Underdogs Uruguay Hunt Third Cup

By Vladimir Hernandez
BBC Mundo

If Uruguay emerge victorious in the World Cup final at Johannesburg's Soccer City on 11 July, it will not be the biggest surprise in the country's sporting history.

For that you have to go back 60 years, when the Uruguayans shocked the world by beating hosts Brazil to win the 1950 tournament.

Uruguay were one of the planet's big football powers but the Brazilians were the clear favourites going into the game, especially with a home crowd of approaching 200,000 cheering them on.

It is said that there has never been more people inside a football ground to watch a match than there were in Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium on 16 July 1950 and once Brazil went in front in the second half of that game, everyone thought the result was no longer in doubt.

At home, people always expect us to win the World Cup every time we come to this competition


Legend has it that the Fifa president of the time, Jules Rimet, even went into the changing rooms to prepare his congratulatory speech for the hosts.

But Uruguay, the ultimate underdog, turned the game around in dramatic fashion, winning with a goal 11 minutes from time.

The ground went absolutely silent at the final whistle. There were even reports of suicides and Brazil never wore its "unlucky" white top again, adopting a yellow and green one instead.

That success came 20 years after Uruguay won the inaugural World Cup at a time they were considered the best team around, having won Olympic goldin 1924 and 1928 - both competitions considered a World Cup for "amateurs".

The current team is not expected to make it a hat-trick of triumphs by those outside the South American country but it would not be a shock to their countrymen if they were to come out on top.

"At home, people always expect us to win the World Cup every time we come to this competition," said captain Diego Lugano.

Since their unexpected victory in 1950, they have not exactly been blowing teams away. Their last semi-final appearance came in 1970, when they lost 3-1 to Brazil.

"We don't think about that," Diego Forlan, one of Uruguay's star players, told the BBC. "We need to keep working and take things step by step."

Forlan and fellow striker Luis Suarez have given the team something it has lacked in decades: two forwards capable of scaring defences and scoring goals.

Both players were among the top scorers in European football last season, with Forlan's goals helping Atletico Madrid win the Europa League.

But Uruguay are not only an attacking side. The work rate of the whole team has been outstanding in South Africa.

Oscar Tabarez's team did not concede a goal until they played South Korea in the last 16 and won their group with a draw against France and wins over Mexico and hosts South Africa.

This helped them avoid a clash with Argentina and provided - at least on paper - an easier route to the semi-finals, with Brazil and Spain in the other half of the draw, though they refuse to be complacent.

"We cannot think less of anyone. Sometimes the teams that seem less tough are the ones that give you a bigger fight," midfielder Alvaro Pereira told the BBC.

Ghana will prove a tougher rival than South Korea in Friday's quarter-final. As the only African team left, Milovan Rajevac's side will probably have the majority of a packed Soccer City behind them.

The Ghanaians will also have noticed the way Uruguay's stamina seemed to suffer in the second half of their last-16 match against the South Koreans. It was only a moment of brilliance from striker Suarez that sent them through.

The Africans have proved to be a much more physical side than many in this tournament - and they will present a big challenge to the South Americans on Friday.

If Uruguay come through that test, a possible encounter with Brazil beckons and another opportunity for an upset.

Vuvuzela 'inventor' set to relaese an album of tunes

By Christian Gysin, Daily Mail/UK


The South African who has taken responsibility for inventing the vuvuzela is preparing to offer the world his next gift - an entire album of songs played on the tuneless trumpet.

South African Freddie Maake, 55, recorded the 18 track CD last year near his home in Johannesburg.

The dedicated football fan said he did so to show the versatility of the three foot horn, which he claims to have created in 1965.

And he is now hoping to cash in on his invention's newfound notoriety by selling the album to football fans during the World Cup.

Freddie said: 'I have been blowing my vuvuzela for more than 30 years so I know what it can do.

'People criticise the horn because of the sound it makes, but when it is played properly it can add something quite beautiful to a song.'

Freddie, a father of nine, said he had the idea for the vuvuzela aged 15 when he was given a bicycle horn for his birthday.

The schoolboy removed the rubber pump from the end and use his lips to produce a ear-splitting sound.

He blasted the horn for years while watching his beloved Kazier Chiefs play in Soweto.
And he said he developed the distinctive shape used by fans today in 1989 after approaching a friend who owned a plastics factory.

Since then Freddie has travelled the world representing South Africa's Football Association.

He blasted his vuvuzela at the 1998 World Cup in France, the 2002 tournament in Japan and Korea and during the last World Cup in Germany.

Now the event has hit his home country he said the time was right to release his music.

The studio album contains renditions of African tunes including South Africa's national anthem and other famous songs from the host nation.

Among the tracks is Shosholoza, a classic South African song traditionally sung by workers which has become one of the tunes of the World Cup.

Freddie has also penned some tracks of his own.

They include one in which he praises the beauty of Johannesburg's main stadium Soccer City, and another about South African and West Ham striker Benni McCarthy.

On all songs Freddie can be heard blasting the vuvuzela as a percussion instrument, sometimes beneath melodies provided by keyboard or organ.

Today the entrepreneur said he hoped the CD would help people around the world appreciate the instrument's charm.

The keen musician, who lives in the Tembisa township east of Johannesburg, added: 'My CD is about Africa, the people who live here and the friendships that can be made.

'The vuvuzela is now part of our culture, and it can bring people together.

'My album is a celebration of the joy that can be brought by fine music and friendship.

'The World Cup is a great chance for everyone to come together and party.

'I hope that fans enjoy my music so they can have the perfect soundtrack to the tournament.'

