Soccer Worldcup 2010 South Africa

World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010 127

World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010

CONTENTS How Nelson Mandela won the Cup for South Africa

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Blatter calls him the ‘true architect of this FIFA World Cup’! Would the footbball World Cup be taking place in South Africa this year if it weren’t for Nelson Mandela?

Soccer City: A bubbling cauldron as World Cup centerpiece

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With a gross capacity of 88,460 and sprawling over 300,000 square meters, Soccer City is a monster. The whats’ and wheres’ of Soccer City, South Africca’s largest stadium.

Brrr! South Africa’s World Cup is set to be cold

P.O. Box : 22345, Doha - Qatar Tel : 4666810, Fax : 4654975 Email : info@qimqatar.com

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Following seven summer editions, players and fans alike are set to once again need hats, gloves, thermal vests and scarves.

editor LUBUNA K.A. cover design alaa elalfi page design ravindranath koonath sales & marketing

Maradona the genius faces his greatest challenge

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There was never this much at stake in the World Cups he played himsself, and the tournament has a 50-50 chance of destroying the coach’s legend and of increasing his glory even further.

leila ennakoui rania gHazal hanan GHAZWANI len dominguez sami orabi Huda ben jeddou Hind hammad rEghuraj aravindakshan s. hariharan

FIFA hoping to reap benefit of investment in refereeing

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FIFA will be looking to see the fruit of its multi-million dollar investmment in refereeing training programmes since the tournament in Germmany.

CONTENTS SA firms cash in on fear

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For the six years since it won the right to host the first World Cup on the African continent, South Africa has been trying to reassure the world it can safely host the tournament.

England have to overcome weight of expectation

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If England are to enjoy success in South Africa, then they will need their best players to be on top form; that means Wayne Rooney, Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand all performing.

Expectations are low - and sinking - for France

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France will go to South Africa with low expectations, and hope to play well enough to survive Group A, which includes host South Africa and two difficult Latin American opponents

Optimism is Lippi’s one and only weapon

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If part of the job of a national team coach is to instill optimism in and around his squad, Marcello Lippi has been very good at it in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup.

Messi and other stars short of a team

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Messi is arguably the world’s best player, Barcelona is arguably the world’s best team, and Argentina currently stand before the huge challenge of building a side in which the young superstar can flourish as he has proved he can do.

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Anti-apartheid campaigner and later South African President Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie celebrate Mandela’s release from prison after 27 years of incarceration

How Nelson Mandela won the Cup for South Africa

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ould the football World Cup be taking place in South Africa this year if it weren’t for Nelson Mandela?

FIFA president Joseph Blatter didn’t seem to think so when he read out the name of the winning bidder in Zurich on May 15, 2004.

“You are the true architect of this FIFA World Cup; your presence and commitment made it happen,” Blatter said, handing over the trophy to a smiling, snowy-haired Mandela after the announcement that South Africa had secured the mammoth event on its second attempt.

For Mandela, who had stepped down as president five years earlier but still enjoyed huge influence, FIFA’s decision was a ringing endorsement of his leadership.

Within 10 years of the demise of the

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racist apartheid regime, the Rainbow Nation, which he had guided to democracy, was being entrusted with hosting the world. “I feel like a young man of 15,” Mandela, who was 85 at the time, said, obviously delighted.

The African National Congress stalwart had campaigned vigorously for the tournament, believing that the key to reconciling blacks and whites in South Africa lay in forging a common identity - a goal that could be advanced by creating shared moments in sport.

It was a formula he had tested with great success when South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1995, a year after the country’s first democratic elections.

US director Clint Eastwood’s 2009 film Invictus retraces the story of how Mandela rallied blacks in support of the ultimately victorious home side, the Springboks, as a gesture of goodwill

towards rugby-loving whites.

The roles were reversed the following year when the mainly black national football team lifted the African Cup of Nations.

By 2000, thanks to Mandela, South Africa had accumulated enough experience in hosting major sporting tournaments to be able to launch a credible bid for the World Cup. Despite Mandela personally canvvassing countries for votes, South Africa narrowly lost out to Germany after New Zealand, which had pledged to support South Africa, suddenly abstained from the vote.

Four years later, South Africa bounced back with a new bid entitled “Africa’s time has come. South Africa is ready.”

This time around, Mandela was leaving nothing to chance.

“It is 28 years since FIFA took its stand against racially divided football and

Nelson Mandela

The entrance to Robben Island prison where Mandela was locked up for 27 years

The cell at Robben Island occupied by former South African president Nelson Mandela. For years he was the world’s most prominent prison inmate

helped to inspire the final story against apartheid,” Mandela reminded FIFA, referring to FIFA’s expulsion of apartheid South Africa from its ranks in 1976, the year of a bloody crackdown on student demonstrators in Soweto township.

On Robben Island, the prison of Cape Town, where he spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars, “football was the only joy to prisoners,” Mandela continued.That wasn’t entirely true. Some prisoners had also enjoyed a game of rugby, or, in Mandela’s case, a spot of tennis, gardening or chess.

But football did have a special place on the island, as the sport of the black majority whose controlling body

brooked no racists. Football games on the island were played according to FIFA rules and prisoners crowded around radios to listen to the World Cup. A slew of sporting sanctions, which saw South Africa barred from all major sporting tournaments, stung the apartheid state and piled pressure on the regime to negotiate its exit from power.

In February 1990, former president FW de Klerk suddenly announced he was unconditionally releasing Mandela and unbanning the ANC. Within four years an ANC-led government was in power and South Africa had ceased to be “the skunk of the world”, in the words

of Mandela.

In recent months, however, there have been ominous signs. Tensions have resurfaced between conservative whites and black nationalists, with both sides showing signs of disillusionment at the slow pace of post-apartheid transformation. The moderate majority is looking to the World Cup to rekindle Mandela’s legacy of forgiveness and reconciliation.

In a tribute to the elder statesmen, who will turn 92 a week after the final on July 11, President Jacob Zuma in February called on his countrymen to make the World Cup a success “in his (Mandela’s) honour.”

World Cup 2010 11

Sepp Blatter

FIFA President Sepp Blatter is hoping this summer’s soccer tournament will showcase Africa in its most positive light

For Blatter football is not just about kicking a ball

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oseph Blatter may have his critics in world football for the way he runs the sport but the FIFA president’s unwavering support of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa has also earned him more than a few friends.

Africa’s first-ever World Cup kicks off in Johannesburg on June 11, a reality that is in no small part due to the Swiss official’s long-held view that it was imperative that football’s greatest tournament be held on the continent.

“I became conscious of the fact that Africa should one day host a World Cup while I was still a FIFA technical director, a position I held until 1981,” Blatter explained to German Press Agency dpa.

“When I became FIFA president (in 1998), I said that my objective was the GOAL project (a football development and assistance programme) and to bring the World Cup to Africa.”

“I then made a lightening trip to South Africa and saw that it was the

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real Africa because there is such a mix of cultures. North Africa is mainly Arabic and white, Central Africa is another culture, which is black, while everything comes together in the south.”

For Blatter, his dream is no longer a challenge but a reality and the 74-yearold is hoping this summer’s tournament will showcase Africa in its most positive light.

“Africa is completely different than the western world. I wanted a World Cup for Africa because I thought it was some justice for everything that Africa had given the world, not just in football,” he explains.

“We have to give the Africans the chance to show that they can host a World Cup. Tennis and golf tournaments have taken place there and every year 11 million tourists go to South Africa.

Nobody talked about security then so why is there a doubt about football?”

Although there are on average around 50 murders a day in South Africa, Blatter feels that anti-African prejudice has a lot

to do with why there have been so many negative headlines about the country’s ability to host the World Cup. “The problem is that they didn’t believe that Africans were capable of hosting a World Cup. Another reason is that Europeans ask why have it there when they can do it better. But we know that already,” he says.

FIFA has also voiced concerns about slow ticket sales outside the country, something Blatter hopes will rectify itself before the tournament kicks off in Soccer City when South Africa take on Mexico in the opening game.

“Now people want to give something to Africa. All the large institutions and people like Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, money and medicine is also given.”

“That is all very well but when it comes to showing a bit of trust, or paying a visit, then they are afraid. But why are they afraid? Are they too reserved, or is it a racial or cultural problem? Why don’t people now want to go to South Africa? Why?”

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Stadium

Africa’s largest stadium, Soccer City, is situated in Soweto township, which was the epicentre of resistance against the racist apartheid regime during the 1970s and 1980s and is also a stronghold of South African football

Soccer City: A bubbling cauldron as World Cup centrepiece

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ince its beginnings as gold rush town over a century ago, Johannesburg has been a melting pot of cultures.

So it’s apt that Soccer City, the centrepiece of the World Cup which kicks off in the city on June 11, is built in the shape of a calabash or pot.

A calabash is a large, gourd-like root vegetable that is hollowed out and used as a receptacle or musical instrument in Africa. A calabash filled with beer is often passed around at feasts, but it can also be used as a drum or made into a kora (harplike instrument).

“In essence the calabash represents Africa’s great appreciation for life and is also indicative of our spirit of ubuntu (an African philosophy of shared humanity),” says the City of Johannesburg.

It was an inspired choice of design for the venue of the opening game and final in the first World Cup in Africa, and one that is enhanced by the stadium’s colour scheme.

The 88,000-seat venue, which cost between 3.4 billion rand (465 million dollars) and 3.8 billion rand (520 million dollars) to upgrade, depending on the source, is dotted with ochre and a mosaic of coloured tiles that glow in the red setting sun.

At night, the cooking theme is turned up. While fans inside will be working themselves into lathers of excitement, the stadium will lit up from below by a “pit of

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fire”, giving it the aspect of a simmering cauldron.

Soccer City’s location is also laden with symbolism.

Africa’s largest stadium is situated in Soweto township, which was the epicentre of resistance against the racist apartheid regime during the 1970s and 1980s and is also a stronghold of South African football.

The country’s fiercest football rivals are two Soweto teams - Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. The two have clashed often in the past at Soccer City, to the sound of thousands of blaring vuvuzelas - the plastic trumpets beloved of local soccer fans.

At 300,000 square metres, Soccer City is a monster. It is bigger than either Wembley Stadium or Beijing’s Bird‘s Nest but was built much more quickly than either. Wembley Stadium took nearly five years, against a little over three for Soccer City.

Inside the stadium, the rows of orange seating rise steeply so that everyone has a clear view of the pitch. Both the opening game on June 11 between South Africa and Mexico, and the final, are sold out.

South Africans are hoping the home side Bafana Bafana will be inspired by the performance of their 1996 Africa Cup of Nation predecessors. South Africa won the African title, defeating Tunisia 2-0 in the final at Soccer City.

Matches: June 11 1400 Group A South Africa v Mexico June 14 1130 Group E Netherlands v Denmark June 17 1130 Group B Argentina v South Korea June 20 1830 Group G Brazil v Ivory Coast June 23 1830 Group D Ghana v Germany June 27 1830 Round of 16 1B v 2A July 2 1830 Quarter-finals W49 v W50 July 11 1830 Final W61 v W62 Factfile: Stadium : Soccer City City : Johannesburg Built : 1987 Construction : Major upgrade Completion : 2009 Gross Capacity : 88,460

World Cup 2010 15

World Cup History

World Cup begins new chapter in a story of twists and turns

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he World Cup’s global reach will be even more clearly defined when the tournament is staged on the African continent this year for the first time.

Host South Africa beat Morocco and Egypt in an all-African bidding process, a decision which now leaves just the Oceania Football Confederation as the only confederation yet to play host.

The tournament’s founding fathers could hardly have realized how the game would develop when the idea of holding a football World Cup was first mooted early in the last century.

