World Cup venues: Brazil faces race against time

World Cup whispers: some venues still not ready, and what does Wayne Rooney dream of?

World Cup
(Image credit: Twitter / Jerome Valcke)

RACE AGAINST TIME AT WORLD CUP VENUES Preparations for the Brazil World Cup, which starts in less than two weeks, are still not complete. Fifa's general secretary Jerome Valcke revealed he is harbouring concerns over the readiness of three venues; Natal, Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo, due to host the opening match of the tournament on 12 June. Workers face a "race against the clock" at the Arena das Dunas in Natal he tweeted. He added that there was "no time to waste" at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador ahead of Spain v Netherlands on 13 June.

FIFA'S FEAR OF THE FIXERS IN BRAZIL Another World Cup scare story, and this time it is the spectre of match fixing which is looming over the tournament. There were concerns about Nigeria's friendly with Scotland this week and Ralf Mutschke, Fifa's head of security, told the Daily Mail: "We know warm-up matches were thrown in the last World Cup... We are not expecting fixers to be travelling to Brazil and knocking on the hotel door of players or referees but I know there will have been approaches to players and referees." The final round of group games is most at risk, says the paper.

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