Friday 28 October 2011

World Cup 2014 - The Brazilian Way

In 2014 the World Cup will take place in Brazil, the country of football and the nation of partying.  However, people aren’t confident enough because Brazil is disorganized and has many social problems. The FIFA president has already criticized Brazilian plan of work and complained that “the World Cup is tomorrow and the Brazilians are thinking it’s the day after tomorrow”.

Not only deadlines seem to be a problem, but also how much everything is going to cost, specially when it comes to stadiums. Brazil will build 12 stadiums for the World Cup but these stadiums may not be used after the World Cup finishes to stage local matches. One example of this is the stadium in Manaus (a city with no football tradition at all) and as a consequence, there are no attendants and this stadium would be left to an expensive abandonment. The Maracana stadium is another big problem and proof of how disorganized the plans are. It is supposed to host the final and may not be ready until 2013. In addition, the project will cost an estimated 400 pounds million in total.

The Brazilian public transport needs urgent upgrades especially in the large cities that will host the World Cup, such as Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasília. We strongly agree that our public transport system is precarious, not safe and it does not meet the demand of the Brazilian people.

It is our belief that after the World Cup finishes, Brazilian people will take advantage of the improvements that will be made in the transport system. And, what about our streets? They are in bad conditions. Now that the World Cup is coming, the politicians are trying to improve them, with infrastructure works. Therefore Brazilians hope that the investment in the World Cup will have long-lasting effects on people’s lives.

To conclude, we think that the World Cup will bring many benefits for the population. However, as Pelé mentioned: “Brazil is running a huge risk of embarrassing itself in its handling of the World Cup. It has the obligation to host a successful event.” In other words, we don’t like the idea of having things rushed and keeping this reputation of doing everything at the last minute with the typical “Brazilian way”.  

CE4 4/ 08:00 - Mon/Wed - Teacher Raquel Dantas