It’s possible that tonight’s clash with Flamengo is Palmeiras’ last game at the Barueri stadium this season. Seems like the falling revenues paired with the increasingly loud protests from supporters finally got through to the directors, who are looking for options in the capital of São Paulo. But let’s not get too excited: although the reasonable thing would be making Pacaembu our new second home – not least for players to feel comfortable when playing upcoming important games there – Mr Tirone might have other plans: following his “cheap is good” mentality, we might again be presented with the Canindé stadium. Stay tuned.
While Palmeiras continue their nomad life, the New Arena is a rock solid fact: a Petrus of reliability and professionalism being raised in the stormy waters that is SEP. As we touched upon last week, an approximate 36 per cent of the stadium have been concluded and the pace is picking up even more as segments of SEP’s administration finally have moved into the new administrative buildings, clearing space for the next phase of the constructions.
It came as no surprise that São Paulo mayor Gilberto Kassab did nothing to honour his promise to help Palmeiras transform their license from “reform” to “new construction”. Thus, the New Stadium partly will have to be built on top of existing structures. If the old structures could be removed 100 per cent, some four months of construction time could be shaved off in addition to money saved. But it doesn’t matter: Palmeiras have always done everything without assistance, without favours, and will so continue.
WTorre is not only keeping the pace up but constantly seeking innovative solutions to secure that the best possible Arena will stand completed in the second half of 2013. For example, engineers from the company have visited the new Wembley and studied the installations that prevent spectators from invading the pitch: a sort of net consisting of metal wires that trap the feet of anyone trying to cross over, eliminating the need for fences or other type of vertical barriers.
Supporters are kept well informed through the hotsite of the New Arena: frequent news flashes, live streams and short videos are available to feed the hungry for information. There’s even a section – and a large one – in English, be sure to check it out.
Last week a third video was released on the hotsite (below), showing latest progress. It’s well worth watching, even for you non-Portuguese-speaking people out there. It’s not hard to see why many of our players on a recent visit to the construction site felt that extra motivational rush just by imagining stepping onto the pitch, being greeted by the crowd in let’s say a decisive 2013 Libertadores Cup game.
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In case you have missed the previous two videos, they are to be found here and here.
Avanti Palestra!
ANYTHING PALMEIRAS 