(MENAFN- AFP) Not everything went to plan as Brazil hosted Saturday's Confederations Cup draw with confusion briefly reigning at the event despite only eight teams taking part.
With Brazil seeded in Group A and world champions Spain in Group B, and with Italy also assigned to the Selecao's group and Uruguay to Spain's group to keep the continents apart, it seemed simple enough.
But one of the VIP guests, Brazilian chef Alex Atala, caused a brief spot of bother for master of ceremonies and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke after he made a mistake in drawing the balls out of sequence, leaving Uruguay as the third draw in Group B before Tahiti were drawn in the same slot.
The solution was simple enough - to shunt the Uruguayans to where they should have been - as team B2 and not B3, correctly assigned to the Tahitian minnows.
A murmur went around the venue - a Sao Paulo exhibition centre - as a flummoxed Valcke called for help from FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
"Mr Blatter - I need your help," joked Valcke - who had been in hot water last March after criticising Brazil's organisational capabilities and deeming the host country worthy of "a kick up the backside".
Brazilian media were quick to have a joke at the expense of Atala, who "mixed the ingredients wrongly," in the words of media giant O Globo.
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