Soccer Returns to Its Roots in Africa

By Christopher Clarey/New York Times

Cameroon’s Roger Milla eluded the Colombian goalkeeper, René Higuita, to score in the 1990 World Cup, where Cameroon became the first African team to reach the quarterfinals. Agence France -- Presse

CAPE TOWN — As the 2010 World Cup arrives at last in Africa, it might come as a surprise that soccer is not merely plowing new ground but also — in some manner — returning to its roots.

The first documented soccer games played on the African continent were staged in the future World Cup cities of Cape Town and Port Elizabeth in 1862. That was one year before the rules of association football were codified in England in an attempt to facilitate competition by bringing uniformity to the emerging sport.

“You can make an argument that the history of the game in Africa is as old as the game itself,” said Peter Alegi, a professor of African history at Michigan State University and author of “African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World’s Game.”

There is even the possibility that the history of the game is much older than the game itself. Paintings from ancient Egypt show people throwing and catching balls. Who can be certain they weren’t already using their feet, too?

There is no doubt, however, that the Europeans — both visitors and settlers — provided the initial spark for the early development of the modern game in Africa. Those games in 1862, which took place in what was then known as the Cape Colony, involved military men and other white civil servants for the British colonial government. So it went in other coastal African cities in the years that followed.

But the white monopoly on the club game would not last out the century. In 1896, Mahatma Gandhi, then a young lawyer in South Africa, was among a group of Indian men who helped found the Transvaal Indian Football Association. Alegi considers it “most likely the first organized football group on the continent that was not run by whites."

Gandhi would not be the last future leader to use soccer as a training ground. And the black communities and other indigenous people in Africa would gradually take control of the ball and the phenomenon, embracing the imported game, even sometimes — as in Algeria and South Africa — using it as a tool against their oppressors. Along the way, soccer would grow into a pan-African obsession, perhaps the closest thing to a common currency that this vast and vastly diverse continent possesses.

“If anything can be salvaged from the harsh and unequal encounter between Western and African cultures, then the list must include the arrival of football,” David Goldblatt wrote in “The Ball Is Round,” his global history of soccer. “Western medical care, though dismissive of local healing traditions, is a universal demand in Africa. Christianity’s legacy is more complex, its relationship with indigenous practice more hybrid, but it has become the faith of just under half the continent.”

“Football’s contribution is more unambiguous,” he continued. “It is without competitor Africa’s game.”

This has often not been a blessing, considering the despots, like Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire or General Sani Abacha of Nigeria, who tried to use soccer as a political tool, or the toll in too many disasters, like the one last year that left 19 people crushed to death and scores more injured in a stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Even if soccer is “Africa’s game,” that does not mean that Africans are unambiguously focused on African soccer. In the age of the satellite dish and globalization, they are increasingly likely to be watching Manchester United or F.C. Barcelona on television or in a makeshift video shack than to be cheering on their local clubs in domestic league play.

But if the writer Ian Hawkey’s estimate that close to 2,000 African players are now playing or training professionally for European clubs is true, there is a much better chance that there will be some Africans in the mix during those Champions League or Premier League broadcasts. They include Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba, who plays for Chelsea, and Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, who plays for Inter Milan.

The exodus — dubbed “the brawn drain” in some circles — represents a major shift, considering that in 1990 there were fewer than 100 Africans playing at the elite professional level in Europe. But that was the same year that Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions and their 38-year-old striker Roger Milla grabbed the World Cup by the tail and gave it an extended shake by defeating Argentina, the defending champion, in their opening game and then becoming the first African team to reach the quarterfinals.

Africa had arrived in earnest as a soccer power, but the game was already playing a powerful role in Cameroon. A nation of close to 200 ethnic groups, Cameroon is rife with linguistic and religious divides but has found a shared passion in the national soccer team. That has been a benefit to its president, Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982 and who pushed to include Milla in the 1990 World Cup team.

In Nigeria, Cameroon’s neighbor to the north, the national team, the Super Eagles, also plays a federative role (when it is not frustrating its supporters by underachieving).

“Africa is a huge continent, and soccer is one of the few areas of popular culture that really binds people together, but it is a very short-term thing,” Alegi said. “You talk to any Nigerian, and it’s hard to see what they all have in common, but for the 90 minutes that the Super Eagles are playing, there is a Nigeria.”

Bafana Prepare Mexican Feast

Sport 24, South Africa


Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana are hoping to receive another incredible show of support when they kick off the 2010 Soccer World Cup against Mexico at Soccer City on Friday afternoon.

The host nation has been in a frenzy over the past week as the realisation of a dream that has been manifesting since 2004 edges ever closer.

Carlos Alberto Parreira has admitted his men have been overwhelmed by South Africans who have united behind the team in an unbelievable way.

And to repay the show of support, the Brazilian expects his side to outplay the Mexicans in front of 94 000 spectators in Soweto.

"I believe if you want to qualify for the second round you have to do something special and for us that would mean in the technical and skills aspects of the game," he said.

"We cannot beat France, Mexico or Uruguay in a physical struggle. My boys have to play well against them with the ball on the ground. This is our big strength. That is what I want the South African team to believe in."

Parreira is expected to play a 4-2-3-1, with Katlego Mphela leading the line. While he has suggested that he might need to shuffle his pack, the former World Cup winner is likely to start with the team that played against Denmark - with the only changes coming in the full-back positions.

Siboniso Gaxa is expected to replace Anele Ngcongca at right back, while Lucas Thwala will make way for Tsepo Masilela on the opposite flank.

Javier Aguirre, meanwhile, has kept Bafana guessing by altering his personnel and formations on a regular basis. South Africa assistant coach Pitso Mosimane admitted: "You have to play it close hey, you can't open yourself up. If you are going to play too open, Mexico will kill you.

