With 94 percent of construction work done, Castelao stadium in Fortaleza, northeastern Brazil, received the visit of Brazilian Ministry of Sport, Aldo Rebelo and his recently appointed special advisor Luiz Felipe Scolari, the former head coach of English Premier League team Chelsea and Brazilian club side Palmeiras.
Local authorities welcomed both of them for a tour inside the venue, to check the progress being made.
Scolari, who revealed in May that he would like to coach a national side in the 2014 FIFA World Cup but joked that "nobody wanted" him, was very impressed with what he had seen.
In a press conference after the visit Scolari, who coached Brazil to World Cup success in 2002, congratulated local authorities, confessing that he was worried with the pace that the stadium was going when he visited the venue one year ago.
Minister Rebelo guaranteed that the Confederations Cup would be held with six stadia, despite the fact that Arena Pernambuco in Recife has 70.5 percent of the work done and said, through State Governor Eduardo Campos, that the stadium would be ready for a match only in April 2013.
FIFA said that they would need at least six months prior to the competition to check every aspect of a venue.
Only Mineirao in Belo Horizonte and Mane Garrincha in Brasilia would join Castelao in making this deadline.
He also explained that he would not use the word "worried" anymore because "If I say that I am worried it's possible that somebody might say that something is not going well and that would be the reason for my worry. If I say that I am not worried, somebody might say that I'm not even giving attention to what's going on".
FIFA will announce whether the Confederations Cup will be hosted with six venues next Thursday (8th November), at a press conference in Sao Paulo.
Associated Press
Wed Nov 07 2012
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