RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 5 — FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke believes that work on the Curitiba Stadium, due to host matches at this year’s World Cup finals in Brazil, is moving in the right direction world football’s governing body told AFP in an email yesterday.

Valcke had issued a warning to the Curitiba authorities last month that it risked being dropped from hosting the four games it is scheduled to welcome at the finals in June, before he changed tack a few days later and said he expected stadium delivery in late April or early May but he wanted to see real progress by February 18.

However, FIFA said yesterday things were beginning to look positive.

“FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke believes that Curitiba is moving in the right direction,” read their email.

Curitiba has lagged behind the other 11 stadia being prepared for the finals, which run from June 12 to July 13, but Valcke said in January he would prefer to see the stadium completed at the last minute than have to resort to a Plan B in rearranging the four matches for elsewhere. — Reuters