Blatter tells Brazilian fans to respect their president

Brasilia: FIFA president Sepp Blatter urged fans to show more respect after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was roundly booed before the opening Confederations Cup match between Brazil and Japan.

The crowd of almost 70,000 fans at Mane Garrincha Stadium showed their disapproval Saturday when Rousseff`s name was read out by Blatter during a speech to officially inaugurate the tournament. "Brazilian football fans, where is the respect and fair play, please?" Blatter had said. Rousseff`s popularity has tumbled in recent weeks amid rising inflation and concerns that billions of dollars of public money is being spent on World Cup and Olympic projects instead of essential public services. Anger escalated this week amid mass protests in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro against higher public transport fares. IANS