Pele and 2014 World Cup Preparations

Pele is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. During his career, he became known as "The King of Football" (O Rei do Futebol), "The King Pelé" (O Rei Pelé) or simply "The King" (O Rei)..

“It is okay,” Pele said. “We have had a little problem there and everybody knows that. I worried a little bit because we worked for years to have the Olympics and the World Cup.

But he said: “I have no doubt it will be the best World Cup.”

2014 World Cup Soccer -Preparations

BRAZIL WORLD CUP COSTS

• Total $13bn
• Transport: $6.4bn
• Stadiums $3.2bn
• Airports: $3bn
• Ports: $414m

In Brazil most people believe that the county will be able to organise the World Cup but there are concerns about how well the money will be used.

"We always hear so much about corruption in politics, in Brazilian football. And there is so much money involved in a World Cup that it will tempt many people," says student Daniela Mendes.

"But if South Africa managed to do it, why wouldn't we?"

Concerns:

"I am not so worried about the arenas because you can build a stadium in 30 months after you have an engineering project ready, and we have 47 months to the World Cup," says Jose Roberto Bernasconi, president of the National Association of Engineering and Architecture Companies.

"But airports are a more complicated matter and I think that is our main problem nowadays," he said.

Canada and the World Cup Drraw for 2014 in Brazil

Canada will host its first three World Cup qualifying games at Toronto's BMO Field.
The winner of the group advances to the third round of 2014 World Cup qualifying in CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Canada got a bye in the first round of CONCACAF qualifying.
Canada's second round schedule is as follows:

DATE	OPPONENT	LOCATION
Sept. 2	St. Lucia	Toronto
Sept. 6	Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico
Oct. 7	Puerto Rico	Toronto
Oct. 11	St. Lucia	St. Lucia
Nov. 11	St. Kitts and Nevis	St. Kitts and Nevis
Nov. 15	St. Kitts and Nevis	Toronto

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2011/08/02/sp-world-cup-canada.html#ixzz1U9B8W4yb

The U.S. and World Cup Draw

The U.S. and Jamaica will be joined in Group A by the winners of a preliminary group consisting of Belize, Grenada, Guatemala, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and another consisting of Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Curaçao and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The United States' matches in that round will take place from June 8 to October 16, 2012.

Preliminary Draw for 2014 World Cup ~ News

Saturday's draw determined the path of 166 teams in their bid to qualify for the tournament in three years. The qualifiers began June 15 and will end Nov. 19, 2013, after 824 matches. Twenty-eight teams were eliminated in preliminary rounds before Saturday's draw.

The World Cup will be played from June 12 to July 13, and the complete schedule will be announced in October.

Preliminary Draw 2014 World Cup Soccer

More than 200 teams were involved in a draw that cost $20 million to put on and was helped by former greats such as Ronaldo and Cafu, and new young stars such as Santos’s Neymar.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminarydraw/draw.html