"So you are facing a Mexico side that is not afraid. They are not afraid to throw men forward and that makes them dangerous."

Aguirre believes Bafana, who are enjoying a 12-game unbeaten run, will be tough to overcome as hosts. And striker Guillermo Franco agrees: "We know that Bafana Bafana are a good team and they will make things difficult for us during the game."

However, the West Ham United ace added: "We are here to win and this is a great opportunity for us to beat Bafana Bafana.

"I believe that our team is very strong and will do well. Playing in the World Cup is a blessing from God because not every player can feature in the tournament."

El Tri have no selection concerns going into the game as captain Rafael Marquez has recovered from a leg injury and Franco has shaken off a muscle complaint.

The Mexicans will be severely out-numbered support-wise at Soccer City, as South Africans have planned to turn out in yellow and have refused to do the traditional Mexican wave on Friday.

Let The Games Begin!

Contrary to all the gloomy predictions, South Africa is well prepared for the World Cup – even its soccer team is hitting top form, says Rian Malan

By Rian Malan/Telegraph, UK


In apartheid’s heyday, I played left-half for an all-white soccer team at my whites-only primary school. Photographs show a sorry aggregation of spindly little snivellers, but in our own minds, we were giants. We slew all rivals in our corner of Johannesburg’s white suburbs and made it into the quarter finals of a city-wide tournament, where we were taken out (1-0) by a rival white suburb known as Rosebank.

In South Africa, in the early Sixties, everything was starkly black and white, including professional soccer. “Our” teams had names like Germiston Callies and Durban United. “Their” most famous teams were Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. White teams played in segregated stadiums with separate entrances and seating for the various races. Black teams played in the parallel universe to which blacks were relegated by apartheid. The twain were forbidden to meet, which is why differing racial capacities (as manifested on the football field) were an object of heated schoolboy debate.

Didier Deschamps to take over at MarseilleIn my soccer memories, my sweat-drenched comrades and I are lying on our backs on Blairgowrie Primary’s frost-bitten turf, staring up into the clear blue winter sky and wondering what would happen if “our” teams played “their” teams. Schoolboy racial theory held that blacks had incendiary striking skills, but struggled in positions requiring discipline and a steady head – in defence, and in the pivotal slot once known as centre-half. We’d never seen the great black teams play, because whites simply didn’t go to Soweto in those days, and our stern Calvinist rulers had outlawed television lest it rot our brains. Our assessment was based entirely on racial superstition.

Oddly, it turned out to be uncannily accurate. When professional soccer was desegregated two decades later, almost all the legendary black clubs recruited white backs and goalies, while white teams hired black strikers. This formula – whites in the backline, incendiary black strikers as spearheads – informed the selection of the national squad that carried our new flag into battle in the heady first days of Mandela’s reign. We even had a white coach and a white captain, and for a year or two, we were almost invincible, crushing African soccer powerhouses like Cameroun and Nigeria and winning the 1995 African Cup of Nations tournament. You’ll have to pardon the thought crimes that seem to lurk hereabouts because the moral of this story is entirely benign: when South Africans pull together, we can move mountains.

When Fifa awarded South Africa the 2010 World Cup, there were groans of disbelief around the planet. Some thought it foolish to stage the tournament in a country best known for its high crime rate and close proximity to Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Others maintained that such considerations were irrelevant, given SA’s allegedly manifest inability to host such a complicated event.

The World Cup is the world’s largest media event and its second largest sports extravaganza, after the Olympics. Before approving our bid, Fifa made us promise to jump through all hoops of its choosing, and our leaders eagerly complied. We agreed to refurbish freeways, upgrade airports and build elaborate new mass-transit systems. We agreed to build a high-speed train linking our largest international airport to surrounding cities, and most improbably, to erect 10 new world-class soccer stadia.

Many observers thought the task way beyond our capabilities. I agreed. Large numbers of (mostly white) engineers had left the country since 1994, leaving our skills pool so depleted that even simple tasks like maintaining roads and sewerage works seemed beyond us. Against this backdrop, it seemed foolhardy even to attempt a task of the magnitude Fifa had set us.

By 2008, the sceptics were looking prescient. Work on the stadiums proceeded painfully slowly. A miscalculation on the part of tunnellers caused a giant sinkhole to appear in Johannesburg’s suburbs. Traffic was paralysed by roadworks. Taxi warlords threatened violence against Fifa’s proposed bus service. And then the lights went out, a debacle caused by our Electricity Supply Commission’s failure to notice that demand for power was outstripping supply. At this point, Fifa boss Sepp Blatter conceded that there were plans to move the 2010 World Cup elsewhere in the event of a “natural disaster” in South Africa.

Blatter was, of course, being diplomatic. The disaster he had in mind was a human one, brought on by sloth, incompetence and rudderless government. Shaken by this unspoken ultimatum, South Africans pulled their socks up. Golden pleasure domes soared skywards. Fleets of gleaming new buses trundled onto our streets. In mid-May, I made the run from my home to the airport in 28 minutes, a miracle made possible by extensive reworking of the city’s freeway system.

South Africa has an extraordinary ability to make fools of those who attempt to predict its future. As I coasted into the airport’s shiny new parking lot, I realised that I’d shot myself in the foot yet again. I whipped out my cellphone and sent out an all-points SMS conceding my error and announcing that our organising committee’s slogan – “We’re ready” – seemed against all odds to be coming true.

And any final doubts were settled last week, when rugby administrators staged a Super 14 final in Soweto. Your average South African rugby fan is white, Afrikaans-speaking and averse to visiting black townships. But the Afrikaner’s passion for rugby is almost equally irrational, so fifty thousand fans squared their shoulders and followed their teams to Soweto’s Orlando Stadium for an event generally seen as a dress rehearsal for next week’s World Cup.