Not long after the sport’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), formed in 1904, there was talk of a world championship.

But sporting politics delayed for decades the dreams of Jules Rimet and Henri Delaunay, the two visionary

Frenchmen who had conceived the idea at around that time.

The success of the Olympic football tournament finally galvanised the powers-to-be into action. Rimet, the FIFA president, commissioned a study, and at the Olympics in Amsterdam in 1928, Delaunay, the president of the commission entrusted with undertaking the study and secretary-general of the French football federation, announced a World Cup would be held for the first time in 1930.

Uruguay, the 1924 and 1928 Olympic winners and celebrating the centenary of their independence, were chosen as the hosts of the first World Cup, but it was not without controversy.

Four European nations who had also wanted to host the competition - Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden - refused to attend, citing the three-week boat

journey across the Atlantic and domestic commitments as the reason.

Four other European countries Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Switzerland - also pulled out, while the British associations, who had pioneered the game, were also absent in a rift with FIFA, and were not to enter the frame until 1950.

However, the 13-team inaugural event generated huge interest. A 93,000 crowd was in the brand-new Centenario Stadium in Montevideo for the final on July 17, Uruguay’s Independence day, to see the hosts defeat Argentina 4-2 in a rematch of the 1928 Olympic final.

From then on, only World War II could stop the World Cup. The 1934 tournament was hosted by Italy and unlike the 1930 version, was a straight knock-out with 16 teams.

By the second round it was a purely

The Hungarians - despite going 2-0 up within eight minutes - found themselves beaten 3-2 in torrential rain by a West German side they had trounced 8-3 earlier in the tournament. Fritz Walter (holding the cup) and Horst Eckel were hoisted aloft by fans during the frenetic German celebrations.

England’s captain Bobby Moore kissing the coveted trophy: The 1966 tournament will be for ever remembered for Geoff Hurst’s controversial goal in England’s 4-2 victory over West Germany in the Wembley final.

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Italy’s squad for the 1934 tournament. The event was hosted by Italy and turned out to be a propaganda triumph for Benito Mussolini. The host nation went on to claim the trophy after a 2-1 victory against Czechoslovakia in the Rome final.

European affair. It turned out to be a propaganda triumph for Benito Mussolini, with the host nation going on to claim the trophy thanks to a 2-1 victory after extra-time over Czechoslovakia in the final in Rome.

Political turmoil in Europe and the gathering clouds of war cast a pall over the 1938 tournament in France. Hitler’s Germany had already annexed Austria and the Germans took part in the finals as greater Germany. Only three nonEuropean countries competed. Argentina, who had applied to host the tournament, refused to take part when it was awarded to France.

With Austria forced to withdraw, 15 teams went into a knock-out tournament, and again it was Italy, still coached by 1934 winner Vittorio Pozzo, who emerged victorious with a 4-2 victory over Hungary in the final.

It was to be 12 years before the World Cup resumed after the ravages of World War II, with Brazil hosting a chaotic tournament marked by mass withdrawals and a schedule involving teams having to travel thousand of miles across the country to play group fixtures.

Eventually only 13 teams competed in a baffling format which had two groups of four, one of three and one of two. Even more curious was the lack of an actual World Cup final.

Fortunately for the organizers, the concluding match of the tournament did decide the winners and is now referred to by football historians as a World Cup final.

Brazil, now showing the sort of magical football for which they have become world renowned, only needed a point in their final match to clinch the cup.

But the hosts, playing before a world record crowd of 199,854 in the newlybuilt Maracana Stadium, succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to Uruguay. The cup - now renamed the Jules Rimet trophy - went back to Montevideo.

Hungary had emerged as a great footballing power in the early 1950s and were among the favourites for the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. The

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team included the likes of Ferenc Puskas, Sandor Kocsis and Nandor Hidegkuti and were unbeaten in 28 internationals.

It was not be to be. The Magnificent Magyars - as the British press had dubbed them after 6-3 and 7-1 thrashings of England in 1953 and 1954 - reached the final in Berne all right.

But with the great Puskas carrying an injury, the Hungarians - despite going 2-0 up within eight minutes - found themselves beaten 3-2 in torrential rain by a West German side they had trounced 8-3 earlier in the tournament.

The Germans, led by Fritz Walter and with their own heroes in two-goal Helmut Rahn and goalkeeper Toni Turek, who had made save after save, celebrate the victory today as the “miracle of Berne”.

The 1958 World Cup in Sweden belonged to Brazil and in particular to a 17-year-old kid by the name of Edson Arantes do Nascimento. It was the first World Cup to enjoy international television coverage (there was limited coverage in 1954), and fittingly a star was born. After his four matches for Brazil, six goals and a World Cup winners’ medal, Pele was a household name.

The South Americans, also featuring such great names as Garrincha, Didi, Vava or Nilson Santos, swept into the final with a Pele hat- trick in a 5-2 semi-final win over France. Pele then struck two more in Brazil’s 5-2 defeat of hosts Sweden in the final in Stockholm.

After two consecutive European-based tournaments, the World Cup returned to South America and Chile in 1962. It proved to be another triumph for Brazil who defeated Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final in Santiago.

This time the feat was performed without their new star Pele, who having scored in Brazil’s first match limped off with a thigh strain in the second group match against Czechoslovakia.

The tournament was a generally more physical affair and included the notorious Battle of Santiago between Italy and Chile in which two Italians were sent off and police had to escort the players from the field following a series of player brawls.

The 1966 tournament will be for ever remembered for Geoff Hurst’s controversial goal in England’s 4-2 victory over West Germany in the Wembley final.

Hurst’s shot in extra-time which bounced down off the underside of the bar to give England a 3-2 lead is still talked about today.

Hurst was the hat-trick hero that day but the hosts also had one of the players of the tournament in Bobby Charlton.

Other stars to shine in 1966 were the Portuguese great Eusebio who was tournament top scorer, while Pak Dooik made a name for himself for minnows North Korea who produced one of the great World Cup shocks with a 1-0 defeat of fancied Italy.

For the history of the World Cup, it was as well that he did not keep his word.

The 1970 World Cup in Mexico proved to be Pele’s pinnacle, with the Brazilians a revelation and the tournament in general regarded as the finest in World Cup history.

The Pele-inspired Brazilians, with players such as Jairzinho, Tostao, Gerson and Rivelino also household names, turned the final into a fiesta with a mesmerising 4-1 defeat of Italy. For their third title, Brazil gained outright possession of the Jules Rimet trophy.

If 1970 was the birth of the modern game, West Germany in 1974 was its continuation and development. It saw the Europeans dominate once again in a tournament introducing a second group stage rather than a knock-out round of quarter-finals and semi-finals.

The hosts captained by Franz Beckenbauer emerged from a shock defeat to political foes East Germany to reach the final where they came up against the Johan Cruyff-led Netherlands.

The Dutch had revolutionised the game with their brand of Total Football where players were given more freedom to interchange positions - but it was the hosts, with a team bristling with world class players, who prevailed with a 2-1 victory in the Munich final.

Politics and football again became intermixed ahead of the 11th tournament

Ronaldo, who had had a disappointing 1998 final, was the flambuoyant hero in South Korea four years later with two goals in a 2-0 victory over Germany in the final in Yokohama and eight goals in total in the tournament. He is seen here with Germany’s Carsten Ramelow

The 2006 final in Berlin proved to be a particularly inglorious end to Zidane’s magnificent playing career.

He was sent off towards the end of the extra period for head-butting Marco Materazzi. The picture sequence captures what happened in the 110th minute in Argentina in 1978. There were threats of a boycott in protest against General Videla’s totalitarian regime and its violation of human rights, and Cruyff for one refused to travel to Argentina because of the political situation.

Again the host nation emerged victorious, Argentina sweeping to victory on a vibrant wave of home support and inspired by the goals of tournament top scorer Mario Kempes. The Dutch were again the losing finalists in a 3-1 defeat after extra-time.

Italy won the trophy for a third time in Spain in 1982 where the tournament was expanded up to 24 teams. The Italians had only survived the group stage on goal difference but then came into their own, beating Argentina, Brazil and Poland on their way to the final where they overcame West Germany 3-1.

In 1986, Mexico again got the nod to host a World Cup finals, where a both inspirational and underhand Diego Armando Maradona led Argentina to the title thanks to a 3-2 victory over West Germany in the final.

One game alone encapsulated the Maradona phenomenon: against England in the quarter-finals he scored the notorious “hand of God” goal with his fist before minutes later scoring one of the best World Cup goals ever in a dazzling

run from inside his own half.

However Maradona and Argentina were the losers four years later in Italy when West Germany won their third title in a dull 1-0 victory settled by an Andreas Brehme penalty in the Rome final. It was a match which summed up the paucity of play in the tournament as a whole where penalty shoot-outs decided both semifinals.

The United States got a taste of world soccer as hosts of the 1994 tournament.

Play was generally much improved on 1990, apart from a listless final between Brazil and Italy which was eventually decided on penalties by the South Americans after a goalless 120 minutes.

For Maradona, the USA was the end of the World Cup road as a player after Argentina’s 1986 hero tested positive for drugs and was expelled from the tournament. There was tragedy, too, when Andres Escobar of Colombia was murdered days after returning home from scoring an own goal against the United States.

Host nation France emerged victorious in 1998 in the 16th World Cup which had now expanded to 32 teams, playmaker Zidane Zidane scoring two French goals with his head in the 3-0 defeat of Brazil in the Paris final.

But Brazil were not to be denied four

years later where Ronaldo, who had had a disappointing 1998 final, was the hero with two goals in a 2-0 victory over Germany in the final in Yokohama and eight goals in total in the tournament.

Co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, the first World Cup in Asia was effectively two separate tournaments, and a decidedly disappointing one for several of the pre-tournament favourites including title-holders France who were eliminated at the group stage.

The tournament then returned to Germany in 2006 but unlike in 1974 the hosts were unable to advance beyond the semi-finals and had to settle in the end for third.

Italy proved Germany’s nemesis in extra-time in the semi-finals, and it was the Italians who went on to win the final on penalties against France after the match finished at 1-1 following extra-time.

For Zidane, whose goals had helped win the 1998 final, the game in Berlin proved to be a particularly inglorious end to a magnificent playing career when he was sent off towards the end of the extra period for head-butting Marco Materazzi.

It was Italy’s first world title in 24 years and their fourth overall, making them the most successful World Cup team ever after Brazil.

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Chile

Chile: a young team that is always ready to attack

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Marcelo Bielsa, 54, is a football fanatic, and he obsessively studies tactics and rivals

hile always play attacking football - no matter the quality of their rivals, no matter the stadium, no matter the course of a match.

Chile never speculate. “Forward, forward,” shouted Argentine-born coach Marcelo Bielsa.

At the time, his men were beating Colombia 4-2 away, and most importantly they were securing a place at South Africa 2010. Chilean players did as they were told, and they sought a fifth goal until they heard the final whistle.

Chileans still think back with nostalgia to the third places their national team attained at the 1962 World Cup and 2004 Olympics. Now, the South American country hopes Bielsa’s men can do even better.

“We have a good-enough team to be the champions,” midfielder Arturo Vidal said in no uncertain terms soon after the team qualified for the World Cup. Keeper Claudio Bravo and striker Alexis Sanchez, among other players, agreed.

The Chilean national team has an average age of 23, and most of the players were part of the squad that

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came third at the 2007 Under-20 World Cup in Canada.

Most of these players are now active abroad. In the old days, only two or three in every generation - like Ivan Zamorano, Marcelo Salas or Elias Figueroa - would get to leave Chile.

The Andean team is always seeking the rival goal, preferably using the wings, and they try to keep the ball on the ground. Even when they lose they usually have more ball possession than their rivals.

