Earlier this week, FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke tried to put a positive spin on the protest-marred Confederations Cup and said the World Cup would go on as planned in Brazil.

“There is no Plan B and, by the way, I have never received any official offer from any other countries around the world to stage the World Cup in 2014,” he said. The Confederations Cup, said Valcke, has created thousands of jobs in Brazil and “we are doing plenty of good things.’’

And he emphasized, “There is security.’’

Brazil did seem to have its bases covered before the Confederations Cup. It spent nearly $900 million buying helicopters with high-tech vigilance equipment, installing state-of-the-art command centers and purchasing other high-tech gadgets. It invested in training and signed a $7.2 million contract with iRobot Corp., a Bedford, Mass. company for 30 robots capable of defusing bombs.

“The idea is to put the robot in harm’s way rather than a person,’’ said Tim Trainer, a vice president at iRobot.

Similar robots were used to check the structural integrity of buildings after the 9-11 attacks, investigate caves in Afghanistan for weapons caches, and to do video surveillance and radiation mapping after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, he said.

The 50- to 60-pound PackBot robots sent to Brazil are “multi-mission’’ machines with sensors to detect hazmet, chemical, biological, bomb and radiation threats. They can also investigate, lift and move suspicious packages — a mission they undertook during the Confederations Cup.

But one thing the PackBot can’t control or inspect is the human factor. “The protests aren’t really applicable to what we provide,’’ Trainer said. “We cover what we believe is a piece of the security picture.’’

While holding mega-events potentially may help Brazil as it tries to position itself as a “world-class country,’’ they also come with risks, said Barbara Kotschwar, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

“They put more of a magnifying glass on a country,’’ said Holder. “In this case, the protests got far more coverage than the Confederations Cup.”

Still, Castelar said he doesn’t think that the protests will hurt Brazil’s image as it prepares for the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

“Actually, I think the protests present a more positive view of Brazil in a sense that people now realize that Brazilians aren’t so hypnotized by soccer that they don’t pay attention to anything else,’’ he said. “I don’t think this is a negative for Brazil. It’s not a protest against the World Cup; it’s a protest to convince the government to spend money wisely and fight corruption.’’

But Holder isn’t so sure that continued massive protests won’t hurt Brazil’s image. They could lead to costly business disruptions if they become more violent and continue to snarl traffic, he said.

“Already, I have feedback from clients who were stuck in traffic going to the airport during the protests. They got out of their cabs and were dragging their luggage on foot through not the best neighborhoods and some of them still ended up missing their flights,’’ he said.

During a news briefing earlier this week, Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo said that despite the protests, “Brazil will be able to hold the World Cup up to the expectations of our country and the world.’’

And he went even further, predicting that Brazil’s team would reach the Confederations Cup final on Sunday. Brazil’s 2-1 victory over Uruguay on Wednesday assured it a spot in the finals and gave the sports minister at least something to cheer about.