It was a huge success. Buses and trains ran like clockwork. The traffic police were cool and efficient. Swarms of Boers in tribal warpaint descended on Orlando’s shebeens and were greeted like lost bothers. The game started on time, and as far as I was able to establish, there was no crime – a truly shocking development, given the level of paranoia generated by years of scare-mongering newspaper stories.

Two months ago, in the aftermath of Eugene Terreblanche’s murder, South Africa seemed to be on the brink of race war. Now the air is suddenly charged with optimism, a sense that something momentous is about to unfold. For years, World Cup advocates have been saying that the tournament could alter Africa’s destiny, boosting confidence and reshaping our image in the eyes of foreigners who believe the continent is beyond hope. Such utterances sounded fatuous to me, but I’m not sure any more.

And so here we are at last, scanning the skies for the airborne armada that will shortly bring the world to our shores. Some slip-ups are inevitable, but generally, we seem to be heading towards a ''fat jol’’ – local slang for good times and kamikaze partying. It is true that attendance will fall way short of the level predicted by Fifa, but our national squad’s good form compensates for disappointments on that front. A year ago, our boys were losers, routinely shamed by nondescript little nations like Malawi and Swaziland. They were so useless that they failed even to qualify for the most recent all-Africa tournament – an astonishing failure, given the extent to which South Africa’s resources dwarf those available to rival teams.

But now that’s changed, too. Two weeks ago, we beat 37th-ranked Colombia in a warm-up game. Last week, we crushed Gabon. South Africa now stands unbeaten in its last 11 internationals, a development so unexpected that it also rates as something of a miracle. If we beat Mexico in next Friday’s opening game, the resulting euphoria might even put an end to griping about the “obscene” cost of staging this soccer extravaganza.

Six years ago, experts estimated that the World Cup stadia would cost 2.3 billion rand. The final cost was 10 times higher, thanks to soaring commodity prices and an unknown measure of tender manipulation by politicians and their cronies. All told, the World Cup will cost us around 100 billion rand – a dumbfounding sum for a country where most people live on or under the breadline. The Left is incensed, describing our leaders’ willingness to squander money at Fifa’s behest as “an act of national prostitution” whose only legacy will be increased hardship for the underclass and a brace of stadia so superfluous to requirements that most will never be used again after the World Cup.

Ah, well. I’m as old as Methuselah, and I can’t recall a single week in which South Africa wasn’t facing a crisis that threatened to put an end to our precarious existence. Against all odds, we surmounted all of them, and we’ll probably weather this one too. Let the games begin!

World's best soccer teams collide

THE GATEWAY/UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, CANADA

The excitement is building as the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg kicks off in eight days. While the World Cup Trophy will be hoisted 15,608 kilometers away from Edmonton, here at home, the Gateway staff forecasts on who will earn soccer glory.

Matt Hirji

Its been 44 years since England hoisted the World Cup, and while Alf Ramsey won’t be on the pitch to lead the Union Jack to victory, England’s winless drought will end this summer in Johannesburg.

Led by young veteran striker Wayne Rooney, England’s 23-man roster is strong and poised to break out of their championship slump. Italian born manager Fabio Capello seems to have his squad focused on the task at hand: hoisting the Golden Trophy and claiming glory for the homeland in their national sport.

England’s road to the World Cup has not been without setbacks. Last year, John Terry’s captainship was revoked because of his affair with a former girlfriend of national team teammate Wayne Bridge, who subsequently withdrew his intention to play in South Africa. While this incident was surely a distraction for the team, this year’s veteran squad seems more able to deal with the distractions that have haunted previous incarnations of the Three Lions.

Justin Bell

It’s a long way from Germany to South Africa, but Les Bleus, France’s national soccer team, will be looking for revenge after a bitter defeat at the 2006 tournament finals.

For those who don’t remember, France lost to Italy in the final during extra time, playing a man down when Zinadine Zidane went batshit nuts and headbutted Marco Materazzi, getting a red card in his last match.

That memory will surely haunt this team, replete with returning players. Hopefully, it will also propel them to victory this year.

Expectations on the French side have already been low; they barely squeaked into the World Cup with a draw against the Republic of Ireland on a questionable play. But they started the 2006 slowly as well, tying Switzerland and Korea in their first two matches, barely scraping into the round of 16.

France’s combination of speed and finesse will help them this year, with returning striker Thierry Henry up front and midfielder Frank Ribéry feeding him passes. And they’re going to need that combination to make it out of their group matches — Mexico and Uruguay could both make life difficult for Les Bleus, and home team South Africa may do better than expected.

But still, look for Henry to hoist the World Cup this year in Johannesburg.

Evan Daum

According to my colleagues, our European founding nations are the favourites to capture football’s biggest prize. While England should waltz through their pool, France surely won’t make it into the round of 16, let alone win the whole thing — they shouldn’t even be in South Africa. Sorry chaps, but the English will fall before hoisting that golden trophy just like the French.

My pick to bring home the title is a team that is familiar to football’s upper echelon. Having won the European championship in 2008 and being ranked second in the world heading into the tournament, Spain has yet to capture football’s greatest prize, but that will all change this time around.

The Spaniards are on an impressive run, having won all 10 of their World Cup qualification matches. Between November of 2006 and June of 2009 campaign, they won a record 15 consecutive matches.

Like other top contenders heading into the tournament, Spain features one of the most balanced attacks, with striker David Villa — the squad’s top offensive threat — having scored seven goals in his team’s 10 qualifiers.

All this, coupled with the fact that the Spanish have middleweights Switzerland, Honduras, and Chile in their pool, means that when July 11 rolls around, it will be the Red Fury that who finally get their World Cup title.