Depending on the other team, Chile play with three or four defenders. In midfield, there are always two wingers and a playmaker, with two strikers and a centre-forward up front. That is the Bielsa doctrine.

Without a star that shines brighter than the rest of the team, Bielsa is Chile’s leader. “He is scary in training!” players say.

But Bielsa’s men have adopted their coach’s peculiar ways as their own. For example, half the team will not talk to reporters.

On the pitch, there are special players.

Humberto Suazo, the top scorer in the South American World Cup qualifiers, is deadly in front of goal. Besides, he has

known several of the players behind him for years, from his time with Chilean giants Colo Colo.

Sanchez stands out among those in charge of assisting Suazo. It is from his boots that spring literally half of Chile’s goals: either he scores himself, or he is brought down and the resulting freekicks find the net, or he assists his teammates. He is one of those players that are a nightmare for any defender.

Gary Medel and Jorge Valdivia are almost each other’s opposites. Medel can play almost in any position and he always behaves like a fighter, hence his nickname, “the pitbull.”

“The magician” Valdivia is the fans’ favourite. To see why, suffice it to say that in 2008, when he played for Palmeiras, he was voted the best playmaker in Brazil, a land of playmakers and beautiful attacking play.

But Bielsa mostly keeps Valdivia on the bench. He prefers Sporting Lisbon’s Matias Fernandez, who is more orderly and methodical though possibly less brilliant. In Chile, many want the two to play together, but the coach has so far refused.

What do Chile seek to do on the pitch?

They seek to attack and to reduce the odds against themselves, in the words of their obsessive coach. To illustrate that insistence on reducing odds, Bielsa is known to have once trained 27 different moves off a throw-in in a single training session.

Such hard work had Chile, one of South America’s traditional football minnows, competing with Brazil to the end for top place in the qualifiers. They eventually qualified before powerful neighbours Argentina, and returned to a World Cup for the first time since 1998.

In South Africa, however, they will not have it easy. Spain are likely to be their most challenging first-round rivals, with Switzerland and Honduras also in Group H. In the second round, Brazil and Portugal emerge as likely threats.

THE COACH - MARCELO BIELSA Marcelo Bielsa, 54, is a football fanatic, and he obsessively studies tactics and rivals. Nicknamed “El Loco,” “the madman,” he had a very short, injury-plagued career as a defender before joining his beloved Newell’s Old Boys as coach in 1990.

The brother of a former Argentine foreign minister and a former provincial governor, Bielsa added to the family’s prestige by coaching Argentina 19982004. Argentina famously crashed out of the 2002 World Cup in the first round, but in Chile the coach has become a national hero since taking command in 2007.

World Cup 2010 21

The World Cup

a whole new game ball

Player Aristide Bance from German 1st division side Mainz balances with the new Jabulani ball. Adidas says the special “grip ‘n’ groove” profiling will give it an exceptionally stable flight

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Goalkeepers were not too fond of Teamgeist, the 2006 World Cup ball. It had just 14 panels, making its surface smoother than a conventional ball. This apparently caused it to swerve unpredictably

I

t is unlikely the captains of the two teams at the 2010 World Cup final will be arguing over the ball before the kick-off in Johannesburg.

But at the first World Cup final in 1930 the ball was a matter of some contention between two competing teams - Argentina and Uruguay - who could not agree which one to use.

In the end a compromise was reached, with an Argentinian ball used the first half and Uruguay supplying the ball for the second half.

Whether the balls influenced the outcome no one can say for certainty.

But Argentina were leading 2-1 at halftime with their ball, while Uruguay came back to win the match 4-2 using the one they supplied.

Football has come a long way since then. And the balls themselves are constantly being developed, from the brown-leather-with-laces affairs of the early World Cup days to the Jabulani, the name of the ball to be used at the 2010 finals in South Africa.

It will be the 11th World Cup ball to be provided by German sports goods giant Adidas since it produced the first “official”

World Cup ball, the Telstar, which was used at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

The Telstar was the first ball at a World Cup to use a design of 32 hand-stitched hexagonal and pentagonal panels.

The ball was still leather but for the first time a white ball featured black panels which made it more visible on black and white television for what was the first live televised World Cup. The Tango used at Argentina in 1978 formed the blueprint for the next five World Cups with its 20 panels with “triads” to create the impression of 12 identical circles.

The name remained the same for Spain 1982 but the new generation Tango was the first ball with water-resistant qualities thanks to rubber inlaid over the seams.

The first non-leather ball did not come until the synthetic Azteca four years later in Mexico, a polyurethane-coated and water-resistant ball.

Further developments came with the Etrvsco in Italy 2000, the Questra in the United States 2004, the Tricolore in France 1998, the Fevernova in South Korea/Japan 2002 and the Teamgeist in Germany 2006.

Goalkeepers did not much like Teamgeist, which had just 14 panels making its surface smoother than a conventional ball and, so they claimed, caused it to swerve unpredictably.

Adidas have even fewer panels for the Jabulani but says its special “grip ‘n’ groove” profiling will give it an exceptionally stable flight.

The ball comprises only eight thermally bonded 3-D panels, which for the first time are spherically moulded from ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU).

It is, says the company, “perfectly round and even more accurate than any ball ever before.”

It’s all a far cry from the brown leather or black and white leather panels of the past - and more colourful, too.

The Jabulani - which means “to celebrate” in isiZulu - is meant to capture the colour of South Africa. There are 11 colours in all, a number which represents the 11 players in every team, the 11 official languages of South Africa and the 11 South African communities.

World Cup 2010 23

24 World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010 25

Siyabonga Nomvete

Nomvete brings experience to young Bafana Bafana

Siyabonga Nomvete debuted with the South African national team in 1999 and was a starter from 2001 to 2007

E

xperience is one of the most important factors in having success at a World Cup. And South Africa national team coach Carlos Alberto Parreira wants to make sure his young Bafana Bafana have someone to look up to at the 2010 World Cup. That is the reason Siyabonga Nomvete has been re-called to the mix.

The 32-year-old striker ranks tied for fourth with Shaun Barlett on South Africa’s all-time list of capped players with 74. And his 16 Bafana goals are fourth-best as well.

26 World Cup 2010

“It’s great to see him back in the team. He’s scored a lot of goals for the country. And his experience will help the guys as well. So I’m glad that he is here,” said 27-year-old midfielder Teko Modise, himself a veteran of 40 caps and nine goals.

Nomvete was all smiles at South Africa’s training camp in Germany in April, when he was invited back to the national team for the first time since his last cap in October 2007.

“Oh, I am very happy to join the team, especially after being away for the last two years. I am very proud about this,” Nomvete told the German Press Association dpa during Bafana’s training camp in Germany.

“The important thing is to work really hard with the guys, to keep the concentration because we still have a long way to go,” said Nomvete who returned to South Africa to be in contention for a place in the squad and whose form with Moroka Swallows was instrumental in bringing him back into contention.

Parreira said the lack of scoring of his young team and the experience of Nomvete - which includes seven years of playing in Italy, Sweden and Denmark between 2001 and 2009 - was the key of bringing the native of KwaMashu near Durban back to Bafana Bafana.

“When you look at most of the World Cup teams there are players with 70, 80, 90 or more caps. I have a lot of boys here who don’t have any games with the national team - not one single game,” said the veteran coach who is heading to his sixth World Cup with his fifth different national team.

“This makes a huge difference in a competition like the World Cup. This kind of experience helps them make the right decision in the big moment.”

Nomvete debuted with the South African national team in 1999 and was a starter from 2001 to 2007. And he scored perhaps South Africa’s biggest goal in history - the sole goal in Bafana Bafana’s 1-0 victory over Slovenia at the 2002 World Cup. That win remains South Africa’s only victory in six World Cup matches in 1998 and 2002. “That was a good opportunity for me to get a goal in that game. And it was a big surprise to score a goal in the World Cup,” said Nomvete about that shining moment in 2002.

Nomvete’s presence at the Germany training camp clearly had an impact as the team’s younger players continually sought out the veteran’s advice.

“It’s good to have a mix of players on the team and an experienced player like Nomvete will only add value to the team. We have a number of young players here who will be looking to him to get experience from him. It’s great to have him with us,” said defender Matthew Booth, who like Nomvete had a long career in Europe and was recalled to South Africa

by Parreira.

Nomvete knows that the people of South Africa will be expecting big things from Bafana Bafana starting with the World Cup opener on June 11 against Mexico. But he just wants the team to remain focused on their preparations and things will take care of themselves this summer.

“I know a lot of people are expecting a lot of things. But the only thing I want to say is we have to work hard and concentrate. I cannot think about something that is said on the outside,” said Nomvete. That is the experience of a seasoned veteran talking.

Mannai Hummer

World Cup 2010 27

South Africa

Brrr! South Africa’s World Cup is set to be cold

Snow is unlikely during the World Cup 2010 but South Africa is on the continent’s southernmost tip, and in venues like Bloemfontein, Johannesburg or Pretoria temperatures can be around zero degrees Celsius at night

W

rap yourselves up! South Africa 2010 is set to be the first winter World Cup since Argentina 1978.

Following seven summer editions, players and fans alike are set to once again need hats, gloves, thermal vests and scarves.

“I think the weather will be very, very good for the quality of play. The cooler temperatures will mean that the games will be played at a fast tempo. I think it’s going to be excellent for the fans,” US coach Bob Bradley optimistically told German Press Agency dpa.

Bradley has good memories of the cold: in June 2009, his men cut short Spain’s historic, 35-match unbeaten streak with 15 consecutive wins.

But not everyone looks back to the 2009 Confederations Cup with Bradley’s enthusiasm. Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano suffered a strong flu on the day his team played the semi-finals against South Africa.

“After the match I had a temperature

28 World Cup 2010

and a cough. The cold here is a lot worse than in Europe, I don’t know why,” said the man who plays for Spanish club Sevilla.

Brazil captain Gilberto Silva endured similar, and perhaps more hostile, weather than that of the South African winter when he played for Arsenal in the Premiership, but he says that the cold gets to him more now that he plays for Greek club Panathinaikos: “I am no longer used to it.”

Fellow-Brazilian Maicon thinks the weather could be a problem during the World Cup. “Some players react badly to low temperatures,” he noted.

The 2010 World Cup is set to start in late autumn and end in winter. The general picture features Africa with warm weather, but South Africa is on the continent’s southernmost tip, and in venues like Bloemfontein, Johannesburg or Pretoria temperatures can be around zero degrees Celsius at night.

FIFA President Joseph Blatter, the man who pressed the hardest to give Africa its first-ever World Cup, tries to find advantages. “The climate here is

ideal for football. It is a lot better to play with cold weather than with the heat of the World Cups in (South) Korea 2002 and Germany 2006, or that of the Beijing Olympics. There it was impossible to play,” Blatter said.

Spanish striker David Villa agrees.

“I personally like to play when it’s cold, more than when it is too hot. The weather during the Confederations Cup was excellent, except when it rained, at the start of training,” he said.

Team-mate Cesc Fabregas also thinks that low temperatures cannot be an excuse for teams that seek to do well in South Africa.

“You never know what weather conditions you are going to face. It’s not that cold. It was cold when we played against the United States, but the important thing is the team and how it plays, not the weather. Be it summer or winter, you have to give your best and fight for the national team,” Fabregas said.

You might think that complaints over the cold might be monopolized

by Middle Eastern and South American sides. But no. Germany coach Joachim Loew was shocked with Bloemfontein’s low temperatures for that Spain-United States match.

“It was tremendously cold, I wasn’t expecting it,” he said. Loew plans a long adaptation period for his men. “It’s cold, it gets dark very early, and there is also the altitude (in some venues). We will have to get used to it a few days early so that we can reach a peak performance level,” he argued.

