Brazil Transportation Strikes Hinder World Cup Opening

Passengers stand at a platform at Luz station in the Metro of Sao Paulo as workers are on strike, Brazil, 11 June 2014.

Strikes in Brazil are posing questions regarding the opening ceremony of the long-awaited World Cup, on Thursday.

The good news on Wednesday came after Sao Paulo's metro workers agreed to end the 6-day strike, demanding a 20% pay raise. However, soon after it was revealed that the staff of Rio de Janeiro's two main airports will begin a 24-hour strike themselves, The Guardian informed.

Although the opening ceremony and match between Brazil and Croatia will be in Sao Paulo, an extended airport closure will likely cause major disturbances for the organizers of the event.

Railway and bus workers have also been staging partial strikes, seriously affecting Sao Paulo's 11 million inhabitants, who are now joined by thousands more travelling fans flocking into the city.

Civil protests against hosting the World Cup have also been recurrent throughout Brazil, with people unhappy with the huge costs during times of increasing income inequality and poverty. The country's president Dilma Rousseff has firmly stated over the past weeks that no deliberate attempts to disrupt the World Cup will be tolerated.

On the football side of matters, millions of Brazilians will be eager to see their team open the tournament with a win, hoping for a 6th World Cup title. Their group includes the teams of Croatia, Mexico, and Cameroon.

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