2014 FIFA WORLD CUP FIASCO UPON US

William I have to tell you how much I roared with your rendition of the World Cup trophy. It was absolutely HYSTERICAL.

At the same time, I have to say I'm saddened by how poorly prepared Brazil is for all these incredible opportunities for them. Despite everything I've learned about the corrupt government etcetera I really have been rooting for Brazil to come out of these events TRIUMPHANT, if for no other reason than because, heck!, I'm going to be LIVING there someday, and I really DO want for this country, who gave birth to the love of my life, move beyond its own problems and corruption and make good on the opportunities they had won by being chosen to host the World Cup AND the next Summer Olympics. And it's not only because that's where my partner presently lives or because that's where I'LL be living someday. It's because I root for EVERY country (just as I root for every PERSON) who rises triumphant from poverty or social injustice or corruption or natural disasters. And it saddens me greatly that apparently Brazil's higher-ups are so CONSUMED with their own beliefs of GREATNESS, as a country AND as individuals, that they're living in a fantasy world while the REAL Brazil, the PEOPLE, continue to suffer and not be heard. I'll be quite honest with you, that with this much social discontent and abuses, I'm getting very concerned that Communism may very easily infiltrate itself there at some point. And especially having left MY country of Cuba for that very reason, if that were to happen, it not only would be DISASTROUS for Brazil, but quite a SAD IRONY for ME personally.

Dalia

Hi Dalia,

Isn't Photoshop great? I have lots of fun with it and other graphics programs.

Too bad that I couldn't use it to change the political scenery (i.e. landscape) in this country. I'd start by redesigning Brasília completely. If there ever was a city that really needed it that's it!

Cheers,
James

I would photoshop ALL NEW politicians in Brazil in that case. They certainly couldn't do a worse job than the real ones.

And oh heck! Why stop with the ones in BRAZIL huh? Lookin' like a good option for the ones here too! 

wjwoodward wrote:

[img align=c]http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u531/wjwoodward/COPA_zpsa81ba13d.jpg[/url]

FIFA has announced publicly that the stadiums in São Paulo and Curitiba will not be ready until the last minute. Personally from my years of experience here in Brazil I highly doubt they'll even be ready then. Itaquerão as São Paulo's stadium is commonly known is scheduled to host the opening ceremonies of the World Cup and it's woefully behind schedule. Some 20,000 “temporary” seats have yet to be installed and a huge section of the roof remains uncompleted as a result of two separate deadly accidents in which 3 workers were killed.

Rio's Antonio Carlos Jobim (Galeão) International Airport suffered an unexplained blackout last week and still has other unresolved problems such as major water leaks. Santos Dumont Airport is closed to arrivals and departures on almost a daily basis due to fog conditions. It is without a doubt the most useless airport in all of Brazil.

In Rio, many of the hotels that were promised to be ready for the World Cup aren't going to be completed, despite large amounts of public funds that were pumped into them by the federal government. Others that were abandoned decades ago and promised to be resurrected to meet the demand for World Cup accommodations in that city still sit abandoned and decaying mired in the crushing bureaucracy that Brazil has long been notorious for.

Other airports which were supposed to be upgraded all over Brazil are never going to be ready in time for the World Cup. The most noted of these is Marechal Rondon Airport in Várzea Grande a neighboring city of Cuiabá - MT which will be given a makeshift temporary canvas terminal roof. Worse still the transportation link from the airport was never constructed.

In Manaus, Amazonas the stadium is the ONLY thing that is ready. Every other project in the city and hotels that had been promised never got out of the starting gate. The stadium itself is destined to be a white elephant since Manaus neither has its own soccer team nor does it have a sufficient fan base if it had one.

Violence and protests have returned to plague Rio de Janeiro, as everyone predicted they would.  Violence has returned to supposedly “pacified” favelas (slums) like Rocinha and the Complexo do Alemão. The Maré favela is proving much more difficult to gain control over than either police or the Secretary of Public Security ever imagined. The criminal activities of these favelas has simply been relocated to surrounding cities like Niteroi, São Gonçalo and the Baixada Fluminense.  Organized crime figures have moved to even more remote cities in the state like Maricá, Buzios, Cabo Frio, Macaé and Campos dos Goytacazes among others.

