. There are also concerns about the ability of Brazil's creaking transport infrastructure to fly large numbers of visitors around the country. The aftermath of an aviation crisis precipitated by two major accidents over the past 14 months has left airports prone to overcrowding and delays. At least, however, there is time to sort some of these problems out.
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