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The Guardian view on the blots and the glories of this World Cup The Guardian view on the blots and the glories of this World Cup
(3 days later)
Não vai ter Copa. There won't be a World Cup. That was the cry of protesters who a year ago brought Brazil to a standstill with legitimate concerns over the $11bn cost of the tournament that climaxes on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. They were wrong. For all the fears about the just-in-time nature of preparations, the doomsday scenarios did not came to pass. Planes took off on time, stadiums were full, the phone networks held up, visitors were charmed. Brazil embraced the tournament while retaining a healthy scepticism for Fifa. There is still time for one last waltz on Sunday. Neutrals can only hope that it lives up to what has gone before. Não vai ter Copa. There won't be a World Cup. That was the cry of protesters who a year ago brought Brazil to a standstill with legitimate concerns over the $11bn cost of the tournament that climaxes on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. They were wrong. For all the fears about the just-in-time nature of preparations, the doomsday scenarios did not come to pass. Planes took off on time, stadiums were full, the phone networks held up, visitors were charmed. Brazil embraced the tournament while retaining a healthy scepticism for Fifa. There is still time for one last waltz on Sunday. Neutrals can only hope that it lives up to what has gone before.
There is a paradox here. Fifa leaves Brazil as it was before it came: a bloated beast besieged by allegations of corruption and cronyism. But at its best its main "product" is an assertion of football's unifying pleasures. The last four weeks have been a reminder that there is more to football than the deadening domestic whirl of Super Sundays and transfer gossip. If Germany 2006 was a joyous European melting pot, this felt like the equivalent for the Americas.There is a paradox here. Fifa leaves Brazil as it was before it came: a bloated beast besieged by allegations of corruption and cronyism. But at its best its main "product" is an assertion of football's unifying pleasures. The last four weeks have been a reminder that there is more to football than the deadening domestic whirl of Super Sundays and transfer gossip. If Germany 2006 was a joyous European melting pot, this felt like the equivalent for the Americas.
Brazil's own 7-1 collapse against Germany must not be allowed to obscure the success of a tournament where many teams excelled, or an event that provided ample hope that Rio will be able to pull off the Olympics too. And yet the many glories seen on the pitch must not obscure the serious issues that dominated the build-up. In particular, the way that football's governing body imposes itself on hosts, landing like a branded spaceship for the duration and then making off with the proceeds, leaving little behind. That lopsided relationship must be recalibrated. If Fifa is to bestow its showpiece on countries with a huge disparity between rich and poor, it must do more to allow a broader cross section of society to be part of the event they are paying for. As in South Africa four years ago, the crowds were largely white and well-to-do. This is often true of global sporting events; it just seems more clangingly unjust in a city of extremes like São Paulo.Brazil's own 7-1 collapse against Germany must not be allowed to obscure the success of a tournament where many teams excelled, or an event that provided ample hope that Rio will be able to pull off the Olympics too. And yet the many glories seen on the pitch must not obscure the serious issues that dominated the build-up. In particular, the way that football's governing body imposes itself on hosts, landing like a branded spaceship for the duration and then making off with the proceeds, leaving little behind. That lopsided relationship must be recalibrated. If Fifa is to bestow its showpiece on countries with a huge disparity between rich and poor, it must do more to allow a broader cross section of society to be part of the event they are paying for. As in South Africa four years ago, the crowds were largely white and well-to-do. This is often true of global sporting events; it just seems more clangingly unjust in a city of extremes like São Paulo.
If the World Cup was conceived as Brazil's coming-out party to confirm its status as an economic powerhouse, it must now deal with the hangover in more straitened times as elections loom in October. That will inevitably include questions about the white elephant stadiums littering the country, including those built in cities without a major football team. Even more seriously, the infrastructure improvements which are habitually promised as a Keynesian rationale for hosting major events lie unfinished. From highways in Natal to metro systems in Cuiabá, the half-built projects are witnesses to the discredited theory that spending billions on a sporting event is a sensible way to deliver much-needed public services. The collapse of an overpass in Belo Horizonte, killing two people, was a tragic reminder of the unseemly haste to deliver what was promised.If the World Cup was conceived as Brazil's coming-out party to confirm its status as an economic powerhouse, it must now deal with the hangover in more straitened times as elections loom in October. That will inevitably include questions about the white elephant stadiums littering the country, including those built in cities without a major football team. Even more seriously, the infrastructure improvements which are habitually promised as a Keynesian rationale for hosting major events lie unfinished. From highways in Natal to metro systems in Cuiabá, the half-built projects are witnesses to the discredited theory that spending billions on a sporting event is a sensible way to deliver much-needed public services. The collapse of an overpass in Belo Horizonte, killing two people, was a tragic reminder of the unseemly haste to deliver what was promised.
A country where the inhabitants take both football and politics seriously will be more than capable of separating the two. Nor must the thrill of the final blot out the weeks before the World Cup dominated by allegations of bribery and corruption at Fifa. Even as the players captivated on the pitch, a $100m ticket touting scandal was being uncovered in the hotel where all the top Fifa executives were staying. The stifling corporatism of Fifa's world, the bubble in which it operates, and the culture of entitlement and pork-barrel politics that runs in its veins all point to the need for urgent reform.A country where the inhabitants take both football and politics seriously will be more than capable of separating the two. Nor must the thrill of the final blot out the weeks before the World Cup dominated by allegations of bribery and corruption at Fifa. Even as the players captivated on the pitch, a $100m ticket touting scandal was being uncovered in the hotel where all the top Fifa executives were staying. The stifling corporatism of Fifa's world, the bubble in which it operates, and the culture of entitlement and pork-barrel politics that runs in its veins all point to the need for urgent reform.
Love football, hate Fifa became a defining slogan of this World Cup and would seem to be a decent basis on which to move forward. Brazil has deep-seated problems that the World Cup didn't create and could not solve. But if hosting one of the best tournaments of modern times can remind the world of the best of the country and of the sport, while acting as a catalyst to change the worst, then that $11bn will not have been spent entirely in vain.Love football, hate Fifa became a defining slogan of this World Cup and would seem to be a decent basis on which to move forward. Brazil has deep-seated problems that the World Cup didn't create and could not solve. But if hosting one of the best tournaments of modern times can remind the world of the best of the country and of the sport, while acting as a catalyst to change the worst, then that $11bn will not have been spent entirely in vain.