Some of the World Cup host cities have mild climates. Nelspruit has a temperature around 20 degrees Celsius during the daytime, as do Rustenburg, Polokwane and even the city of Durban, on the Indian Ocean. The sea might moderate the cold in Cape Town, but the wind and the humidity are likely to turn that into one of the toughest places to play weather-wise.

And if the weather is cause for some worry in South Africa 2010, it might get even worse in Brazil 2014. The South American host is planning matches in 12 cities, with temperatures varying between 5 degrees Celsius in Porto Alegre and 31 degrees in Cuiaba.

Brazil is planning to host the first World Cup in history that takes place simultaneously in winter and in summer.

World Cup 2010 29

Coach

Maradona the genius faces his greatest challenge

Now in the coach’s tracksuit, Maradona will have to rush to find the remedy for a squad that has shown many signs of sickness and few of recovery

D

iego Armando Maradona will need not one, but two “hands of God” to straighten the helm of the Argentine national team in South Africa 2010, following a stormy journey and with a forecast of unstable weather ahead.

Maradona, Argentina’s greatest football legend, got into a mess in November 2008, when he accepted the challenge of dealing with the excitement and frustrations of the country’s fans. Argentines have been longing for a World Cup title ever since Maradona himself led them to victory in Mexico 1986.

A win against Germany in March, at a friendly in Munich, was not enough to disguise the fact that Argentina are

30 World Cup 2010

approaching the World Cup rather aimlessly: they can count on their status, derived from two World Cup titles and a long historical series of good footballers, but they have not been playing well.

Argentina qualified for South Africa at the last minute, and their group match record included an historic thrashing in La Paz by Bolivia and a great deal of anxiety. The team was erratic and moody, and above all it never appeared to find an identity on the pitch.

In fact Maradona, as coach, has been quite similar. There was the highlypublicized row with former Argentina manager and current technical secretary Carlos Bilardo, the clashes that led to the exit of talented midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme and the continuous attacks on reporters, including the by-now-

famous rude remarks in Montevideo that cost him a suspension.

At 49, Maradona probably faces his greatest challenge ever in South Africa 2010. There was never this much at stake in the World Cups he played himself, and the tournament has a 50-50 chance of destroying the coach’s legend and of increasing his glory even further.

Maradona has said that he hopes his men will play like their World Cup-winning predecessors, with “the philosophy of the team led by (coach Cesar Luis) Menotti in 1978 and that of the team led by Bilardo in 1986.”

However, so far there has been no sign of either: the attitude was there, but the team just did not appear to click. And it could not even handle the ball properly, a distinctive trademark of Argentine football.

Wearing the blue-and-white shirt himself, Maradona performed several “miracles.” Now, in the coach’s tracksuit, he will have to rush to find the remedy for a squad - a total of close to 100 players since Maradona took command - that has shown many signs of sickness and few of recovery.

Among the pending tasks, Maradona will have to devise a way of supporting Lionel Messi with a structure that allows him to shine as he does with Barcelona.

He will also need to find an alternative to veteran Juan Sebastian Veron as a playmaker, to refine the choice between a long series of world-class strikers Gonzalo Higuain, Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Diego Milito, - and to finally settle for a defence that overcomes doubts.

“In the tour prior to Mexico 1986 we were a disaster. And the great team appeared in the training camp before that World Cup. This team, through work and through talks, is better than that of 1986,” Maradona has said.

A man who has overcome many personal challenges, including drug and alcohol addictions and other health concerns, the coach is confident that the 30 days he will have to work with the players prior to the 2010 World Cup will be enough to get them ready for their opener against Nigeria.

Used to the magic that once emerged from his left foot, Maradona trusts that his stars’ talent and his own aura will be enough to attain a happy ending in South Africa. And Argentine fans are doubtful, but they still look up to their legend in the hope that he can work another miracle.

World Cup 2010 31

Greece

Greek team praying that lightening strikes twice

Reluctant to change, Rehhagel’s approach will remain defensive in South Africa and he will travel with a team made up of veteran tournament players and a slew of young rookies

G

reece unsettled the established order of football with an astounding victory at Euro 2004.

Under the leadership of German coach Otto Rehhagel, the team made up of veteran and rookie players, are hoping that lightening strikes twice at this year’s World Cup in South Africa.

Their qualification for South Africa 2010 is in fact only the second time Greece has reached the World Cup finals, coming 16 years after their first appearance in the United States in 1994.

In the previous World Cup they exited in the first round after losing all three of their group matches without scoring and conceding 10 goals, after their opening 4-0 loss to Argentina and Diego Maradona.

It looks like they will also have their work cut out this time to qualify from Group B since they have never beaten group rivals Argentina or South Korea and have just one win against Nigeria in

34 World Cup 2010

past games.

But after securing what is probably the most unexpected victory in football history Greece have proven that even underdogs can bounce back and win a major tournament.

Indeed, many say that the failure of the team to qualify for this year’s finals would most likely have spelled the end of Rehhagel’s eight-year run a Greece’s coach during which time he has managed to pull the national team out of relative obscurity.

Qualification for finals of the World Cup after a play-off against Ukraine was the missing piece in Rehhagel’s five decades of involvement in the game, having never coached or played at football’s most prestigious international tournament.

Reluctant to change, Rehhagel’s approach will remain defensive in South Africa and he will travel with a team made up of veteran tournament players and a slew of young rookies.

“There are so many young players

now which will make the team more exciting,” said former Benfica midfielder Costas Katsouranis, one of the few remaining veterans from the winning 2004 squad. “we can do something good in South Africa.”

As they prepare for a third major tournament under Rehhagel, Greece remain a team with no international household names but striker Theofanis Gekas bears watching in South Africa.

Gekas was the top scorer in European qualification with his 10 goals in 11 games in addition to fellow striker Angelos Charisteas, who scored the winning goal at Euro 2004.

Greece’s defensive strength will be made up of Liverpool defender Sotiris Kyrgiakos while Kostas Katsouranis plays an important role on front of the defense.

But the team’s creative spark will rest in the hands of Panathinaikos player Giorgos Karagounis, whose opening goal in Euro 2004 set the tone for Greece to upset the odds by going on to win the tournament.

Known for his free-kicks within 30 metres of goal, Karagounis will likely serve as the team’s show-stopper again.

Among Rehhagel’s established younger players is 25-year-old Celtic striker Georgios Samaras, along with Olympiakos defender Vassilis Torosidis, a year younger at 24.

THE COACH - OTTO REHHAGEL At 71, German Otto Rehhagel, is the oldest among his peers heading to the World Cup in South Africa and the longest serving among the 32 teams apart from Denmark coach Morten Olsen.

The unconventional German coach who Greeks refer to as “King Otto,” took over the reins in 2001 after the national team had only reached a major competition twice in its history.

Rehhagel led Greece to a surprise Euro 2004 title and has helped the team qualify for Euro 2008 and the World Cup, in which the Greeks will only be making their second appearance.

He is known for his autocratic, nononsense style which has been dubbed “Ottocracy” in some footballing circles but many of his players have said they are so grateful to be playing for him that the county should erect a statue in his honour.

As a player, Rehhagel was a defender.

He later built his reputation as a goalstopping coach in the Bundesliga, winning titles at Werder Bremen and Kaiserslautern.

World Cup 2010 35

Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt supports Argentina: “Messi is on fire”

Jamaican track-and-field superstar Bolt backs Argentina even though he is friends with Portugal and Madrid winger Ronaldo

J

amaican athlete Usain Bolt is a friend of Cristiano Ronaldo’s and a fan of Real Madrid, but he supports Argentina and fancies their chances at South Africa

2010.

“Argentina - because I support them,” Bolt told the German Press Agency dpa in an interview, when asked who he thinks will win the trophy. “Messi is on fire at the moment and looks like he can be one of the stars of the tournament.”

“However, it will be tough as there are many teams that can win - we will see more after the group stages,” the world’s fastest man said.

For Bolt, Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, currently Argentina’s coach, “was an amazing footballer at his best.”

“I hope he can do a good job as coach/manager in South Africa,” the world record holder and 100 and 200 metres added.

The Jamaican track-and-field superstar backs Argentina even though

36 World Cup 2010

he is friends with Portugal and Madrid winger Ronaldo. In La Liga, Messi shines with arch-rivals Barcelona, and the two men constantly compete for praise, titles and individual awards alike.

Bolt, 23, became a fan of Manchester United and of Real following the footsteps of the footballer he most admires: the veteran Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy, currently with SV Hamburg.

The sprinter, however, stays true to his friend when asked about his personal preferences between Ronaldo and Messi.

“I would have to say Cristiano as he is my friend and played for both Manchester United and Real Madrid.

I have not yet had the opportunity to meet Messi. Both are wonderful and exciting players.”

“I have spoken to Cristiano about football several times. I would love to learn some of his tricks and skills - especially how he is so good at free kicks. I was talking to him about speed

training and his running style,” Bolt noted.

The athlete set a new world record in the 100m at the Berlin World Championships in 2009, by stopping the clock on 9.58 seconds. So he knows full well what speed is about.

“I think all footballers need to have the basic fitness that is fundamental to athletics - speed, strength, stamina.

“Athletics training forms the basis of many sports - in recent years I believe football teams have trained more scientifically like athletes to gain an advantage,” Bolt said.

In June and July, when the World Cup takes place, Bolt is set to be immersed in the outdoor athletics season. But he has no plans to miss South Africa 2010.

“I will be watching for sure - not yet sure if I will be there in person.”

Bolt is also excited about the first football World Cup ever held in Africa. “It is a great opportunity for Africa,” he said.

“I hope it will be a great tournament.”

World Cup 2010 37

Danny Jordaan

South Africa’s cool-as-a-breeze Mr World Cup

Danny Jordaan, 58, is the chief executive of the World Cup local organizing committee - the man who makes sure everything gets done and takes the flak if it’s not

I

f South Africa’s Mr 2010, Danny Jorddaan, is feeling the heat as the man in charge of pulling off the first footbball World Cup in Africa, he doesn’t show it.

The grizzled former liberation activist is a picture of calm and confidence as the last pieces of the giant soccer spectacular are slotted into place.

“We’ve worked very hard,” he told Germman Press Agency dpa in an interview in March.

Jordaan, 58, is the chief executive of the World Cup local organizing committtee - the man who makes sure everything gets done and takes the flak if it’s not.

As the clock ticks down towards kickoff on June 11, he surveys South Africa’s achievements so far with pride.

The ten stadiums being built or upggraded around the country for the tournnament were all ready, or as good as, six month ahead of time. In Johannesburg, a new bus system has been in place since August 2009.

Airports around the country have been upgraded, hundreds of kilometres of roads widened and the country’s security plan is being hailed as first-class.

And yet some foreign commentators continue to prophesise disaster. “It seems to me some people are still hoping this World Cup won’t happen. Well, they’re

38 World Cup 2010

going to be very disappointed,” Jordaan said defiantly at the launch of over-thecounter ticket sales in April.

Since 2004, when South Africa won the right to host the World Cup after a failed stab at the 2006 edition, the former national football boss has been on a crussade to silence the sceptics.

It’s a fight he compares to the strugggle to end apartheid, in which he played a part, also through the medium of footbball.

Born into a mixed-race family in the southern city of Port Elizabeth, Jordaan was exposed to prejudice at a early age.

His family was classified Coloured (mixed race) by the white National Party government of the day and forcibly remmoved from their home in the city centre to the outskirts of town, when the centre was declared a whites-only area.

“As a youngster growing up, you stand there, the government trucks come and put all your furniture on the truck and then the bulldozers go into the house and flatten your house.”

