Brazil's road as World Cup host is filled with potholes

Brazil is one of only four South American nations to ever host a World Cup, and by 2014 will be the first to do so in 36 years. João Paulo Engelbrecht/AFP/Getty Images

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"There is a huge chasm between football in Europe and the rest of the world," wrote Fernando Santos, executive editor of the Brazilian sports daily Lance! a little more than two months ago.

"It's a privilege to watch a match in one of the big European stadiums such as [Barcelona's] Camp Nou, always packed and with the stands close to the pitch," he wrote. "In fact, it should be prohibited to hold football matches in stadiums with running tracks, which leave the fan a long way from the field.

"Another differential of the European stadiums is the impeccable organization. Numbered seats, stewards to help, security guards provided by the club, efficient public transport. It really is," he concluded, "another world."

But it doesn't have to be another world forever. The "huge chasm" he identified in his native country is about to narrow: On Tuesday, Brazil was given the right to host the 2014 World Cup.

Yet there is general agreement -- by FIFA and also by the Brazilian soccer authorities -- that the country doesn't currently possess a single stadium which is up to the task of staging a World Cup match. A lot of work will have to be done. Significant investment will be needed. A wonderful opportunity is presenting itself to close the chasm so accurately identified by Santos.

But the early signs are not promising -- starting from the fact that we're still talking about "early signs." It was clear in March 2003 that Brazil would be hosting the 2014 World Cup when FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced that 2014 would be South America's turn.

Within 10 days, the South American federation unanimously declared that Brazil was its only candidate; Colombia later briefly fell out of line and thought about a bid, but without the slightest possibility of success.

More than four-and-a-half years have gone by -- and have been almost entirely wasted. Incredibly, we don't even know which cities the Brazilian federation (CBF) wants to use to stage the tournament. A list of 18 has been drawn up, which FIFA will whittle down, almost certainly to 10.

It would appear that Ricardo Teixeira, long-term president of the CBF, is unwilling to risk losing support by excluding cities from the project. But it means that with a little more than six and a half years to go, plans for the 2014 World Cup are still very sketchy.

Unsurprisingly, a sense of lack of trust in the Brazilian authorities permeates the report of the FIFA inspection committee who analyzed the country's bid earlier this year.

"FIFA must work very closely with the [Local Organizing Committee] from the date of the final decision [on staging the tournament] to the final whistle," says the report. "The standards and demands of the 2014 World Cup will surpass those of any other event staged in the history of Brazil in terms of magnitude and complexity."

The document contains a number of similar declarations. More surprising is the fact that the inspection committee appears to have placed the bar of demands very low in terms of stadiums and transport links.

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