The president of Brazil was on Monday night forced into an impassioned defence of her country’s ability to stage the World Cup after Sepp Blatter branded its preparations the poorest of his near 40 years at Fifa.

Having repeatedly shrugged off the problems to beset the hosts of the 2014 tournament, the Fifa president’s patience finally snapped when he accused the South American nation of starting the work needed to put on the event “much too late”.

Blatter hit out after half of Brazil’s 12 host stadiums failed to meet Fifa’s Dec 31 deadline for completion, with several people having died in the rush to get them ready and delays also affecting work on hotels, airports and roads.

The Swiss highlighted the fact that Brazil was given almost seven years to prepare for the tournament, more time than previous hosts.

Asked if it had realised the scale of work involved, he told Swiss newspaper 24 Heures: “No. Brazil has just found out what it means and has started work much too late. No country has been so far behind in preparations since I have been at Fifa, even though it is the only host nation which has had so much time – seven years – in which to prepare.”

Blatter’s outburst led to Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, taking to Twitter to defend her nation. “Brazilians start 2014 confident in our hosting,” she posted. “In Brazil, the cup will be at home, as this is the land of football. The tourists will have the opportunity to get to know this multicultural and resilient country. Everyone who comes to Brazil will be well received. We are a happy, welcoming people.

“Demand for tickets is the biggest there has been for any cup and that shows fans across the world have confidence in Brazil. We love football and so we shall proudly receive the cup and make it the cup of cups.”

Dilma’s comments provoked something of a climbdown from Blatter, who responded on his own Twitter account by posting: “Only 157 days to #worldcup opening match in Sao Paulo. Preparations are in full swing in all 12 host cities. Brazil 2014 will be a success.

“I fully agree with @dilmabr tweets today. The whole world, including me, is looking forward to #CopadasCopas. Brazil will be a great host.”

Despite the belated diplomacy, Blatter’s earlier frustration was arguably justified considering Brazil appears even less well prepared than South Africa, which is a much less wealthy country and had to build all of its venues from scratch.

Blatter admitted last month there was “no plan B” should there be further delays to construction work that is likely to continue on three stadiums until the middle of April, just a few weeks before the start of the World Cup on June 12. They include the Itaquera Arena in Sao Paulo, which will host the opening ceremony and match between Brazil and Croatia. It has suffered one problem after another, culminating in the death of two workers in November.

The Brazilian government announced it would be completed in February, only for – a day later – Fifa to confirm another deadline of April 15.

Blatter also conceded that he expected there to be more of the protests that marred last summer’s Confederations Cup. But he added: “I do not believe that Brazilians will attack the football directly. For them, it’s a religion.”