São Paulo also is gripped by a wave of violence and protests that saw some 38 transit buses set afire in the garage over the Easter weekend in Osasco in Greater São Paulo. 8 young thugs walked into the facility completely unchallenged, since nobody would ever think (given the number of bus arsons that have already taken place throughout the state) to have armed security guards posted at transit garages. The area surrounding Itaquerão has become a zone of rampant street prostitution and all the criminal activities related to it. Blitz armed robberies of people withdrawing funds from banks and ATMs, known here as “Saidinha do Banco” are a daily occurrence everywhere in Greater São Paulo.

With just over a month remaining to the beginning of the games public authorities all over Brazil appear to be wholly incapable of getting control over the security problems, massive overspending, delays and cancellations. Clearly it isn't something that they can possibly come anywhere near resolving at this late date.

From my experience here, I have only one word of advice for anyone thinking of coming to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup……..    DON'T.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

Not only is the stadium finished in Manaus, the airport has been completely redone (which was much needed BTW). The soccer stadium is an absolute waste. I saw it from the sky and it looked beautiful at night. Too bad it will be a complete waste of money!

On a somewhat brighter note, hotels have lowered prices for the Cup period by 30 to 50% according to an article I read in a dutch newspaper. They finally figured out that europeans and americans where not going to pay the outrages prices charged.

That the cup will be a fiasco can be without doubt. Let's face it, it is already a fiasco for the people of Brazil.

If they renewed the airport in Manaus, at least SOME good have come out of this world cup.

The stadium in Manaus? Ridiculous.

I agree completely with you the only thing that is more ridiculous than a stadium in Manaus is the condition of Eduardo Gomes Airport.

It was never going to happen despite all the hype.

At best it will be mediocre but the FIFA hierarchy  will put a positive spin on it so as to ensure their million dollar jobs and tell us how well it is all going.

Very little goes into who gets the world cup these days and I am firmly convinced that brown paper bags full of money change hands to ensure that ensure that the favored country gets the honor. There is no research done by FIFA regarding a countries ability regarding construction and financial wise to get the job done in the allocated time frame and to a required standard.

lawyer_rio wrote:

If they renewed the airport in Manaus, at least SOME good have come out of this world cup.

The stadium in Manaus? Ridiculous.

Sven,

The airport is unrecognizable. The DPF actually have inspection stations now (like a real airport) instead of the 5 window "box" they used to sit in. It is multiple levels now too. One downfall is the RF have a huge inspection area and now harass even tourists, whereas in the past it was just Brazilian passport holders.

They are also adding another gate because TAP Portugual is going to start non-stop service to Lisbon in June. I believe that TAM and American Airlines will be having more flights just for the games in Manaus as the USA team is playing there. So the two daily flights will probably increase to 4-5 temporarily.

As for the stadium, it was a complete waste, at the cost of people lives too. Yes it look very nice but it will just turn into a waste after the World Cup. I do not think they will be holding Boi Manaus or Carna Boi there as the people that attend these events act like pigs and would trash the place in one night.

Was this thread deleted and then undeleted?

All I can tell you is it wasn't here when I tried accessing it this morning. Now it's miraculously here again.

usmc_mv wrote:

As for the stadium, it was a complete waste, at the cost of people lives too. Yes it look very nice but it will just turn into a waste after the World Cup. I do not think they will be holding Boi Manaus or Carna Boi there as the people that attend these events act like pigs and would trash the place in one night.

They already had a brand new stadium in Manaus, which was of perfect size for the city. Now suddenly they have this HUGE new stadium they will never fill up after the cup.

Money down the drain.

The funiest of all is Maracana though. It had heen refurbished a few years back (R$ 250 million) for the Pan American Games. Now it's being modernized for 1.3 billion, and AFTER the world cup, it'll close again, for other work for the Olympic Games, another 1/4 billion wasted. Fifa and IOC standards are different.

