Own goals from Senhor Futebol

IT IS the only country to have played in the final stages of every football World Cup and it has won it five times, more than anybody else. So Brazil feels proprietorial about the tournament, which it is to host in 2014. Another victory, good football and a party atmosphere would satisfy the demanding home fans, as well as many of the 600,000 expected from abroad. But for Brazil's government the run-up to the tournament is not going well.

It is becoming clear that promised improvements to the country's creaking transport systems are unlikely to amount to much. Of 49 planned urban-transport schemes in the host cities, work has started on just nine. Airport upgrades are running behind schedule too, and more than half are just temporary fixes. The government is trying to damp down expectations. In an interview with Carta Capital, a weekly magazine, Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, said that the urban-transport improvements were not essential for the tournament's success. Miriam Belchior, the planning minister, suggested that the government would declare holidays on match days to avoid traffic jams.