It is only two months since FIFA's secretary general Jerome Valcke let the cat out of the bag about the "incredible" lack of pace of the preparations in Brazil.

The reality is that in the three years since it became known that Brazil were going to be the 2014 hosts, just about nothing has been done.

Unbelievably, there remains uncertainty over whether Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and the second-largest in South America, is going to stage any games.

The 2014 emblem will be launched in Johannesburg on Thursday and there will be many smiling faces at the event, but behind the scenes FIFA are cracking the whip.

Valcke told the Brazilian website GloboEsporte: "Brazil is not walking along the right path.

"It has to do it for South America, not just for Brazil. This year there are elections, everything stops. Next year, there is the Carnival, everything will stop again. It is necessary to make the most of the available time to get things done.

"I have received some reports on the stadiums and that does not look good at all. It's incredible how Brazil is running late, and I am not just talking about Morumbi (stadium in Sao Paulo) or Maracana (stadium in Rio de Janeiro), but about all the stadiums. Many of the deadlines have already expired and nothing has happened."

South African organisers, who over the last six years had to endure countless suggestions that FIFA were going to move this tournament to the United States, would be forgiven for any satisfied smiles.

Sir Mick Jagger has become a bad luck charm for the teams he has been backing at the World Cup.

First the Rolling Stones frontman backed the United States against Ghana, then he went to watch England humbled 4-1 by Germany. Next he claimed an affiliation with Brazil as his youngest son is half-Brazilian and was in Port Elizabeth to see them go down to Holland.

Argentina were next in the Rolling Stones frontman's affections - he admires Lionel Messi - and he was there too in Cape Town to watch Diego Maradona's men kiboshed by Germany.

The four semi-finalists are no doubt desperately hoping that Jagger - who freely admitted last week he had "no idea" where he was when England won the 1966 World Cup - bestows his support on their opponents.

Tournament organisers say they have no news yet on whether Nelson Mandela will be able to come to next weekend's final at Soccer City.

Mandela was expected to attend the opening match on June 11 but pulled out following the death of his great granddaughter in a car accident on the eve of the game.

Organising committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo said: "He has an open invitation to attend any matches he wants to attend. If he comes, we will be very happy. If he does not, we will understand."

In most instances the press room translators at the World Cup have been speedy and skilled. But the linguist who had to deal with the whispered dejection of Diego Maradona after Argentina's 4-0 destruction by Germany had a particularly difficult task. He reported Maradona as saying he felt like he "had been kicked in the face".

What Maradona actually said, according to Spanish speakers who listened back to the audio tape, was "I feel like I have been punched by Muhammad Ali." Same sentiment, but as in most things, the real thing was so much better.

The director of the National Arts Festival in South Africa, staged to coincide with the World Cup, has been forced to apologise after dozens of complaints about an explicit football-related play.

The play Football Football was advertised in the festival programme as an "entertaining exploration of the art of football" and groups of schoolchildren with teachers attended.

It features 10 men clad in revealing speedos and carrying AK-47 rifles, according to the South African Sunday Times, who regularly attack each other and simulate sexual assault and suicide.

The school groups walked out and Ismail Mahomed, director of the festival, has apologised but Haris Pasovic, the Bosnian director of the play, said anyone offended was guilty of "hypocrisy".