“That was a very sharp and very painful reminder of the kind of system we lived under,” he says.

A few years later, he joined the South African Students Organization of local Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, also a Port Elizabeth native, and took part

in numerous boycotts and demonstrattions, which saw him briefly detained by police.

“It was a difficult and dangerous time,” he recalls. Biko was brutally tortured by police and left to die on the stone floor of a prison cell in 1977 at the age of 30.

Abraham Tiro, another leading Black Conssciousness member was killed by a parcel bomb in Botswana three years earlier.

It was around that time that the nonracial South African Council on Sport (SACCOS) was formed.

“They could ban political organizations but they could not ban sports organizattions. So we moved into the sports organiizations because we could have a political meeting in the dressing room while the team was playing,” Jordaan recalls.

Arguing that there could be “no normal sport in an abnormal society” SACOS camppaigned successfully for the international isolation of South African sport, including football, rugby and athletics. From 1964 to 1992 South Africa was barred from the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

The struggle for equality culminated in the release from prison of liberation icon Nelson Mandela in 1990 and the country’s first democratic elections four years later - but it didn’t end there, says Jordaan, who served as an MP with Manddela’s African National Congress between 1994 and 1999.

“While it held the promise that SA would be a better country there’s still a long way to go to make that promise a reality,” he says.

Hosting the World Cup is part of a strateegy to deliver on that promise, by using events to channel money into infrastructture development.

The government has spent at least 33 billion rand (around 4.5 billion dollars) to build and upgrade 10 World Cup stadiuums and improve transport and telecommmunications systems.

Will it all come off? The big unknown now is crime. How safe are World Cup tourists in a country where 50 people are murdered every day?

It’s a question Jordaan is asked at almmost every press conference, and which he usually answers patiently, by pointing to the country’s record in hosting major sporting events and statistics showing tourists are rarely targeted by criminals.

Ask the question too often, and he is apt to blow a fuse, as one Belgian journaliist whom he sharply instructed “come up with another question” discovered.

“We’re all human,” he says with a smile.

World Cup 2010 39

South Africa

Can Bafana Bafana keep host streak alive?

The key to Bafana Bafana’s showing in South Africa 2010 may be the perfformance of the nation’s prize player Steven Pienaar, seen here challengiing Robhino for the ball

E

very host nation of the previous 18 World Cups has advanced past the first round. That streak is in serious peril as South Africa face a paramount task of even gathering a point at the 2010 World Cup. Bafana Bafana have one of the most successful coaches in World Cup history in Brazilian Carlos Albert Parreira, Brazil’s 1994 cup-winning coach who is at the World Cup for the sixth time with his fifth different nation.

The South Africans also have upwards of 70,000 fans tooting vuvuzelas (a traditional trumpet, which football’s governing body FIFA has said will be allowed into the stadiums in a smaller size) live in the stadium at each game as well as tens of millions rooting for them on the streets and in their homes.

But, unfortunately they also face the

40 Fifa World Cup 2010 40 World Cup 2010

daunting Group A with matches against World Cup veterans such as Mexico, twotime world champions Uruguay and 1998 winners and 2006 finalists France.

“This group is very tough. By chance, the first World Cup was played 80 years ago in Uruguay. And Uruguay, Mexico and France all played in it ... So they are in the business for 80 years. People forget about this sometimes,” said Parreira.

“Of course the World Cup means a lot. We have a big responsibility for the country. The country who hosts the World Cup always wants to do well. I am not thinking about what happens if the team doesn’t advance from the first round. I’m not going to place this on my players’ shoulders. This (a host nation not reaching the second stage) will happen one day. We just have to do our best.”

Parreira did not have a qualifying

campaign to get his team ready for the World Cup, putting them through a series of friendly matches instead.

The 67-year-old Brazilian also held two extended training camps in Brazil and Germany in March and April with his South Africa-based players. His goal was to form the shape of the team and then his overseas players would fit in.

Parreira’s men have shown they have talent and can play competitive football when spurred on by the home crowd. In 1996 they sensationally won the Africa Cup of Nations at home and at last year’s Confederations Cup, they narrowly lost to Brazil in the semi-finals and to Spain in the game for third place.

The coach knows his team will be young and rather small and he will rely on a quick passing-orientated game, which he feels suits his players best.

The key to Bafana Bafana’s showing in South Africa 2010 may be the performance of the nation’s prize player Steven Pienaar of Everton, especially since the country’s most successful striker Benni McCarthy will come to the World Cup with a lack of game experience since he has been out of favour at West Ham United.

South Africa have a storied sports past, especially in rugby but also by winning the Africa Cup of Nations. But Bafana Bafana will have a hard time reaching the minimum goal of getting beyond the first round.

THE COACH - CARLOS ALBERTO PARREIRA Apart from winning the 1994 World Cup with Brazil, Carlos Alberto Parreira is best remembered for being in charge of four different countries at the World Cup (Kuwait, 1982; United Arab Emirates, 1990; Brazil, 1994 and 2006; and Saudi Arabia, 1998). Only Bora Milutinovic has one more country in his resume.

The well-travelled 67-year-old coach, who has had stints in several Middle Eastern countries, as well as Turkey, came under criticism during his earlier tenure with the South African team and in April 2008 resigned, citing his wife’s health problems the reason.

He was brought back when the South African Football Association parted ways with his successor Joel Santana.

World Cup 2010 41

Referee

Germany’s Wolfgang Stark is on the Short list of elite referees as part of FIFA

FIFA hoping to reap benefit of investment in refereeing

W

hile FIFA may have decided against introducing two additional referees per game or allowing the use of video or goal-line technology at this summer’s World Cup, football’s ruling body is still hopeful of improved standards among match officials.

The obvious handball by Thierry Henry in the run-up to William Gallas’ decisive goal in the qualifying play-off match between France and Ireland led to a serious examination of refereeing in football matches but for South Africa, things will stay as they are.

As a result, the situation for officials will be the same as the World Cup in 2006, when FIFA decided against goal-line technology in Germany after a trial run at the under-17 World Championships in Peru with a “smartball” system proved less than reliable.

Instead, FIFA will be looking to see the fruit of its multi-million dollar investment in refereeing training programmes since the tournament in Germany when dubious refereeing performances, most notably Russian Valentin Ivanov’s performance in the NetherlandsPortugal match, caused unease in the organization.

Ivanov set an unwelcome World Cup record when he sent off four players and handed out 16 yellow cards i n total.

Another refereeing performance in 2006 that left FIFA red-faced was

42 World Cup 2010

when English referee Graham Poll gave Croatian player Josip Simunic three yellow cards and only sent him off with the third.

To make matters worse, the controversies came on the back of the heavy criticism of refereeing standards that followed the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

In order to ensure a uniform approach among referees to applying the rules, FIFA has been running elite referee seminars as part of its Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP) since the beginning of 2007 where the technical, physical, mental and energy performance of referees was monitored.

From an initial group of 54 trios of referees from all over the world, the FIFA Referees Committee announced in February a shortlist of 30 referees representing 28 different countries.

Some of the more famous names on the list include South African Jerome Damon and Eddy Maillet from the Seychelles, as well as European referees Massimo Busacca (Switzerland), Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium), Roberto Rosetti (Italy), Wolfgang Stark (Germany) and Howard Webb (England).

The “trio system”, whereby each referee is assisted by two linesmen from his own country in all of the matches they are called to officiate, was first introduced for the 2006 World Cup. Just as four years ago, referees and their assistants will also be able to talk to each other during the match via a set of microphones and earphones.

A comprehensive programme is also in place to ensure that the referees are in peak condition when the tournament kicks off on June 11 with the clash between hosts South Africa and Mexico in Soccer City, Johhannesburg.

The group of 30 trios of referees particippated in a training seminar in March while a final assessment is due in May.

South African referee Jerome Damon is a veteran of the 2006 World Cup

World Cup 2010 43

Security

Security personnel guarding the Royal Bafokeng Stadium during the 2009 Confederations Cup. The facility is one of the venues for the 2010 World Cup

SA firms cash in on fear

T

hey guard millions of South Africans every day, including the police.

Now, foreign football fans are also turning to the country’s legions of private security companies for protection during the June-July football World Cup. For the six years since it won the right to host the first World Cup on the African continent, South Africa has been trying to reassure the world it can safely host the tournament.

South Africa has successfully hosted 41 major events, including two World Cups (cricket and rugby) since 1994 - proof the country has mastered event security, the organizers say.

“We’ll be ready for any eventuality in air, water, on land,” national police commissioner Bheki Cele says confidently.

But foreign teams, VIPs and media teams are still dubious. Wary of joining the ranks of the 50 people who are murdered every day or the approximately 40 who have their vehicles hijacked, they’re turning to the private security industry for protection.

“We’re at the stage where we’re turning clients away,” Bob Nicholls, founder of Nicholls Steyn & Associates, one of South Africa’s top VIP protection firms told German Press Agency dpa.

Nicholls says the company, which is in charge of security at the Indian Premier League (cricket) and has also worked on the Oscars and Beijing Olympics, has been hired to protect thousands of visitors, ranging from the “super-rich and very high-end business people” to groups of up to 50 corporate ticket holders and their

44 World Cup 2010

families.

While some clients have asked for bullet-proof or stab-proof vests - requests that have been ridiculed in South Africa as hysterical - Nicholls Steyn is not recommending them. The same goes for armoured vehicles. They’re the exception, rather than the rule.

“If the risk is so high you need a bulletproof vest, we’d have to ask ourselves why we’re going there,” reasons Guy Nicholls, chief executive of Pasco, another company which is booked up for the tournament.

“We’ve got groups of over 100 coming,” British-born Nicholls, whose clients include the English Football Association and a number of foreign media teams and VIPs. Their demands range from security briefings and drivers trained in evasive techniques to bodyguards and rapid response teams that can be summoned by pressing a panic device.

“Our sports journalists and technical team will have a small security detail when travelling outside of the FIFA zone” a South African-based producer with one European broadcaster, which cannot be identified, said.

South Africa’s department of labour counts over 4,700 registered security firms employing over 300,000 people to guard homes and businesses. The men in uniforms patrolling police stations are private guards, not police.

Not surprisingly, some in the industry see the World Cup as a chance to coin it - even if it means being elastic with the truth.

“Tourists become car-hijack victims en-route near the airports every single day” - a company calling itself World Cup

Security tells visitors to its website.

Offering crack round-the-clock security for groups, the company warns: “South African criminals are usually armed, and sometimes totally ruthless. So are we, but with a low profile!”

Most World Cup visitors, who cannot to fork out hundreds of dollars per day per person for private security, will however be putting their faith in the police and existing systems.

South Africa is dedicating 41,000 police to the event as part of a 1.3 billion-rand (179 million dollars) security plan that was four years in the making and has been given the thumbs-up from FIFA and Interpol. The police will be supported by 200-strong high-tech “rapid intervention” units in all 11 provinces, says Cele.

Among the other extraordinary measures planned are special courts in each province to quickly try crimes committed during the Cup, rolling police stations attached to the back of inter-city trains and small teams of officers from participating countries to help monitor their citizens. Whether all these measures are excessive is the big question.

Close to 10 million foreign tourists visit South Africa each year. Yet attacks on tourists are rare. The most serious security incident at last year’s FIFA Confederations Cup was the theft of some money from the hotel of the Egypt team.

A survey carried out by the British Foreign Office between April 2008 and March 2009 showed Britons were nearly twice as likely to die in Germany as South Africa of a variety of causes, including murder, during the same period.

