Brazil races against the clock as teams prepare to fly out

The World Cup squads are preparing to fly, the performers for the opening ceremony are in rehearsal, and FIFA officials have finally taken the reins.

But with less than three weeks until the competition kicks off, the venue for the first match has still to complete trials that should have been finished months ago.

The delays at Sao Paulo’s Itaquerao stadium — where the roof had to be scaled back at the last minute — are among several remaining hiccups in the preparations for a tournament that has been dogged by the deaths of construction workers, protests, strikes and overspending.

After a final inspection of the 12 venues, FIFA secretary-general, Jerome Valcke, gave the tournament the green light, but admitted preparations were not yet complete.

“The FIFA World Cup has already arrived in Brazil. And the whole world is watching in anticipation,” he wrote on Twitter. “We have busy days ahead of us with still a lot to be done.”

Problems at Itaquerao

The most pressing concern is the Itaquerao stadium, which will stage the opening ceremony. Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull and massed ranks of samba dancers, capoeira performers and Salvadorean drummers are due to entertain the 70,000 crowd before the first match between Brazil and Croatia.

But construction of the venue — which was supposed to have been finished a year ago — has continued up until the last moment and the facilities have yet to be tested with a full attendance.

FIFA normally insists on three trial events before a World Cup, but the Itaquerao has only had one — a domestic league match between Corinthians and Figueirense last Sunday that drew about 36,000 people.

At that event, many fans were forced to seek cover during a hailstorm because glass roofing panels will not arrive until after the World Cup. Although this does not affect players on the pitch, it could cause problems if there are storms during the tournament.

Additional seating was not yet in place, metal detectors were not operational and cell phone coverage was poor. To rectify these problems, a second test event has been scheduled for June 1, 11 days before the event starts.

Two smaller stadiums that were also delayed — at Curitiba and Cuiaba — have been given the go-ahead after only one test event, though there is still considerable work to be done on the stadium exteriors and transport links.

Telecom troubles

A broader concern is the weakness of telecommunications networks, which led to cell phone blackouts during last year’s Confederations Cup. The communications minister, Paulo Bernardo, warned of likely telecoms and internet problems at half of the 12 World Cup stadiums, including Itaquerao.

FIFA’s Valcke said urgent action was needed: “We don't want Brazil to be remembered as the worst World Cup of all time because the journalists could not get their stories out to the rest of the world,” he said.

The often shambolic preparations have added to public frustration at the expense of the tournament, which — at about $11bn for stadium and infrastructure construction — is about triple the cost of the South Africa World Cup. It is also far over budget.

A major share of the construction funds have come from the public purse despite earlier government promises “not to spend a penny of public money” on stadiums.

The glitches can still be ironed out before the tournament, but time is running out. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2014