Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is promising to host the
best World Cup in 2014.
Silva made the boast on Wednesday to governors and mayors of
states and cities that will stage matches.
He said the enthusiam of the central government, local
governments and the heads of club teams guaranteed the success.
"We will have the best World Cup, the best team and the best
play by a team in the World Cup," said Silva, who was a big
football fan.
Brazil has promised an infrastructure overhaul of stadiums
and airports, and Silva urged officials to pull together. Experts
have warned that Brazil is behind in many of the building projects.
Brazil also held the World Cup in 1950, but lost the final to
neighbor and rival Uruguay 2-1 at Maracana in what Silva joked was
a "fiasco" for the world's most successful football nation.
Brazil has won the World Cup a record five times.
