Sao Paulo: Sepp Blatter and Brazil’s sports minister pledged to mend relations on Tuesday after the Fifa president personally apologised for disparaging remarks made by a top official about the country’s slow progress in preparing for the 2014 World Cup.       

Brazil’s sports minister Aldo Rebelo spoke to Blatter after the global soccer chief apologised in an open letter for comments made by Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke.       

Rebelo stressed Brazil’s commitment to foster “cooperation and harmony with Fifa in preparations for the Cup” in a conciliatory statement issued after their phone call.        

Blatter’s written apology came one day after Valcke sent a similar letter to Rebelo apologising for saying Brazil’s World Cup preparations were “not working”...