Brazilians soccer player Luis Fabiano, left, and Thiago Silva practice during a training session in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sunday, May 30, 2010. Brazilian team is preparing for the upcoming World Cup, which gets underway on June 11. (AP Photo/Andre Penner

By Tales Azzoni/Canadian Press/Hosted News/Google

JOHANNESBURG — Brazil striker Luis Fabiano is playing in the World Cup for his late grandfather.

The Sevilla forward known for his razor-sharp finishing ability and sometimes hot temper turned emotional when asked about his motivation going into the tournament in South Africa. Luis Fabiano was raised by his grandfather Benedito, and said that if Brazil wins the trophy he will dedicate it to the man who helped him become a professional soccer player.

"I would like to win this to honour him," the 29-year-old player said. "Unfortunately he has passed away, but the title would be for him."

Luis Fabiano said that since he was young his grandfather would walk around with newspaper clippings about him in his pocket, bragging about him to everybody.

"He was my biggest fan and an idol to me," the striker said. "I think about him in all my victories."

Luis Fabiano is expected to play a large role in Brazil's bid for a sixth World Cup title, having scored five goals in helping the team win the Confederations Cup last year. Before that tournament, the striker pledged to score a goal per game — and lived up to his promise.

He's not making any brash predictions this time, but made it no secret that he hopes to contend for the scoring title.

"The striker is there to score goals and in a World Cup every goal usually is decisive," he said. "I want to help Brazil win the World Cup and I will try to score as many goals as possible."

For a while, however, he worried he may not be able to play at all. He hurt a muscle while playing for Sevilla in May and feared the injury could jeopardize his presence in South Africa.

"I didn't know how serious it was," Luis Fabiano said. "It wasn't until I had the exams and showed them to the Brazilian doctors that I felt relieved. They said there would be enough time for me to recover before the World Cup."

The left thigh injury kept Fabiano from playing with Sevilla in the Copa del Rey final, but he went into intensive treatment after reporting to the Brazilian national team on May 21. He still is undergoing treatment but has been practising normally and will likely play in Brazil's friendly at Zimbabwe on Wednesday.

"I'll be a bit cautious in the friendly, but I'll be ready," he said.

Besides injuries keeping him off the field, the striker has also been known to earn too many red cards because of his hot temper. He said that's a thing of the past, however, as he has matured with age.

"I didn't accept losing and didn't like getting hit too much on the field," the striker said. "Now I can control myself. I'm not a kid anymore. Time does that to you. I'm a different Luis Fabiano now."

US World Cup team arrive in South Africa

By Sapa -- Associated Press

U.S. national soccer team's head coach Bob Bradley (2nd R) walks with his team on arrival at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo airport May 31, 2010. The 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11. REUTERS/David Gray
Photograph by: DAVID GRAY
Credit: REUTERS

Armed special task-force members, dressed in dark blue uniforms, surrounded the South African Airways plane at the O.R. Tambo airport as the players emerged on a cool, overcast afternoon.

After leading his team off the plane, coach Bob Bradley immediately picked out the opening game against England, on June 12, as a chance to make an impression on the tournament.

"There has been a lot of attention on our first game with England," Bradley said. "It's a great opportunity for us.

"But we certainly know that Slovenia and Algeria are excellent teams. It will be a tough group and we are looking forward to it.

Plain-clothes security officials, wearing earpieces and sunglasses, also patrolled the arrivals facility - set aside for World Cup teams - where the Americans cleared immigration.

The country has a familiar feel for the U.S. squad, who enjoyed an impressive showing in the Confederations Cup in South Africa last year.

Bradley's team reached the final of the competition and played at the grounds in Rustenburg and Pretoria and Johannesburg's Ellis Park - the same venues it visits in the group stages.

"We're very fortunate that we have had experience here," Bradley said to reporters on the airport tarmac. "The people here in South Africa have always treated us so well so in that regard, it's a comfortable feeling to be back for the World Cup.

"We are very excited... The travel went really well and the team is looking to get started with our work here."

Dressed in blue-and-red team tracksuits, the U.S. players then boarded a bus for the 25-minute drive up to their base at the Irene Country Lodge, a luxurious, rural-style hotel in a village between Johannesburg and the capital city Pretoria.

The lodge is billed as "a haven of peace and tranquility in the hub of South Africa's economic heartland".

It's where the U.S. team will acclimatize to the cool, early-winter conditions ahead of a final warmup match against Australia on Saturday -which Bradley said would be a good way to finish.

"The final game against Australia is our last chance to work on some things," Bradley said.

"I think the weather here is great for football. It's going to mean that the games are played at a good tempo. We have enough time between now and June 12 to acclimatize so I think, on that end, it's going to be a great World Cup."

England must be on their guard for Algerian game of bluff

Even allowing for his legendary attention to detail and knowledge of the game, the name of Luis Gabelo Conejo is unlikely to prompt anything other than a bemused look from Fabio Capello.

By Mark Ogden/Telegraph/UK

Call your bluff: Algeria looked woeful against Ireland but could it have been an act? Photo: GETTY

After all, Costa Rican goalkeepers are probably not Capello’s strong suit, but a scouting trip involving Conejo prior to Scotland’s unsuccessful Italia 90 campaign ought to serve as a timely warning to the England manager and his coaches as they prepare to dissect the underwhelming performance of World Cup opponents Algeria during their 3-0 defeat against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Friday.

Three weeks before Andy Roxburgh’s Scots were due to begin their World Cup campaign against Costa Rica in Genoa, the central American minnows suffered a 1-0 defeat against Wales in their final warm-up fixture.

