Security Advisory: World Cup

The BIG semi-final!! The two pre-tournament favourites, Brazil and Germany, meet this evening in Belo Horizonte. Belo recently came into the limelight when a partially constructed overpass collapsed on a bus and two unoccupied cars. This event briefly instigated a resurgence of the fears about building quality of stadia and so on but we have not had any concerns thus far and are certainly unlikely to have any problems in the remaining 4 games.
The big story over the last few days was the corruption around the illegal selling of tickets including valuable VIP tickets with revenues of up to half a million USD per game. With several arrests, we hope this doesn’t make tickets even harder to come by. Some are estimating tickets to the final going for $16000. So if you have them KEEP THEM SAFE!
With Brazil playing in tonight’s match, the country will be at a virtual standstill; in the sense that they won’t be driving around so much as dancing around. Again, the concern about chaos in the wake of a Brazilian loss is resurfacing however, being knocked out of the semi-finals without the star player seems to be a more acceptable end to the campaign than losing to the Colombians. Nonetheless, be aware of the potential for the mood to sour and things to turn nasty very quickly after the game. Have an idea of how to get back to the hotel in a hurry after watching the match at Fan Fests or elsewhere.
As the profile of the games increases, so will the potential for publicity seekers to capitalise on the opportunity and the associate security presence as well. Security cordons will be widened to keep trouble makers away. Ticket checks will be more rigorous, especially as crowds are likely to try and force their way into this unique event. Due to the enhanced security, people will be arriving early and hanging around the stadium; try to resist the urge to drink too much. Drunken foreigners coming out of a late match are easy targets.
With 8 World Cup titles between them, these are two goliaths of the sport! This will be a great match.