Football: Pomp, protests as Confederations Cup begins

With a flamboyant opening ceremony, Brazil raised the curtain on the Confederations Cup on Saturday, despite protests prior to kick-off at Brasilia’s newly-renovated Estadio Nacional.

A celebration of Brazilian culture featuring 2,600 volunteers marked the start of the two-week tournament, which Brazil hopes will demonstrate its ability to meet the challenge of hosting a major sporting event.

Designed by artistic director Paulo Barros, a two-time award-winner at the Rio de Janeiro carnival, the colourful 20-minute ceremony culminated in a match between life-size model footballers atop a swaying green forest.

However, hours before hosts Brazil were due to face Japan in the opening match, riot police had to prevent a 1,000-strong crowd of demonstrators from reaching the stadium in the Brazilian capital.

Angry at the allocation of funds towards the Confederations Cup and next year’s World Cup at a time of acute social inequality, young protestors chanted: “I renounce the Cup! I want more money in health and education!”

The march followed a demonstration by homeless activists in the same spot on Friday, while police made hundreds of arrests on Thursday when protests against rising mass-transit prices in Rio, Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre became violent.

Television pictures showed smashed windows and defaced public buildings, while authorities in Sao Paulo promised an investigation into allegations of police brutality.

In all, Brazil is set to shell out some $15 billion (11 billion euros) through to the World Cup in 2014.

Rio then will host the 2016 summer Olympics, and the city has seen real estate and rental prices soar to exorbitant levels, with some observers predicting a corrective crash after the sporting caravan has moved on.

The Brazilian government drafted in 3,700 troops to bolster security in the capital for Saturday’s match, with as many military police also on hand in a billion-dollar operation covering the six venues as a whole.

Brasilia governor Agnelo Queiroz told reporters that the implementation of the security plan “shows that Brazil is fully able to host events on this scale” — although the scale of the World Cup will be vastly larger.

In a further headache for organisers, the tournament began with only seven of the eight competing teams present, with Nigeria’s arrival delayed until the early hours of Sunday morning due to a dispute over bonus payments.

Ahead of the opening game, Sepp Blatter, president of world football’s governing body FIFA, met with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

“It was a good opportunity (to discuss the event),” said Blatter. “This first match is a very important one and I’m sure it will be a great success.”

Brazil’s O Globo newspaper said that “now is the moment of truth for Brazil,” whose footballers are bidding for a third consecutive triumph at the quadrennial event.

Japan apart, the hosts will meet Italy and Olympic champions Mexico in Group A, with world and European champions Spain headlining Group B alongside Uruguay, Nigeria and minnows Tahiti.

Brazil’s strongest challenge is likely to come from Spain, who are bidding to complete the full set of senior international honours.

“We still haven’t won this tournament and we are here to do so,” striker Fernando Torres told Spanish newspaper AS.

“That is why you are always desperate for the next tournament to arrive, to be able to win it and continue making history.”

The eight teams are divided into two groups of four, with the top two teams from each group reaching the semi-finals.

“We need to beat Japan,” said Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari ahead of the match.

“Losing the first game puts you in an very uncomfortable position. If you lose the first game at home it’s just horrible, horrible.”

Brazil have beaten Japan seven times and drawn two other meetings in nine contests since 1989.

Some 355,000 Brazilians and foreign tourists are expected to watch games in the six host cities: Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Recife, Rio and Salvador.

State tourism agency Embratur reported on Saturday that tourism revenue across the six venues is set to be 241 million reais ($110 million, 125 million euros).

FIFA said on the eve of the tournament that 739,176 tickets had been sold, with 120,111 still on sale, although Saturday’s opening match and the final are already sold out.

FIFA’s chief medical officer, Professor Jiri Dvorak, also revealed that all doping tests conducted prior to the tournament had come back negative.