Blatter unperturbed by Brazil stadium delays

Sepp Blatter said he is confident Brazil will deliver a ‘beautiful and successful’ World Cup despite reports of hiccups in the lead-up.

The FIFA president criticised the nation earlier this month for being more poorly prepared than any previous host of the showpiece tournament, after a catalogue of problems building the stadia.

But on Thursday, the 77-year-old said he is confident there will be no problems in the delivery.

“Brazil is the country of football – there is no better country than Brazil to speak about football,” Blatter said.

“Brazil will organise a beautiful World Cup and a very big and successful World Cup, confidence reigns.

“There are still a couple of months to go and if we need to touch something up somewhere, we will.

“I am used to World Cups, there are no problems, in the end, everything will be in order, especially in Brazil.”

Blatter also told Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff that the tournament is the perfect platform to help end discrimination in Brazil, promote peace, and enhance the women’s game in the host nation.

“We have to take advantage of being in Brazil to conduct a very special and very strong action against racism and discrimination,” he said.

“This is an important point that we will discuss about (with Rousseff) for the World Cup.

“We also have to put a ‘legacy’ for women’s football, a league for women’s football and we will help to implement this.”