FIFA president Sepp Blatter‘s tough love didn’t last very long once Dilma Rousseff chimed in.
Shortly after Blatter criticized the speed of Brazil’s preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup on Monday, Brazilian president Rousseff used Twitter to respond, saying the nation will be ready to welcome the world to the “home of football,” ESPN reports.
“Brazilians start 2014 confident that they are going to host the World Cup of World Cups,” Rousseff said. “In Brazil, the World Cup is going to be at home because this is the home of football.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/dilmabr/statuses/420155754260475905 align=’center’]
A few hours latter, Blatter agreed with Rousseff’s statement.
“I concur with the comments of Dilma about the World Cup. The whole world is awaiting the Cup of Cups. Brazil will be a great host. Brazil 2014 will be a great success.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/SeppBlatter/statuses/420208781251727360 align=’center’]
The vote of confidence Blatter gave Brazil on Twitter contrasts what he told Swiss newspaper 24 hours earlier that day.
“Brazil has just realized what it means to organize a World Cup,” he said. “They started a lot too late. It is the country which is the furthest behind since I’ve been at FIFA, and moreover, it’s the only one that had so much time — seven years — to prepare itself.”
Those harsh words brought increased global attention and scrutiny to Brazil, as it races to finish building new stadiums and complete other infrastructure projects in time for the opening game on June 12. Six of 12 stadiums missed FIFA’s Dec. 31 completion deadline, and three workers have been killed in recent accidents at stadium construction sites.
The short spat between Blatter and Rousseff didn’t resolve anything, but it’s interesting to see how far Blatter was willing to take his criticism of the host nation: Not very, obviously.
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Photo via Twitter/@visionnoventa
