Football supremo Sepp Blatter voiced confidence on Thursday that Brazil would deliver a successful World Cup, as the city hosting the tournament’s opening match grappled with transport chaos.
Speaking in Sao Paulo just one week before the World Cup kicks off in the sprawling city, FIFA president Blatter predicted tensions threatening the tournament would subside once the football began.
“We at FIFA, we are confident, it will be a celebration,” Blatter said. “I’m an optimist. After the tournament kicks off I think there will be a better mood.”
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke insisted preparations were on track but acknowledged the opening weeks of the tournament would be the “most challenging.”
“We are in control, we have nothing to fear in the coming days,” Valcke said.
The assurances were at odds with the chaos gripping Sao Paulo on Thursday, however, as subway workers went on strike in the Brazilian economic capital.
The Sao Paulo metro is the main link to the city’s stadium, and the strike could pose a logistical headache for cup organizers – as well as the 4.5 million passengers who use the system daily.
Frustrated commuters broke entrance grilles at the station that serves the World Cup stadium, Corinthians Arena.
After some of them jumped onto the tracks, system operators CPTM decided to open the station in a bid to calm the situation.
Sao Paulo was where mass protests erupted a year ago as citizens took to the streets to voice anger at rising public transport fares.
The unrest ballooned into nationwide demonstrations against the more than $11 billion being spent on the World Cup.
During the Confederations Cup, a World Cup dress rehearsal, protests drew a million people into the streets -- at times turning violent and overshadowing the tournament.