Well, in Fortaleza, I believe all will be fine for the World Cup (I have got the Brazilian jetinho now).
Fortaleza was the first stadium rebuilt for the World Cup but actually that the only thing that has been done on time. All other big projects : metro, new airport terminal have been delayed and will not be ready before 2015.
That was not because of bad project management and wrong political oversight but more certainly because of the rain (some projects were under a few metters of water last week) because it never rains in Fortaleza...well actually it rains sometimes in march and abril because it is the rainy season (actually no more than a few days of rain)...nevertheless, it should not have rain this year so this is unfair to Brazil and definitely delayed all projects.
Seriously I believe the real mess will result from strikes and demonstrations. After seeing what happened during the Confederation Cup, I can only imagine much worse during the World Cup.

lawyer_rio wrote:

usmc_mv wrote:

As for the stadium, it was a complete waste, at the cost of people lives too. Yes it look very nice but it will just turn into a waste after the World Cup. I do not think they will be holding Boi Manaus or Carna Boi there as the people that attend these events act like pigs and would trash the place in one night.

They already had a brand new stadium in Manaus, which was of perfect size for the city. Now suddenly they have this HUGE new stadium they will never fill up after the cup.

Money down the drain.

The funiest of all is Maracana though. It had heen refurbished a few years back (R$ 250 million) for the Pan American Games. Now it's being modernized for 1.3 billion, and AFTER the world cup, it'll close again, for other work for the Olympic Games, another 1/4 billion wasted. Fifa and IOC standards are different.

Another absolutely, fantastic example why I am so thrilled to NOT be in Brazil. Beautiful people, great fun BUT horrible government. The grass ain't greener on the other side. And as I was told before, Brazil isn't for everyone- that said, it was NOT for me!

Bardamu wrote:

Fortaleza was the first stadium rebuilt for the World Cup but actually that the only thing that has been done on time. All other big projects : metro, new airport terminal have been delayed and will not be ready before 2015.

Of course it's from bad project management and from poor governance which this country is famous for. They've only had 7 years to prepare for the World Cup, just 7... not nearly enough for this country. In São Paulo the took 5 years just to decide where they'd build a stadium. Fortaleza was no different, they didn't start any of the other projects until way too late.

Brazilians, especially their government, waste far to much time just talking about doing something rather than actually getting down and doing it. Then government comes along and of course that only complicates that talking about doing something rather than actually doing it, because now the politicians have to discuss ways that they can rake off money from the projects and get construction companies to pay kickbacks.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

Hey dude, Brazil at least got it right and sent the American team to the North and North East to play in horrid conditions in unprepared stadiums. As if FIFA was fair to each team. Put the American team at a huge disadvantage. Pretty sure it explains why the World Series is in the states, and the Superbowl is in the states, and hopefully basketball world championships will come to being and will always stay in the United States.

Maybe I'm wrong and just plain stupid and will READILY admit that I am if that's how it turns out, most especially in the sports world,  BUT...while I have no knowledge about the "basketball WORLD championships," isn't the "World" Series STRICTLY a U.S. series ANYWAY, (in OTHER words, where ELSE would it be played, ANYWAY, BUT in the U.S.??), DUDE, as WELL as the Superbowl, being a "football" played ONLY in the U.S. ALSO??

By ALL means tell me if I'm wrong. The only multi-national BASEBALL games I'm aware of are the Pan-American games but NOT the "World" series.

Dalia

What's so "worldly" about the World Series or Superbowl??? These are sports events that are held only in the USA. If baseball teams from other nations (like Japan for example) participated then one might excuse the term "World Series", but since they aren't it seems more like King Kong beating on his chest... all for show.

As for basketball it was invented by James Naismith, a Canadian physical education teacher who just happened to be teaching at Springfield College, Springfield, MASS at the time. Nothing at all American or worldly about that either. 

