Brazil to make 2014 the best World Cup

Brazil and FIFA pledged Friday to work together for the success of the 2014 World Cup after high-level fence-mending talks to end their public row over criticism of the country’s lagging preparations for the top sporting event.

“We came to the conclusion that we will work together hand in hand and we will be able... to present the most extraordinary Word Cup ever organized,” FIFA boss Sepp Blatter said after a meeting lasting nearly two hours with President Dilma Rousseff here.

The talks aimed to put a final end to the row sparked earlier this month by FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke who slammed Brazil’s lagging preparations for the World Cup.

Blatter said Rousseff pledged to meet all of the commitments made to FIFA by the government of her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Rousseff said that “the Brazilian government will honor all the commitments” made to FIFA,” he noted.

AFP