Marin reaffirms that the World Cup will open at the Itaquerão stadium.
The president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) laments the deaths resulting from yesterday's accident at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, but affirms he has "absolute conviction that the World Cup will open there"; construction work is temporarily suspended; a new report from Civil Defense should confirm whether work will remain suspended in the area where a metal piece fell.
247 - The president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), José Maria Marin, lamented on Thursday, June 28th, the accident that occurred yesterday at the Arena Corinthians, the 'Itaquerão', which left two workers dead. Despite the tragedy, however, Marin reaffirmed that the opening of the 2014 World Cup should still take place at the São Paulo stadium, chosen by FIFA to host the first match of the World Cup.
"Accidents happen. I deeply regret the deaths, but I am absolutely convinced that the World Cup will open there," said Marin, during an event in Rio de Janeiro. The football official avoided pointing fingers and did not go into details about the circumstances of the accident. The workers died after a metal piece fell on them.
The construction company Odebrecht, responsible for the project, assured in a press conference yesterday that the stadium's structure was not affected. According to the engineer in charge of the project, Frederico Barbosa, the construction schedule remains unchanged, despite the accident. FIFA president Joseph Blatter guaranteed that the arena will be delivered in March of next year.