Word reached the Scotland camp that Costa Rica possessed a goalkeeper who could best be described as ‘vampirical’ when it came to crosses, so unconvincing was Conejo’s performance at Ninian Park.

Yet when Scotland tackled the Costa Ricans at the World Cup, Conejo caught everything, devouring every Scottish delivery from the flanks, in a match-winning display that provided the foundation for his eventual selection, by France Football, as the goalkeeper of the tournament.

Costa Rica inflicted a humiliating 1-0 defeat on the Scots, who had been hoodwinked by Conejo’s erratic display in Wales.

It was the ultimate bluff and, with Algeria so poor against Ireland, Capello will be mindful to wonder whether Rabah Saadane’s team were really as bad as they appeared at the Royal Dublin Showground, or merely attempting a con trick similar to that played by Costa Rica 20 years ago.

Franco Baldini, Capello’s right-hand man, sat among the horn-blowing Algerian supporters at the RDS, but his notebook will be full of observations about the North Africans’ frailties.

The Wolves defender Adlene Guedioura proved himself to be a glaring weak-point at right-back, abandoning his post so often that Damien Duff virtually had Ireland’s left-flank to himself.

Baldini will also have noted the propensity of the Benfica centre-half Rafik Halliche to dive in at every opportunity with bruising and, often reckless, challenges.

The goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi, while appearing a solid shot-stopper, punched and waved at a series of crosses, with one misdirected punch contributing directly to the first of Robbie Keane’s two goals.

Algeria are likely to be bolstered by the return of the Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra, who missed the Ireland game with a calf injury, by the time they face England in Cape Town on June 18, however, and the former Charlton centre-half will add much-needed experience at the back. Yet despite their obvious weaknesses and an apparent inability to deal with crosses that led to the first two goals, Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has warned Capello not to underestimate the Desert Foxes.

Trapattoni said: “Algeria are a strong team and they have good technique, but in a World Cup, every nation is like this.

“When you look at their team, though, Algeria have many players who play in France, in Italy and in England. This is a sign of the quality of their players.

“Playing in the big leagues in Europe makes players more experienced and Algeria will benefit from this. England are a very strong team, though, and Capello is a very good manager. His players have the potential to go to the semi-finals.” Trapattoni’s words of caution would appear misplaced on the evidence of Algeria’s performance in Dublin, but players such as Wolfsburg midfielder Karim Ziani, centre-half Habib Ballaid and the winger Mehdi Lacen all suggested an ability to compete against England.

Rafik Djebbour, the AEK Athens forward, insists that England should not read too much into Algeria’s insipid performance at the RDS.

“We had a lot of players missing for this game, so we are not worried by the result.” Djebbour said. “We are still very confident about the World Cup and we know we can play much better.

“Perhaps we showed a lack of discipline in defence against Ireland, but we have the players who can do well in South Africa.” Defender Djamel Mesbah, likely to be deployed at left-back against England, believes the Portsmouth winger Nadir Belhadj, will be key against Capello’s team.

Mesbah said: “Against Ireland, we did not get the ball to Belhadj often enough, but we will work on that because he is a dangerous player for us.

“We know the 3-0 defeat was not a fair reflection of the game against Ireland. We will be better in the World Cup, don’t worry about that.”

Coach Saadane, a hero in Algeria for securing World Cup qualification for the first time since 1986, is not quite so convinced about his team’s prospects, however. “We have to improve in many areas before the World Cup,” Saadane admits. “England will be a tougher team than the one we faced in Dublin. They are one of my favourites to reach the final.”

World Cup ticket sales missing goals

Just two weeks before the soccer matches begin, South Africa's moment on the world stage is at risk of being damaged by problems, including ticket glitches.

By Robyn Dixon/Los Angeles Times

South African football fans, some of whom have camped outside the FIFA ticketing office in Johannesburg, wait to buy tickets. (Alexander Joe, AFP/Getty Images/May 27, 2010)

Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa —The line for a chance to buy tickets for the World Cup soccer final snaked like a yellow-striped python over the polished granite floor of the shopping mall.

Dozens of fans clad in the yellow shirts of the South African national soccer team known as Bafana Bafana arrived Friday eager to show their optimistic patriotism. But their joy was frayed by hours of waiting, while computer systems crashed and tickets dribbled out.

At the head of the line was poisonous anger and raised voices; at its tail, sluggish resignation.

"There were so many mess-ups from the beginning," said Costa Vlassis, 37, who was in line at the Checkers supermarket in Sandton City shopping mall by 1 a.m., but had seen only a handful of tickets sold by 2 p.m. "FIFA keeps on promising that the ticket situation will improve. But the system keeps crashing."

Just two weeks before the matches begin, South Africa's moment on the world stage threatens to be damaged by a host of problems most immediately evidenced by ticket glitches.

FIFA, world soccer's governing body, announced a day earlier that the last 800 tickets for the final and about 160,000 tickets across all 64 matches remained available for sale. But Friday's sales resulted in the latest in a string of ticketing problems and other blunders by FIFA — whose general secretary apologized for the ticketing delays — as the World Cup comes to South Africa for the first time beginning June 11.

As hosts of one of the international community's most celebrated events, FIFA officials had promised that the World Cup would have an African character, and yet have been accused of being tone deaf as to some African concerns. African performers were initially poorly represented in the opening concert, for example, until criticism forced a change in the lineup.

But disappointing ticket sales, especially in the rest of Africa, have trumped other worries as a potential embarrassment for the host country and the soccer federation. Many critics said the organization's online system and ticket prices — listed as high as $900 for the final — were inaccessible to many Africans, where few have credit cards or buy online.

