Host's sports minister says airports and bus stations will be safe and that the police will containing disorder with the use of rubber bullets if necessary.

Brazil’s sports minister attempted to allay fears of violence harming next summer’s World Cup by saying that the authorities were working hard “to contain this violence”, that the main areas where fans congregated would be safe, and that other countries also suffered from violence.

”The issue of violence, we know it exists,’’ acknowledged Aldo Rebelo. “We do not have the same safety conditions on the streets as in European cities. But the airports, bus stations and subways will be safer than any other environment in the US or Europe.

“Sometimes we have specific vulnerabilities and demonstrations of violence but it is not just Brazil - we live in a world full of problems. The only time I was robbed was at an airport in Paris. The president of the Olympic Public Authority was robbed in front of a hotel in London. It seems that violence is only supposed to happen in Rio, Sao Paulo and Salvador.

“We do have cases of violence in our cities, violence with social origins, common crime, robberies. This is a horrible fact. We are trying to contain this violence. We know our country may be harmed when this violence is seen by the world - as would any country where violence exists.”

The focus on the potential negatives of the 2014 World Cup will slightly switch when the group-stage draw takes place here on Friday. Then the talk will be of the players, of where Neymar, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Franck Ribéry, Mesut Özil and Wayne Rooney will be parading their skills.