A PROPER warm-up, any sportsman will tell you, is critical. Mindful of this, authorities in Recife, capital of Pernambuco and Brazil's fourth-biggest city, bent over backwards to finish Arena Pernambucana, its new stadium, in April 2013. That was eight months ahead of schedule and in time for the Confederations Cup in June, a test tournament for this year's football World Cup. Gilberto Pimentel, who is in charge of Pernambuco's World Cup preparations, calls last year's experience "decisive" in ensuring success now.
The first thing Mr Pimentel and his colleagues learned 12 months ago was that Recife's metro, which links the city centre with the stadium 20km away, lacked the capacity to ensure smooth movement of fans. The “tumult” of supporters trying to squeeze into the trains before Recife's debut wasn't a pretty picture, he recalls. But it focused minds and prompted the authorities to ensure alternatives existed.
Now they do. For a start, the number of parking spaces in the stadium's vicinity increased from 2,000 to more than 9,000. On match days special coaches pick up fans close to the southern beachfront, where most hotels...Continue reading
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