Posted on 05/27/2014 9:47:07 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
SÃO PAULO, Brazil — By now, Brazil should probably have been grounded for life, without video games or dessert.
Last month, a vice president of the International Olympic Committee, John Coates, said that Rio de Janeiro’s preparations for the 2016 Summer Olympics were the worst he had ever seen.
Before that, Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA — the Federation of International Football Associations — claimed that Brazil was further behind in its preparations for this summer’s World Cup than any previous host nation, even though it had had seven full years to prepare. Then, in March, FIFA’s secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, declared we could risk being “the worst organizers” of the “worst event.” He had previously said that Brazil needed “a kick up the backside.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian consumer defense agency said it's found past-expiration food in the hotels where national soccer teams from Italy and England will stay during the World Cup.
Two injured in accident at Germany's training camp
Foot Locker faces backlash for #AskSambaGirls Twitter campaign
Imagine your worst experiences with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Internal Revenue Service, and the VA Hospital, all rolled into one.
Then multiply it by five. And you will start to grasp it.
However, Brazilians take it in stride: they have never known any other way.
Athens managed to pull off a successful Olympics (at the cost of bankrupting a nation, mind you); Brazil can pull of a World Cup. The media orbs depending on it will ensure that any critical negatives get papered over until well after the event.
16 days until the World Cup starts 😁🏆⚽️ pic.twitter.com/cXmCarkRLn— John Doe (@AAydid23) May 27, 2014
It is ranked 85th in the world and since independence in 1992 has never qualified for a World Cup or European championship.
U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann could not imagine a better opponent to begin the nitty-gritty of a World Cup campaign.
The 14th-ranked Americans will play host to Azerbaijan on Tuesday night at Candlestick Park in the first of three exhibitions before the team travels to Brazil.
I have a great idea to solve TWO problems at ONE time. Send Mitt Romney to Brazil to fix their Olympics!
One of the banners read “There will not be a cup” while the crowd chanted "There will be no World Cup, there will be a strike”.
At this point it’s become standard to “report” that the location of some big event is failing completely and the whole thing is going to collapse... and then everything goes fine. The anniversary Olympics in Greece seems to have been when it became necessary to predict disaster and then studiously pretend no such predictions were made when no disaster happens. It’s gotten to be the sporting equivalent of those “worst flu season ever” stories we see every November, nothing more than reporters filling space requirements.
My fourth-grade teacher told us that Brazil was an up-and-coming world power, and would become quite formidable on the world stage, once they got their act together.
That was 42 years ago. We’re still waiting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.