Russia get thumbs up from Valcke over World Cup preparations

Jerome Valcke, secretary-general of world football's ruling body FIFA, on Monday expressed his satisfaction with Russia's preparations for hosting the 2018 World Cup.
"We're working very well together," Valcke told a news conference following his meeting with the 2018 World Cup organising committee management board in a Saint Petersburg suburb.
"We're on track for all the preparations, not only for the 2018 World Cup but also for the 2017 Confederations Cup, which is a very important tournament.
"For all of us the next milestone is the (World Cup qualification) draw in this palace (Konstantinovsky), which will host an amazing event with 1500 people participating," Valcke added.
"It will be a great World Cup because we're all working hard to do so."
Meanwhile, Russia's sports minister Vitaly Mutko, who is also the head of the 2018 World Cup organising committee, said the organisers realised the importance of every single aspect of the world's football extravaganza.
"The World Cup is an event of great importance," Mutko said.
"And we shouldn't single out any aspect of the event. Of course the World Cup is impossible without stadiums, training bases and fields, it's the main direction of our work.
"But everything else is also important: logistics, communications, accommodation of the players, the guests and football lovers.
"Last year was the key point for us. We've done a great amount of work. And now I don't see any serious problems ahead. Everything is going according to plan.
"We have the experience of hosting the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and it will help us a great deal in staging the World Cup. Together with FIFA we've formed a team of people holding the same views.
"Our joint objective is to stage the World Cup at the highest possible level. And we're all doing our best for it."
Mutko added that the event's organisers were set to stay within the limits of the approved budget for the World Cup regardless of the financial situation in the country.
"We have an approved budget and we must stay within its limits," Mutko told the news conference.
"In case of any rise in the cost of construction works we'll need to find some extra resources in our preparations programme. I believe we'll cover our expenses on the hosting of the World Cup."
Russia will host the 2018 World Cup at 12 venues in 11 cities: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Sochi and Rostov-on-Don.
Source: AFP