World Cup 2010 45

Cartoon

46 World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010 47

Portugal

Portugal look to Cristiano Ronaldo for World Cup magic

The Portguese team ahead of a friendly game against Lichtenstein in December 2009: Back, left to right: Eduardo, Tiago, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho and Hugo Almeida.

Front, left to right: Raul Meireles, Duda , Deco, Simao, Bosingwa

F

ew teams in the World Cup finals will depend so heavily on one star player as Portugal will depend on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo, the most expensive player in the world, has been the centrepiece of the Portuguese side since helping the red and greens to the final of Euro 2004, aged just 18.

Without him - when he badly twisted that worrying right ankle playing for Real Madrid - Portugal struggled to get past Bosnia-Herzegovina in the playoffs for South Africa last November.

They eventually managed to qualify for their third successive finals - for the first time ever - but sorely missed his legendary thunderbolt shots.

Two weeks ago, Portugal coach Carlos Quieroz claimed that “we are not a one-man team at all, as some people have made out.”

He conceded that “Ronaldo is very important to us. Amongst other things, he is our captain.” But he insisted that “we have a squad full of good players, all of whom are looking forward to performing at the World Cup.” So who are these other players that Queiroz is so proud of?

It is still not clear who will be in goal for Portugal in South Africa. Eduardo of surprise package Sporting Braga finished the qualifying matches as first choice but he has not completely convinced

50 World Cup 2010

at internationa level. Queiroz’s other options are veterans Hilario and Ricardo, as well as youngsters Rui Patricio, Jose Moreira, Daniel Fernandes and Beto.

Quieroz will have to choose between Paulo Ferreira, Jose Bosingwa or Miguel at right-back. Ricardo Carvalho and Bruno Alves will be in the heart of defence, with Rolando as cover. Pepe will only make the trip if he manages to overcome the appalling knee injury he suffered in December playing for Real Madrid. Duda will be at left-back, with Bosingwa filling in on that flank if necessary.

Two powerful youngsters, Joao Moutinho and Raul Meireles, will be running the Portugal midfield, probably with the help of Miguel Veloso, Tiago and Edinho. The fast-fading Deco will be lucky to even make the squad, after all his problems at Chelsea, although his club fortunes have pick up of late. Hugo Viana might return after relaunching his career at Braga.

Portugal can boast several excellent wingers in addition to Ronaldo. Nani and Simao will, bar injury, make the trip, and Queiroz might take a risk with the volatile Ricardo Quaresma.

However, they have few decent forwards to take advantage of all the good work done out on the flanks.

Quieroz will probably use Brazil-born veteran Liedson as a sole striker, with

Ronaldo in a free role and Nani and Simao on the wings.

Hugo Almeida will be the back-up striker, and the ageless Nuno Gomes - still scoring goals for Benfica - might just make the cut again.

Expectations in Portugal are not high.

Few fans expect the team to do as well as in 2006, when they finished fourth in Germany. The decline of the 2006 time was clearly seen at Euro 2008, when they crashed out in the quarter-finals.

However, any team that contains Ronaldo cannot be easily written off.

THE COACH - CARLOS QUEIROZ Carlos Queiroz, 56, took massive flak during Portugal’s stuttering qualifying campaign, but now has a chance to prove his critics wrong. He has no World Cup experience at all, either as a player or coach, but proved himself to be an astute assistant - and wily tactician - at Manchester United.

He left Old Trafford to take over the Portugal job in July 2008 from Luis Felipe Scolari, whose six-year reign finished in disappointment.

Whatever happens to Queiroz in South Africa at least he will be close to home, because he was born next door in Mozambique and used to coach the South African team.

World Cup 2010 51

Stadium

Was Nelson Mandela Bay a financially viable idea?

The 46,000-seater Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will host eight matches during the tournament, including a match in the round of the last 16, a quarter-final and the play-off for third place

N

amed after the most famous South African, former president Nelson Mandela, the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was newly built for the 2010 World Cup. The 46,000-seater stadium will host eight matches during the tournament, including a match in the round of the last 16, a quarter-final and the play-off for third place.

Designed to the most modern standards, the stadium offers spectators a spectacular view overlooking a scenic lake, which complements the striking design.

The multi-purpose venue, which was finished a year ahead of time, was supposed to host matches during last year’s Confederations Cup, but was then scrapped as a venue as organizers were concerned that it would not be ready in time.

The design of the stadium has seen the seating being coloured in various shades of light orange to dark red, which gives an appearance of the stadium being full - even if it is not.

Presently Port Elizabeth has no Premier Soccer League team, although there have been several ill-fated attempts to introduce top-flight football to the city.

52 World Cup 2010

This has led to some concerns about the long-term future of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, with the Eastern Province Rugby Union indicating that they are interested in playing their home matches there, but not in acting as an operator.

The stadium opened with a rugby match between the British & Irish Lions and the Southern Kings last year and this could be an indication of things to come.

It is believed that the stadium costs 24,000 dollars a day to run, and the former Southern Spears chief executive Tony McKeever has told South African media that the stadium will die unless the impoverished province has a super rugby franchise.

The CEO of the local organizing committee of the 2010 World Cup, Danny Jordaan, comes from Port Elizabeth and there have been some suggestions that the city benefited from this relationship by being given eight games.

Come June 11, however, football fans in the area will not care why the city is hosting eight games. All they will be interested in is to finally see some topclass football action in the region.

Matches (kick-off times in gmt): June 12 1130 Group B Korea Republic v Greece June 15 1400 Group G Ivory Coast v Portugal June 18 1130 Group D Germany v Serbia June 21 1400 Group H Chile v Switzerland June 23 1400 Group C Slovenia v England June 26 1400 Round of 16 1A v 2B July 2 1600 Quarter-finals W53 v W54 July 10 2030 3rd Place play-off L61 vL62 Factfile: Name : Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium City : Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth Construction : new Completion : 2009 Gross Capacity : 46,082

Shunsuke Nakamura

Nakamura ready to bring Japan to next level

Shunsuke Nakamura, who has 95 caps and 24 goals, made his debut in the senior Blue Samurai in February 2000 and helped Japan to win the 2000 Asian Cup

S

hunsuke Nakamura has all the traits to be a leading star at the 2010 World Cup. And the veteran midfielder is looking to help Japan reach their lofty goal of the semi-finals.

After a successful career in the J. League, including the 2000 Japanese Footballer of the Year award, Nakamura played nearly eight very productive years in Europe before a return to his native Yokohama.

“Playing in a stronger European league teaches you things and they’re reflected in the way you play the game,” Nakamura told the FIFA website recently.

“Of course I feel that I’m a more complete player thanks to this experience, what I’ve been through in Europe was very different to what I’d have experienced if I’d spent my whole career in Japan.”

Nakamura is respected for his vision and touch throughout the pitch as well as being a set-piece specialist, who can create scoring opportunities for his teammates and himself as well.

The highlight of the left-footed playmaker’s time in Europe was a four-year run at Scottish giants Celtic, who added plenty of hardware to their cupboards with the 1.78m ace on board.

Celtic collected the Scottish Premier League and League Cup in 2006. A year later they repeated the Premier League

crown along with the Scottish Cup. And Nakamura bagged the Scottish PFA Players’ Player of the Year and Scottish Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year awards for his efforts in the 2006-07 season.

Celtic and Nakamura completed the three-peat in the Premier League in 2008 and also claimed the 2009 Scottish League Cup. “I think I got stronger and stronger there,” Nakamura said of his team in Glasgow, which followed three injury-riddled and mildly successful years at Italian Serie A club Reggina.

“I could not play my football at Reggina because of their kick-and-rush style. But I was released from that stress in Scotland. My Celtic team-mates were top-class footballers, so it was easy for me to enjoy their pass-and-move style.”

The free kick specialist, who in September 2006 became the first Japanese player to score in the UEFA Champions League, also has drawn huge praise from his former Celtic coach. Gordon Strachan once described him as “one of the most brilliant playmakers I have ever seen”.

For all the success and respect Nakamura had in Scotland, things went quite sour during the 2009-10 season with Spanish La Liga club Espanyol Barcelona.

Nakamura admitted that he enjoys challenges and felt it was time to learn new things after his contract with Celtic ran out in 2009. One of the main things he learned in Spain though was sitting on the bench and not scoring.

He played only 12 games and did not score a goal for Espanyol before deciding it was time to part ways with the Spaniards in February 2010. “I felt that it was time to go back to Japan, but I don’t regret signing for Espanyol in the slightest.

The experience was invaluable,” said Nakamura, who rejoined the Yokohama Marinos less than a year after turning down their offer to go to Espanyol.

Now Nakamura takes that experience back to the Japanese team, where he will be considered the main leader since the retirement of Hidetoshi Nakata.

Nakamura, who has 95 caps and 24 goals, made his debut in the senior Blue Samurai in February 2000 and helped Japan to win the 2000 Asian Cup. But he went through the bitter disappointment of not getting nominated by Philippe Troussier for the 2002 World Cup in his home nation as the French coach said Nakamura did not fit into Nippon’s defensive-minded system.

The departure of Troussier in favour of Brazilian Zico after the World Cup saw the immediate return of Nakamura, who repaid the coach for his trust by winning MVP honours as Japan again won the Asian Cup in 2004.

He then played all three matches at Germany 2006 where Japan performed under their expectations, with just a scoreless draw against Croatia sandwiched around losses against Australia and Brazil.

At South Africa, the Japanese will be going up against Netherlands, Denmark and Cameroon.

“It will be tough but I believe Japan can surprise the world.

Our aim is still the same: to reach the semi-finals.”

World Cup 2010 53

England

England have to overcome weight of expectation

The England squad seen before a friendly match against the Netherlands in August 2009: Back, left to right: David Beckham, Emile Heskey, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Robert Green, Gareth Barryy Frank Lampard. Front, left to right: Ashley Cole, Ashley Young, Wayne Rooney and Glen Johnson

W

hen England won the World Cup on home soil in 1966, few would possibly have believed that it would prove to be more of a curse than a joy.

Lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy at Wembley Stadium was the undoubted highlight of a career for captain Bobby Moore and all those on show that July day.But for those who have tried to emulate their achievements ever since, the World Cup has always been a bridge too far.

Despite a domestic league that is the envy of the rest of the world, in the 44 years since they beat Germany after extra-time to clinch victory, England have reached only one World Cup semifinal, in Italy in 1990.

Three times they have even failed to qualify for the finals and they went out at the quarter-final stage in both 2002 and 2006. England fans are used to getting their hopes up only to see them dashed

54 World Cup 2010

when it gets to the biggest stage, but in 2010, optimism is unusually high that maybe, just maybe they could go close.

Much of that is down to the presence of Fabio Capello as their manager.

After a stellar playing career in Italy, and at international level, he has enjoyed huge success as manager at AC Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid and Roma.

All of a sudden England’s players have belief.

“I’m confident that he can take us really far in the World Cup,” said midfielder Steven Gerrard recently, one of England’s top players.

“I don’t want to inflate expectations but I do know is that if we are going to be successful it will certainly be with Fabio Capello.”

According to his players, Capello has that happy knack of being able to get the best out of each man in his squad, listening to their views and then imparting his wisdom.

Of course, if England are to enjoy

success in South Africa, then they will need their best players to be on top form; that means Wayne Rooney, Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand all performing.

Until he suffered an ankle injury in late March, it seemed that former captain David Beckham would make the squad, adding his experience and his ability from set-pieces to the rest of the 22.

The injury perhaps removed any doubts Capello may have had about whether Beckham deserved a place and the canny Italian may well still bring Beckham to South Africa to act as a guiding presence behind the scenes.

Capello has a good idea of his preferred starting XI for England’s first match, against the United States on June 12, but much will depend on the fitness of the likes of captain Rio Ferdinand, who has been struggling all season.