Only 40,000 tickets were sold to 11,300 Africans outside South Africa, about a quarter the number expected. FIFA said that about 96% of the total tickets had been sold; its target was to reach at least between 97% and 98%.

According to South Africa's tourism minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, 300,000 foreign visitors are expected (including from elsewhere in Africa), compared with the 450,000 initially projected.

Analysts have put the lower-than-expected numbers down to security concerns, the recession and the high cost for visitors.

Many airfares to South Africa were three to four times higher than their January prices, according to the website Moneyweb, which carried out an analysis of ticket price increases for major airlines. Some hotels had also doubled their rates, according to the site.

There have been other problems, including properly filling orders.

One Cape Town businessman, Tom Donaldson, who last year bought 24 tickets, including semifinal tickets in Cape Town, was given 24 wheelchair seats for the wrong games. His son spent $20,000 on tickets for his wife and two friends to see the games, according to the South African Press Assn.. It took six weeks and repeated visits to the FIFA office before Donaldson was given the correct seats.

On Friday, scuffles broke out in some lines and thousands of frustrated fans waited all day, many of them with no hope of getting tickets.

FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke apologized over the system crash, which mirrored similar problems in earlier over-the-counter sales and followed FIFA promises that it wouldn't happen again.

"Today I would like to sincerely apologize to all the fans that have been affected by the problems in the ticketing sales system," Valcke said.

FIFA earlier made thousands of tickets available to South African residents for $20 or complimentary to provide an opportunity for more people from the host country to watch games.

Vlassis, who was in line for what he called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, applied for tickets in an online lottery system at the start of the year. But thousands missed out on those tickets.

Bheki Sibanyoni, 50, who runs a small employment agency, went to Soweto at midnight to line up to buy. But there were already nearly 800 people waiting, so he drove to Sandton, arriving about 1 a.m. to find a few dozen people ahead of him. Earlier, he had tried repeatedly to get tickets online.

"We South Africans, we are not used to buying tickets online. I don't know what happened. It's a bit confusing. You only get acknowledgement of your application, but you don't get any response. You don't know who to contact. I felt bad about FIFA after that."

Sibanyoni and others milled about. They all knew exactly what number in line they were and guarded the places of those who wanted to get a drink or snack. A newcomer sauntered to the front of the queue and tried to pretend he'd been waiting all morning.

"People have been waiting here since 1 o'clock in the morning," Vlassis told him icily. "When they see you and you don't have a number, they're going to lynch you. Just stick around and see."

Top 5 signs South Africa is ready for the 2010 World Cup

Visitors practice the Diski dance at the Nelson Mandela Square in Johhanesburg. Photo by Julia Pelish

By Adrian Brijbassi/Toronto Star

CAPE TOWN– Six weeks to go to the World Cup and South Africa is gearing up to welcome the globe. More than 40,000 police officers will be deployed during the 64-game tournament that runs June 11 to July 11 with games in nine cities. Much work remains; however, South Africa is well along in some areas. Here’s a look at what it’s doing right.

Mandela’s “Cup:” Nelson Mandela once said, “Sport has the power to change the world.” South Africans are hoping the presence of the world’s game in their country will be enough to bring their national icon back into the spotlight. But Mandela is 91 and health issues could keep him from opening the tournament. Nevertheless, FIFA president Sepp Blatter recently confirmed, “It will be his World Cup.” That means FIFA, international soccer’s governing organization, intends to repeatedly recognize Mandela’s struggles and triumphs to lift the country out of apartheid following his release from prison in 1990.

“Little England:” Astute planners equipped Cape Town Stadium with three jail cells and dubbed the lock-up zone “Little England.” Fans whose rowdiness goes too far will be taken from their seats and put in the cells that are beneath the spectacular $610-million stadium, which sits between the Atlantic Ocean and Table Mountain. A court will be set up outside to process any cases. Cape Town hosts eight games, including the England-Algeria match on June 18.

The Diski: The dance combines moves from the night club and the soccer field. Scores of people show off their Diski steps each “Football Friday” in public squares. “Diski” is the name used for “soccer” in many of the black townships.

Bafana Republic: Despite a shameful 0-0 tie last week against North Korea, optimism remains high for Bafana — this being the nickname of South Africa’s team. Their three games were the first to sell out. “Bafana” means “boys” in Nguni.

Airports: More than $2 billion has been spent on airport construction in preparation for the World Cup. O.R. Tambo International in Johannesburg and Cape Town International spent about $400 million each on renovations. In Durban, the $950-million King Shaka International opens on May 1. Left out of the renovations for the big three airports were rental stations for luggage carts. They’re all lined up near the baggage carousel. Just grab one and go. No nickel, no dime.

Steven Pienaar: No African team will win 2010 World Cup

By Richard James/In The News
South Africa and Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar has said he does not believe an African team will win this summer's World Cup.

In an interview with CNN, Pienaar also conceded the weather in South Africa during June and July would play into the hands of the European nations.

Asked if he thought an Africa team could win the World Cup, he answered: "I'm more of a realist. I don't think it will happen in 2010, but it will be something special if an African nation can win it because it's on the continent.

"I think if it was somewhere in west Africa, with the heat, then you could have said an African nation could win. But in South Africa it will be winter, so it will be more in the favour of the Europeans."

South Africa open the 2010 World Cup against Mexico on Friday June 11th in Johannesburg.

Bafana Bafana to play more teams

By Xola Ntshinga/Eyewitness News

It seems Bafana Bafana have found more teams to play against, ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

On Tuesday, Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira suggested that the South African Football Association was close to arranging friendly matches against Denmark (ranked 34th in the world), Bulgaria (ranked 38th) and Colombia (ranked 39th).

Denmark is the only team of the three to have qualified for the world cup.

