Down from 0.5% to 0.2% following today’s draw
The big day has arrived and the World Cup 2014 draw has taken place. England are in Group D as if you didn’t know by now. The BBC has an excellent summary of the draw and fixtures if you want the detail, but to save you working it all out here’s the lowdown on the Road to Riotm.
England’s route to the final, painstakingly compiled by me. EDIT: First England game is on the 14th not 15th as stated above!
So what does this mean to my plan for Brazil? Well, it’s certainly got a lot harder with the first game in the steaming rain forest if Manaus. It’s even harder because England will be based in Rio for the duration, so it will be necessary to base myself there for the press conferences and training, and then get to the matches around the country, then back to Rio again.
The second group game is in Sao Paulo which isn’t too bad – a 274 mile drive according to Google. Then it’s Belo Horizonte which is about the same distance from Rio. In the amusing though unlikely scenario of England winning their group, they’ll go off to Recife which is 1400 miles, then to Salvador which is 1000 miles, then Sao Paulo and lastly of course, the final in Rio.
To help you visualise this, I’ve created a trip planner as follows:
The Grand Tour
I bet Bradshaw didn’t write a guide book for this one!
In the more likely event of England not getting past the group stage after Suarez puts 8 past a hapless Joe Hart, 3 of them volleys from within his own half, there is the potential to remain in the Rio area and do 3 further games including the final, possibly skipping over to Sao Paulo for the semi final that is being held there as well (the other semi is in Belo Horizonte).
So, it’s all looking as tricky as a pocket of frogs, not to mention somewhat pricey, hence the steepening downward trend of the Brazilometer at the top of this post.
So, now one major piece of the puzzle has slotted into place. There remains the question of actually getting accreditation in the first place, which is currently ongoing, and finding the money & clients to pay for it all. Onwards!