Valcke prepares World Cup schedule without Itaquerão stadium.
On the day of the inauguration of the Mané Garrincha stadium, great news for Brasília: FIFA is already working on a Plan B, which foresees holding the World Cup without games in São Paulo and with the opening ceremony in the federal capital; Jérôme Valcke's intention is to prove to Corinthians, responsible for the construction in Itaquera, that it is fully capable of hosting the World Cup without the problematic arena being built by Odebrecht.
247 - On the day the National Stadium of Brasília, the Mané Garrincha, is inaugurated, the federal capital received more good news: FIFA commissioned an alternative schedule for the 2014 World Cup, which does not include the use of the Itaquerão stadium, currently under construction by Odebrecht in São Paulo and, so far, the most problematic of the World Cup arenas.
The information was published in Otávio Cabral's Panorama column, and it states that, in Plan B for the World Cup, the opening match would be moved from São Paulo to Brasília. The other five matches at the Itaquerão stadium would be divided between the Maracanã, in Rio de Janeiro, and the Mineirão, in Belo Horizonte, whose construction has also already been completed.
Delayed, the construction of the Itaquerão stadium was postponed to 2014, just before the World Cup, and the former president of Corinthians, Andrés Sanchez, even threatened FIFA. "If they want to change the venue for the World Cup opening, let them change it," he said. There is still no definitive solution to adapt the stadium to FIFA's requirements of 65 seats. According to Sanchez, Corinthians would be content with an arena for 48 people.
Valcke has already stated that everything can change before the group stage draw. In Brasília's favor, there is another factor: the opening of the World Cup attracts heads of state from various countries and is therefore more suitable for the federal capital.