Sports

England security staff 'very concerned' about unrest in Brazil ahead of World Cup

Associated Press
Published | Updated

People march during an anti-government protest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. The march was part of the worldwide Million Mask March protests held on the United Kingdom’s Guy Fawkes Day, a British holiday marking the day Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the House of Lords in London in 1605, was arrested while guarding the explosives beneath Parliament.(AP Photo/Felipe Dana) (The Associated Press)

People march during an anti-government protest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. The march was part of the worldwide Million Mask March protests held on the United Kingdom’s Guy Fawkes Day, a British holiday marking the day Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the House of Lords in London in 1605, was arrested while guarding the explosives beneath Parliament.(AP Photo/Felipe Dana) (The Associated Press)

England soccer coach Roy Hodgson says the team's security staff is "very, very concerned" about the unrest in Brazil, and hopes the disorder is quelled before the World Cup next year.

The Confederations Cup was targeted in June by protesters upset with Brazil's poor public services, high taxes and lavish spending on the World Cup.

The protests, which at their peak saw 1 million take to the streets across Brazil on a single day, have grown smaller, but more violent and show no sign of going away.

Hodgson says "June is a long way off and I ... have to trust that any civil unrest at the moment will be quelled or put to bed."

While stressing at the moment he isn't troubled by it, Hodgson acknowledged the unrest is "something which our security people I'm sure will be very, very concerned about."