Former captain John Terry, who was

sacked as skipper in the wake of a sex scandal, will be his partner in the defence, with Gerrard and Lampard the lynchpins in midfield and Rooney tasked with scoring the goals.

The Manchester United man has enjoyed a stunning season, and if England are to go far, then he has to stay fit.

Injuries in the 2004 European Championship and 2006 World Cup meant the world did not see the best of Rooney, but he is the country’s star player and at 24, should be in the prime of his career.

As former England striker Alan Shearer put it: “If Rooney’s there we’ve got a chance - if he’s not we’ll struggle,” he said. “Rooney is a superstar. He’s a (Lionel) Messi, a Kaka. Take Rooney out of the England team and they wouldn’t be the same.

“I just don’t think they could win it without him.

We’ve got some very good players around him in Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand but every country needs a great player like Rooney to have a chance.”

THE COACH FABIO CAPELLO Few men command instant respect in an international dressing room but Fabio Capello did just that, immediately instilling belief and discipline among an already talented squad.

A world-class player with Roma, Juventus, AC Milan and Italy, Capello learnt his trade under the slightly eccentric Arrigo Sacchi at Milan and learnt well, for he has won the domestic title with every team he has ever managed - Milan, Juventus, Roma and Real Madrid.

He took over as England manager after Steve McClaren’s side failed to qualify for Euro 2008 and the Italian has won 16 of his 22 matches in charge, losing just four.

John Terry is still set to be an integral part of Fabio Capello’s side for the finals in South Africa this summer

Disgraced Terry still has a major role to play

D

isgraced by a sex scandal and having been stripped of the captaincy, John Terry has had a terrible year, in personal terms.

While his club, Chelsea, have been fighting it out for honours all season and won the Premier League and qualified for the FA Cup final, Terry’s personal life has been in the public eye and his indiscretions have cost him the honour of the captain’s armband.

But the 30-year-old central defender is still set to be an integral part of Fabio Capello’s side for the finals in South Africa this summer and if England are to do well, they will need the former skipper to produce his best form on the biggest stage of all.

There can be little argument that Terry’s form has dipped ever since it was revealed that he’d had an affair with the former girlfriend of former Chelsea and England team-mate Wayne Bridge.

But with the prospect of a World Cup to get himself fired up for, Terry has one chance for redemption.

Barring injuries, Terry seems certain to form half of Capello’s first-choice back four for England in South Africa and though his personal life has been dragged through the mill, his desire to help England to glory is not in question.

When he played his first England match after the scandal was revealed - a 3-1 win over Egypt in March - Terry was booed by sections of the crowd but Capello, who

had earlier stripped him of the captaincy, was full of praise for how he handled the occasion.

“This was one of the most important games for him after the history of what happened off the pitch,” Capello said. “He played a fantastic game, like I know he plays always at this level. When I chose him as captain I knew the value of this player because he’s really important on the pitch.

“It is now time to move on. But yes, John Terry is still an important player for England.

He is one of our most important players.”

Terry may lack the pace of his likely partner in South Africa, new captain Rio Ferdinand, but what he lacks in speed he makes up for in his uncompromising nature, while he also chips in with more than his share of goals at the other end.

His desire and commitment have never been in question and at the age of 30, he will surely never have a better chance to achieve success with England. “I’m extremely proud to play for England,” Terry said recently. “I think we’ve got players in their prime.

“When you look through the spine of the team you’ve got people like David James, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, who’s showed an awful lot of experience on his own up front for Manchester United this year.

“I think if we can keep these kind of players fit through the tournament, with a little bit of luck, then I think we have as good a chance as anybody.”

World Cup 2010 55

Expectations are low and sinking for

France

France

The French national side before a game against Ireland in November 2009: Back, left to right: Hugo Lloris, Alou Diarra, William Gallas, Nicolas Anelka, Yoann Gourcuff, Andre Pierre Gignac and Nicolas Escude. Front, left to right: Thierry Henry, Patrice Evra, Bacary Sagna, Lassana Diarra

56 World Cup 2010

A

fter a long series of mediocre performances and with relations between coach and players remaining tense, the last thing the France national side needed six weeks ahead of the World Cup was a police scandal - but that’s exactly what they got.

News reports in mid-April that up to four players from the side would be interrogated by police in an investigation will certainly not provide the stability and calm that has been sorely lacking from their preparations.

Two of the players, Munich’s Franck Ribery and Lyon’s Sidney Govou, were summoned to testify as witnesses in a police investigation. Two other players, one from a Spanish club, had also received subpoenas to speak with police.

Although it seemed unlikely that charges would be filed against any of the players, the scandal will certainly make coach Raymond Domenech’s job substantially more difficult than it already is.

Because of the situation, things could not be worse for football-proud France, who won the 1998 World Cup and lost the 2006 Cup final to Italy by the thinnest of margins, on penalties.

That 2006 final was the swan song of arguably the greatest player ever to wear the blue of France, Zinedine Zidane, and since his retirement the side’s fortunes and performances have declined substantially.

In the Euro 2008 championship, France finished last in their group, eking out a single point while scoring only one goal in the three matches.

“Les Bleus” also performed badly in the qualifications for this year’s World Cup, barely squeaking through in a play-off against Ireland on a controversial goal created by an undetected handball by striker Thierry Henry.

But the low point probably was reached in a March 3 friendly in Paris against Euro 2008 champions Spain, in which the French looked disorganized and uninspired while losing 2-0.

The contrast between the two sides was so glaring that it moved Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka to declare recently, “we can not continue to be given lessons in how to play football the way we were by Spain. In terms of positioning, tactics, confidence, the Spaniards are in a different league from us. They have the game, they know where they are going, how they are to get there... they know football.”

Usually reluctant to speak out publicly, Anelka told Orange Sports TV that “something must be done before the start of the World Cup.” While Anelka did not mention Domenech by name, the criticism certainly seemed to question the way the side was being led and managed.

Domenech responded in his usual inscrutable manner, by saying that Anelka’s comments were “not bad” and that he, Domenech, was “happy.”

“It’s players like this that will turn us into a winning side,” he told Canal Plus.

Then the France coach dropped a bombshell by saying that France’s record goal scorer, 32-yearold Thierry Henry, was not guaranteed a spot in the side because he had been playing very little for his Barcelona side.

“We will weigh all that at the proper time,” he said. “I’ve always had confidence in great players, and (Henry) is a great player.”

However, the impression is growing that the man who scored 51 goals in 118 international matches has become more dangerous with his hands than with his feet.

In addition, striker Karim Benzema, who at 22 would presumably replace Henry, is also playing sparingly at Real Madrid. Ribery has not yet regained top form at Bayern Munich after an injuryplagued season and a number of other key players, such as Govou and midfielder Patrick Vieira, are either injured or returning from injury.

Finally, Domenech’s authority is far from respected.

Since Euro 2008, there have been repeated calls for his replacement - by media, former players and coaches - and he has had to deal with a number of player rebellions provoked by his tactics and lineup decisions.

As a result, France will go to South Africa with low expectations, and hope to play well enough to survive Group A, which includes host South Africa and two difficult Latin American opponents, Mexico and Uruguay.

THE COACH - RAYMOND DOMENECH Raymond Domenech has yet to prove that he can be a winning coach without Zinedine Zidane.

When he took over the side in 2004, he was given the goal of guiding the French at least to the 2006 World Cup semi-finals.

That they came within a hair’s breadth of winning that World Cup cemented Domenech’s position and kept the French football Federation (FFF) loyal in the face of mounting criticism over his tactics, personality and the mediocre performances of the side.

His critics point out that in 26 years of coaching he has never won a single major title, as coach of the France U-21 side from 1993 to 2004. A prickly character, he has engaged in running battles with journalists and players, forcing the FFF to urge him to improve his communications strategy.

Win or lose, the 2010 World Cup will be his last competition as France coach. Unless the French advance at least to the semi-finals, Domenech’s tenure as will no doubt be remembered as a disaster.

World Cup 2010 57

Germany

Germany bank on tournament strength as problems abound

German trainer Joachim Loew recently announced his national squad for South Africa: Captain Michael Ballack (third row left) continues to be the fulcrum but the line-up includes a number of creative young players

T

o speak of a nation which has won the World Cup three times and been in seven finals as an unknown quantity may seem strange, but doubts abound as Germany head to South Africa.

The national team’s tournament qualities will not be questioned in view of an enviable record at major competitions, but the uncertainties surrounding Joachim Loew’s are undeniable.

Germany’s path to the 2010 finals was smooth enough, with the team twice beating Russia and qualifying without losing a game. However, since reaching the final of Euro 2008, Loew has had some difficult decisions to make and has problems in all areas of the team.

The coach himself enters the tournament with his own future unclear after talks earlier this year with the German football federation on a contract extension stalled.

Loew has also opened himself for criticism for preferring players he trusts

58 World Cup 2010

despite indifferent seasons rather than those on form.

Thus there is no place for Schalke striker Kevin Kuranyi, who has 18 league goals, or Werder Bremen’s on-form veteran Torsten Frings, despite problems for Loew in defensive midfield.

Germany will also be going into a tournament, where they face Australia, Serbia and Ghana in Group D, with question marks over the goalkeeping position.

Following the Oliver Kahn era and the tenure of Jens Lehmann at the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008, the Germans suddenly look vulnerable between the posts.

The suicide of Hanover’s Robert Enke last November seemed to open the door for Rene Adler but the Leverkusen keeper has now dropped out with a rib injury.

It leaves Schalke’s Manuel Neuer, who has only two caps and one full game for Germany, as possible first choice. Tim Wiese of Werder Bremen also has two

caps but has yet to play a full 90 minutes for the national team.

Loew has now turned to Bayern Munich’s Hans-Joerg Butt, whose three caps (without a full game) go back to between 2000 and 2003. It remains to be seen whether 35-year-old Butt is to be taken as the number three or could yet challenge Neuer and Wiese.

Defensively, Germany do not appear to be as strong as in the past, while the midfield is both a source of concern and promise.

Captain Michael Ballack continues to be the fulcrum and Bayern’s Bastian Schweinsteiger has gained in influence, but Simon Rolfes and Thomas Hitzlsperger, who had shared the defensive midfield role recently, are out through injury (Rolfes) and loss of form (Hitzlsperger).

Stuttgart’s Sami Khedira, of whom Loew has high hopes in the position, has also had his appearances limited by injury.

However Loew has been encouraged

by the rise of creative young players such as the Bremen duo Mesut Ozil and Marko Marin, while Bayern Munich’s 20year-old Thomas Mueller has won a first cap in his debut season and could now make an international breakthrough.

Loew also found a place in his preliminary squad for 21-year-old Bayern left-back Holger Badstuber, who like Mueller has established himself in the Bayern side this season.

In all there are seven Bayern players in the preliminary squad, as well as seven players who were in the Germany under-21 squad which won the 2009 European Championships.

“We have chosen the players in accordance with our philosophy and our playing style,” Loew said.

“We have player profiles for every position and we have a clear idea of

how we want to play, and everyone has to subordinate themselves to this philosophy, playing style and the tactical requirements.”

In attack it came as no surprise that Loew kept faith with Miroslav Klose and Mario Gomez, despite the duo warming the Bayern Munich bench for much of the season, or Cologne’s Lukas Podolski.

Leverkusen’s Stefan Kiessling, who did not play any part in the qualifying campaign, has also forced his way back into the reckoning after 21 Bundesliga goals, while Stuttgart’s Brazilian-born Cacau, if he makes the cut, offers a more flexible alternative.

Loew appears relaxed on the form, or lack of form, of some his key players, saying that will be dealt with in the training camps. Not many will argue

against that, for if any team knows how to prepare perfectly for a World Cup it’s Germany.

