More than half a million tickets have been sold for the Confederations Cup in June, "but host nation Brazil has yet to finish the main stadiums" to be used in the dress rehearsal for the 2014 World Cup, according to Boadle & Downie of REUTERS. On the eve of "yet another FIFA deadline, Brazil has delivered only three of the six venues for the eight-nation warm-up starting in two months." The cities of Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza and Salvador have "complied with the timetable and delivered their stadiums, while Recife will open its Arena Pernambuco on Sunday," one day ahead of the final deadline. In Brasilia, 5,000 workers "toil around the clock" to finish the Mane Garrincha National Stadium, bolting seats into concrete galleries and draining the field where rolls of grass have still to be laid for the pitch. The "biggest problem is with the venerable Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro," where the pitch has been laid and more than half the 78,000 seats have been installed, but "work is still being done on the massive roof while access areas to the stadium have not been started" (REUTERS, 4/10).