The games are set to be played in Johannesburg when Bafana return from Germany.

Meanwhile, Parreira has opted to stick to the same line-up that started against North Korea for Wednesday’s friendly against Jamaica.

The only change in the full squad will be at right-back, where Siboniso Gaxa will take over from Thabo Nthethe.

Kick-off is at 8.30pm.

Jay-Jay says Bafana will Shine

By MOZOLA MOLEFE/TIMES LIVE

Jay-Jay Okocha is backing at least one of the six African countries at the World Cup to reach the semifinals in July.

The former captain of Nigeria said yesterday that the African teams would be especially inspired at this year's World Cup because it was in their own backyard.

Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Algeria, and South Africa all have difficult groups in the first round, especially Bafana, who are joined in Group A with France, Uruguay and Mexico.

But even the hosts, lowest-ranked of all the African teams, are given a chance of going beyond the first round.

"I saw them [Bafana] during the Confederations Cup last year and after that I was confident that they would do well in this year's tournament. They also have the added factor of having a Brazilian coach," said Okocha.

He said the World Cup in South Africa would be a huge opportunity for African countries to "re-write our football history".

"Based on the current form of some of the teams, a semifinal finish should not be impossible. Let's face it, our football is suffering. But, we can achieve this," he said.

He singled out Ivory Coast as favourites to take that semifinal spot despite their poor performance in the African Cup of Nations.

"It is typical that when one country is given so much attention they tend to be a disappointment because of the pressure on them," he said of the Ivorians' Nations Cup performance.

The Didier Drogba-led Ivory Coast will face Brazil, Portugal and North Korea in the group stages in June.

On Nigeria's chances at the World Cup, Okocha said the appointment of coach Lars Lagerback last month had brought optimism.

"We needed help," he said. "He was the favourite when interviews were conducted earlier on and now it is his job to get the top players to do the job for the country."

He said the Super Eagles were not under pressure ahead of the World Cup, but felt they had already been written off as a surprise package in the tournament.

Adidas Unveils “JO'BULANI," Official Match Ball for the World Cup Finals

CESAR DIAZ/BLEACH REPORT
Press Release was given to Cesar Diaz of Latino Sports.

Johannesburg/Herzogenaurach, April 20, 2010 – Today in Herzogenaurach, Germany, Adidas proudly unveils the Official Match Ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals match in South Africa. The Adidas “JO’BULANI” is a unique gold-colored version of the “JABULANI,” the Official Match Ball of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The name ”JO’BULANI” is inspired by the name “JABULANI,” which means “to celebrate” in isiZulu, one of the eleven official languages of the Republic of South Africa spoken by almost 25 percent of the population. The name “JO’BULANI” is also a tribute to the host city of the final, Johannesburg, or Jo’burg as it is commonly referred to. Designed in white and gold, the “JO’BULANI” is a compliment to both the color of the FIFA World Cup trophy and Johannesburg, the “City of Gold.”

Like the “JABULANI,” the “JO’BULANI” features the iconic South African-inspired design along with the newly developed “Grip’n’Groove” profile, providing the best players in the world with a ball that allows exceptionally stable flight and perfect grip under all conditions. Comprised of only eight, completely new, thermally bonded 3-D panels, which for the first time are spherically molded, the ball is perfectly round and even more accurate than ever before.

This is the second time Adidas has designed a special ball for a FIFA World Cup final, the first final ball was the golden “TEAMGEIST BERLIN,” which was used on July 9, 2006. The “JO’BULANI” will be available at specialty retailers throughout the US and on shopadidas.com starting April 21.

Adidas always involves world-class athletes in the development and testing of its products. For the Adidas “JABULANI,” Adidas partners AC Milan, FC Bayern München, the Orlando Pirates, and Ajax Cape Town tested the ball in 2008, contributing to improvements in the surface structure and material composition. The involvement of our players continues to help bring the best soccer products to market going forward.

Adidas continues to use innovative technology to extend its global leadership position in soccer production, thus strengthening its position as the authentic symbol of high-performance sporting goods for professionals and amateurs alike. Adidas also will continue to unveil more revolutionary innovations in match ball production for future UEFA, FIFA, and CAF competitions. The Adidas innovation team (AIT) is already working on innovations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

World Cup hosts tackle off-pitch woes

By Owen Gibson, Gulf News

Image courtesy of Gulf News/EPA


Johannesburg : With less that 22 weeks remaining before South Africa stages the 2010FIFA World Cup, the host nation is confident of solving problems around travel, safety and ticketing.

Today, it echoes to the sound of a few hundred construction workers putting the finishing touches to a cavernous stadium modelled on an African calabash cooking pot. But in weeks, the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg will house 87,000 fans and buzz to the drone of the vuvuzela horns that will be the backing track of next summer's tournament.

Just 18 years after South Africa was readmitted to Fifa following the collapse of apartheid, their team, whose prospects are not viewed with much hope, will kick off the first World Cup on African soil.

The overall 800 million rands (Dh396 million) in capital investment from public funds has been sold as a stimulus that will boost the economy by 55.7 billion rands, create 415,400 new jobs and leave a legacy in everything from transport infrastructure to the strength of the domestic league.

Legacy

More broadly, Fifa also claims it will leave a footballing legacy for the whole continent, promising new pitches for every country and 20 new "Football for Hope" centres to house social projects.

Others may question whether the $9 million (Dh12.67 million) promised for the scheme amounts to much when placed alongside the projected $3.2 billion in sponsorship, marketing, TV and hospitality revenues the 2010 World Cup will deliver.

Today representatives from each of the 32 nations will attend a flag-raising ceremony in Johannesburg. Following the World Cup draw on December 4, the final scramble for tickets, flights and accommodation will begin.