Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Ugly reality threatens World Cup in land of joga bonita

England may have "invented" football but the Brazilians define its soul and no one with a drop of romance in their veins can argue with the appeal of a World Cup in the land of the joga bonito. But yesterday's decision by Fifa, football's world governing body, to award the 2014 tournament to Brazil is, like that which sent the 2010 jamboree to South Africa, something of a gamble.

As with 2010, the political choice is also the popular one, but the challenges are immense. The area bordered by Porto Alegre, Recife and Manaus, all putative hosts, is larger than that marked by Oslo, Lisbon and Istanbul, and lacks Europe's generally impressive transportation infrastructure.

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