It's an American sport called.... We're the biggest, we're the best! Sorry, I'm not really US bashing it's just that the important things in this world don't all come from the USA.

For example, all of the following were invented by Canadians:

Sports & Entertainment
basketball (as previously mentioned)
goalie mask for hockey
lacrosse
the snowmobile
the instant replay (gosh where would sports be without that)
five pin bowling

Science, Medicine & Communications
telephone
the cardiac pacemaker
insulin
the Canadarm used by NASA space shuttles
electric wheelchair
prosthetic hand
electron microscope
SONAR
alkaline battery
plexiglass
the BlackBerry

Transportation
first commercial jetliner (Avro jetliner gave its name to a whole class of aviation)
Wheelchair accessible bus
snowmobile

Just imagine what OTHER countries have also contributed to the world too! While the USA is extremely important to all of us for countless reasons they it is NOT the only place on earth nor the only important one.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

THANK YOU, "Dude" William!!!

Of course my feigning "stupidity" was JUST THAT, FEIGNING it, because even someone who is NOT into sports that much KNOWS (or SHOULD know) that those sports TigerMcTeague mentioned ONLY has U.S. PARTICIPANTS and it has ALWAYS bothered me when in this country they call ANYTHING "World" when it ONLY occurs HERE because it insinuates that the U.S. IS "the World" and what happens here is all that matters. While, as we know. there's a WHOLE BIG ACTUAL "WORLD" OUT THERE, bad, yes, but PLENTY of GOOD, and that's why I just COULDN'T let THAT one go unanswered!

And if anyone wants to consider MY take on it as "American bashing," so BE it, because they only set themselves up for it by calling SOLELY-U.S.-born-and-played events a "World" Series and by comments like the ones by TigerMcTeague.

Glad to see some people see Brazil for what it is - a country with some marvellous people, but a horrible failure in terms of government, infrastructure, education, security, taxes, sanitation, and a host of other critical items.

Most Brazilians I know are hoping the Cup will be marred by massive demonstrations and failure. Business as usual.

The cartoon sequence on top of the article is exactly what went through my mind years ago when I first saw the logo. I am sure many other, perhaps most, people in Brazil saw what I saw but, this being Brazil, hardly anybody mentions it to avoid "constrangimento".

Mr. Woodward, great article. Thank you for writing this. You laid down my own impressions and feelings better than I think I could have. Justly cynical, grounded, offset with a love of Brazil that shine through in so many other posts. I am sending it to my Father as it's vastly superior to the out-of-touch doom-and-gloom trash-talk reported by BBC/NYT/GaM and the likes.
A sincere thanks!

And after the World Cup... RioOlympics, same story: -olympics-worst-preparations

Yes, unfortunately Brazilians are notorious for leaving everything until the very last minute no matter what it may be. They all rely on the famous "jeitinho brasileiro" (improvisation) and the attitude that prevails in this culture that "tudo vai dar certo" (it will all work out ok). Unfortunately we can clearly see that this is not always the case. "Tudo não vai dar certo" this time around and it's unlikely that they'll learn from the experience and clean up their act in time for the Olympics to come off as it should. They certainly didn't learn anything with the near disaster of the Pan American Games in 2007 or the Pope's visit in 2013.

I guess that LIVE AND LEARN isn't a concept that works south of the equator?????

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

And the sad saga continues.....

John Coates, Vice-President of the International Olympics Committee has just publicly stated that "Rio's preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games are the worst in recent history and certainly the worst he's ever seen"

Doesn't look too good, does it?

Don`t know what preparations he`s talking about....there haven`t been any.

Hello All,

Yes youŽre right in every point. The brazilian stucks in his structure and will not to move on, itŽs hard to accept for many peolpe here, but finaly itŽs true.

The other thing is the Worldcup. I ask to myself, how they want to handle that? The goverment is spending more money for the Worldcup than in health or education. ItŽs like Ceasar " Want to keep your people calm, give them bread and games"

RGRDS,
Peter

And now the minister of communication, I think, has announced that 6 of the 12 stadiums will have no/poor access to the internet. A problem that a North American/European private company/country would solve in 3 days by setting up the needed equipment, they can't get right in SEVEN YEARS and publicly admit so a few weeks before the global event gets under way.

Keep failing, Brazil - that's what the people want, they want to expose the horrid conditions under which the populace lives by having the country's incompetence laid bare with the globe watching.

New news - the mayor of Rio de Janeiro has just announced that buses carrying tourists will not be allowed near the Maracana football stadium. Instead, the buses will unload their passengers, which will then take other public transportation to the stadium. Good luck, public transportation in Brazil is generally - and especially in Rio and Sao Paulo - a crapshoot as far as safety is concerned. No doubt all the pickpockets will be having a field day - they LOVE tourists, including my sister-in-law.

Como eu sempre digo.... Isso é Brasil sil sil sil sil sil sil, hehehehe

Finaly, itŽs not up to us, to change something. I spoke to some brazilian people who asked me about my opinion and than they told me why IŽm here and if I donŽt like I could go back to europe.

One teacher told me that she doesnŽt want to live in europe because there is no liberty. I asked her, if she was there one time, she anthered that she never traveled to europe. So I asked her, how she knowŽs something about liberty there, and... if the people have liberty here in Brazil, why the people make big and high walls around the houses???
She said to me the same thing, if I donŽt like, I can take my clothes and go away... and this statement from a teacher, great, isnŽt it???

*answered LOOOOL

Not uncommon the "Brasil ame o ou deixe o" attitude of most Brazilians. They have a completely blind sense of national pride. Despite the fact that THEY know of all the thousands of grave problems this nation has, despite the fact that THEY complain about the problems among themselves and never do anything about them, they don't tolerate any kind of criticism (even that which is well deserved) relating to this country. In fact, most Brazilians view criticism as a personal attack on them and become extremely offended and want to kick you out of the country. It doesn't matter how long you've been in this country, it doesn't matter why you came here in the first place, nor if you have a Brazilian spouse or children most Brazilians will always see us foreigners as nothing more than glorified tourists and they think that we have no right to form or express opinions about this country, especially negative opinions. Absolute rubbish, but that's just the way Brazilians are. Their standard response to anything is "Well if you don't like it then go back to where you came from". Since the vast majority of Brazilians have never ventured outside the city in which they were born, much less travelled abroad, one must take anything they say about foreign countries with a huge grain of salt since they have absolutely no concept of what a "real" democracy is, nor do they have any idea of how most governments try and make life easier for their citizens rather than make it unbearable. They don't have the slightest idea about what goes on in the world around them.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

AMEN!!!!

I'll never forget what a good Brazilian friend of mine in the US told me - "Brasil me revolta!" (Brazil is a revolting place). This country - you meet really wonderful people, and wonder how the heck it's so screwed up.

That's what happens when a ruling claque just despoils the place for its own benefit - and the rest can go to hell. It's a testament to the good ones that the country functions at all. I commend them.

That is certainly my experience after 34 years in Brazil!

Douglas

The polish people say: "wszedzie dobrze, gdzie nas niema"...and it means: "everywhere is good, where we not are"
;-)

You know, if I hadn't moved to Brazil I would have never found out why the United States is such a great country that so many people want to immigrate to, as well as the number one economy in the world. I have found that it's not because the United States moves forward, but rather other countries move backwards. It's fantastic, the U.S. has a ton of problems, and it takes forever to get to a solution, but other countries don't even get to the starting line.

Also, Brazil is a good example of bad policies that I could see the United States implementing as well. It's not like Brazil has a monopoly on bad governance. I could also throw out a list of top ten things I could do to make Sao Paulo a better place as I truly believe changing Brazil starts at the individual. I am saddened though that I see many things wrong in Sao Paulo which are from the government and clearly illegal. This Brazilian way is a slap in the face to decency, sometimes, and it really does sap any motivation for change. But it all comes down to having a sunny disposition within you.