THE COACH - JOACHIM LOEW Loew, 50, was assistant to Juergen Klinsmann at the 2006 World Cup. Former international striker Klinsmann was regarded as the motivator, Loew the tactical brains behind the team.

He succeeded Klinsmann after the tournament and led Germany to the final of Euro 2008 where they were beaten 1-0 by Spain.

A former player with Freiburg, VfB Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt among others, Loew has also coached at club level in Germany with Stuttgart and Karlsruhe as well as in Turkey and Austria.

World Cup 2010 59

Honduras want to re-live

the tale of Cinderella Honduras

The Honduran national squad line-up in July 2009: The backbone of the Honduran team features men who have played the qualifiers for as many as three World Cups

60 World Cup 2010

F

ew people, even within the Central American country, fancy Honduras’s chances of making it past the first round in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

And yet coach Reinaldo Rueda and his men know the tale of Cinderella and want to emulate its happy ending.

“If one is realistic and looks at the potential of the teams we face, you realize that it is possible for us to be eliminated (in the first round),” said the Colombianborn Rueda. “But then there is the excitement of playing the World Cup on the pitch, and anything is possible there.”

The backbone of the Honduran team features men who have played the qualifiers for as many as three World Cups, for whom South Africa 2010 was the last chance to play at such an event.

The Honduran side is built around midfielder Amado Guevara, 34, and striker Carlos Pavon, 36. They are joined by keeper Noel Valladares, midfielders Julio Cesar de Leon and Danilo Turcios and striker David Suazo, all of whom are over 30 years old.

Rueda kept the historic pillars of the national team and even brought back Pavon a year ago, after becoming convinced that the young strikers that were available to him could not fill the gap the veteran had left.

However, the coach did find youngsters to complement these men. Defensive midfielders Wilson Palacios - the star of the team - and Hendry Thomas and defender Maynor Figueroa, all of them active in the Premiership, have rejuvenated the squad.

“Getting out of their country has made them better,” Spain coach Vicente del Bosque told the German Press Agency dpa of Honduras. “There are players active in the Premier League who give them a major identity. And nowadays there are no small rivals.”

Honduras are set to play Spain, Chile and Switzerland in the first round of the upcoming World

Cup. “Veterans” and “Europeans” are joined by other youngsters, like Emilio Izaguirre, Ramon Nunez and Mauricio Sabillon, who have made a name for themselves in the Honduran league.

Former Honduras defender Hector Ramon Zelaya, who played the 1982 World Cup - the only one that Honduras has ever played, - thinks a midfield with Palacios, Guevara, Nunez and Thomas is the Central Americans’ greatest asset.

Zelaya, who scored Honduras’s first-ever goal in a World Cup, thinks these players are good at recovering the ball and can set up quick counter-attacks, besides posing a threat with their long-range shots.

For Zelaya, Honduras’s weaknesses lie in defence, where Rueda has tried different players and tactics without managing so far to “create a defensive wall.”

World Cup qualification, at a time of great political turmoil in the country in the wake of a coup in June 2009, had triggered euphoria in Honduras. Since then, defeats against Turkey and Venezuela in World Cup preparation matches have led to mounting pessimism.

Not many would dare to say that Honduras can make it past the first round of play in South Africa, and most think that their players are not a match for some of their rivals, most notably Spain.

And yet everyone has heard the story of Cinderella.

THE COACH - REINALDO RUEDA Reinaldo Rueda, 53, is an experienced coach who managed several Colombian clubs before moving on to Colombia’s youth national teams, and from then to the senior side in 2002. With his native country, he failed to attain qualification for the 2006 World Cup. He has however got further with Honduras, and after taking command of the team in 2007 he had become a national hero even before attaining World Cup qualification.

World Cup 2010 61

Lionel Messi

La Bajada: The humble origins of Lionel Messi’s talent

F

rom a very young age it was clear that Lionel Messi had a gift for football, and his early skills are engraved in public memory at La Bajada, a humble neighbourhood in the Argentine city of Rosario where his family still lives.

“He was different, he was different from them all,” Messi’s mother Celia Cuccitini told the German Press Agency dpa of the third of her four sons.

“He was a different kind of footballer,” Adrian Coria, his coach in the youth scheme of Rosario club Newell’s Old Boys, agrees. It was from Newell’s that Messi, born on June 24, 1987, moved to Barcelona in 2000, at age 13.

“One afternoon, I saw a small lefty who took the ball and looked like a weaver. That was Leo,” recalls Coria, now an assistant coach for Paraguay manager Gerardo Martino, who also played for Newell’s.

Little Leo “had a terrific shot, with that short sprint, that way of pulling away, that dribbling,” Coria says. “He had it all from the cradle.”

That lefty is now the best player in the world, according to FIFA, and Argentina’s great hope for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

A goal that is still painted red on the wall of a house in La Bajada was witness to the first penalty shots from the young prodigy, as he played on the street with friends who were mostly older than him.

The owner of the house now says proudly that Messi used to practice there, although more than once he sent the young boy away at siesta time because the power of the shots made pictures shake on the walls.

The neighbourhood mechanic also speaks fondly of the talented kid. “It’s impossible to forget Leo,” he says.

62 World Cup 2010

The area around the Bella Vista Sports center, the football training ground used by the Newell’s Old Boys in Rosario, Argentina. Lionel Messi left for Barcelona at age 13. He never played professionally in his native Argentina

Messi’s family home on Estado de Israel street in the Argentinian city of Rosario

Messi was discovered for football

by Salvador Aparicio. He was short of a player to field a team, and he asked the Messis if he could use Leo. That was the first time that the kid, aged just five and a lot younger than his team-mates, wore the orange shirt of the Grandoli children’s football club.

Grandoli is a small club near La Bajada, with a single, sparse-grass pitch and surrounded by housing projects.

In the small club room used as an office, as a changing room, for storage and to display photographs and trophies all at once, they treasure the first achievements of the “pulguita,” the little tick, as Aparicio called him.

For many children, those pictures are a symbol of their hope for a future that is different from reality in lowerclass Argentina. Kids in La Bajada smile when asked about Messi: Leo is barely 22, but he is already a legend in his old neighbourhood, even though most children there don’t even have a ball with which to copy their idol.

Newell’s fans saw him grow as a footballer at club facilities in the Bella Vista neighbourhood of Rosario. “He was playing a preliminary round of the Rosario league, and people came two hours early just to watch him. It was incredible what he did with the ball,” Coria recalls.

The coach says “it was impossible” to keep Messi “sitting on the bench for five minutes because the team needed him.” But occasionally he would not get to play, and that helped him learn that he was part of a team of equals, Coria adds.

“Leo has a very important personality, he is a guy who knows what he wants, a guy that no one is going to break, a guy who always takes a step forward, even though since he was little he has been kicked from the tip of his foot to the head. And with his (small) build he did very well amid big centre-backs,” Coria says.

None of Argentina’s teams rose to the challenge of helping Messi

tackle an expensive treatment for his growth difficulties, which threatened to jeopardize a promising career. So his family found hope in an offer from Barcelona and moved to Spain.

Knowing the essence of that young Messi helps Coria understand his current situation when playing for Argentina.

The pressure from Argentine fans is strong, because “The Tick” has not yet managed to shine with the national team as he does with Barcelona.

“In the group, Leo never wanted to be the star, the sparkle, the player without whom the team would not be able to play. On the contrary, he was always low profile, calm. But he is a leader in football terms, I don’t know whether he is a leader in his head or in his character,” Coria notes.

“He is a player who always makes a difference on the pitch and who changes the story of a match within one minute. You have to give him that place,” the coach stresses.

World Cup 2010 63

Universalist Rooney is England’s one real chance

W

hen Wayne Rooney turned his ankle playing for Manchester United against Bayern Munich in the Champions League earlier this year, the whole of England flinched.

A broken metatarsal suffered against Portugal in the quarter-final ruined his Euro 2004. A broken metatarsal suffered in the build-up hampered him at the 2006 World Cup. So when it turned out Rooney had suffered only soft tissue damage there was widespread relief. “You can stop praying now,” said the United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

The desire for Rooney to be fit is all the greater because the goals he has scored this season have brought a great consensus of praise.

He has, apparently, found his true position and is in the form of his life.

After years of living in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo, he has finally emerged to become the player we all hoped he could be.

Except it’s not true. Rooney has been brilliant this season, but then he was brilliant last season, and the season before that.

Perhaps there has been an incremental increase in his brilliance this season, but essentially what has changed is the perception.

He’s scoring goals, and that means that people are noticing his brilliance (and ignoring how much sloppier he is in possession this season to last; a facet of playing as the lead strike, perhaps, but then so are the goals).

Brilliance comes in different forms.

Compare, for instance, the second legs of Manchester United’s quarter-final against Porto last season and their last 16 tie against AC Milan this season.

Which of Rooney’s contributions was the more crucial? The two goals he scored at Old Trafford against Milan, or the blocking job he did on Aly Cissokho in the Dragao?

Porto had drawn 2-2 against United in Manchester, and Cissokho’s surges

64 World Cup 2010

from left-back, unchecked by Cristtiano Ronaldo, had been a major concern. For the second leg, Rooneey was switched wide to check the Frenchman, and Ronaldo was moved into the middle.

Rooney has developed over the past year, but it is not necesssary to do with his change of possition. He himself has commenteed how much time he’s spent working on his heading, and his success at that can hardly be disputed.

It seems almost cruel to draw the comparison with Michael Owen, but his teammate essentially got by on two skills - timing runs, and getting across his defender at the near post.

That seemed to satisfy him, and when the pace that had made his bursts so effective deserted him - and the game moved increasingly towards lone-striker systems - he was bereft.

Relying on one limited skill seems a peculiarly English vice, at least if Jose Mourinho is to be believed. “I can’t bellieve that in England they don’t teach young players to be multi-functional,” the former Chelsea coach said.

“To them it’s just about knowing one position and playing that position. To them a striker is a striker and that’s it.

“For me, a striker is not just a striker.

He’s somebody who has to move, who has to cross, and who has to do this in a 4-4-2 or in a 4-3-3 or in a 3-5-2.”

Rooney, though, has developed a wide range of skills; as he has proved over the past two seasons. He can play wide on the left or right.

In fact, it’s easy to forget now that he was such a success at doing that that Ferguson suggested coming from wide might be his best position.

“When forwards attack from wide to inside, they are far more dangerous,” he said.

“It’s funny when I see centre-forwards

star tiing off in the midddle against their markers and then going away from goal. Strikers going inside are far more dangerous, I think.”

Rooney’s early perfformances for Everton, for England at Euro 2004, and then at Uniteed playing alongside Carlos Tevez showed he was comfortable and efffective in central areas but what he has done this season is to show he can lead a line as well.

Valeriy Lobanovskyi prefferred Andriy Shevchenko to all other players he worked with because he was the most “universsal”. Rooney is his successor as the most complete striker in the world.

Wayne Rooney, arguably the world’s most complete striker, is England’s main weapon at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa

Wayne Rooney

Polokwane

P

olokwane is situated about halfway between Johannesburg and the Zimbabwe border in northernmost Limpopo province.

South Africa’s poorest province is rich in history and wildlife.

Mapungubwe National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near the Zimbabwe border, marks the site of a highlydeveloped southern African kingdom that was trading gold and ivory as far away as China around 1,000 years ago.

Limpopo is also renowned for its private savanna game parks and giant baobab trees, also known as upside-down trees because their branches are distributed like a root system.

Polokwane, the provincial capital, is a small city of 0.5 million inhabitants and the last major centre before Zimbabwe on the Great Road North.

World Cup matches will be held at the new Peter Mokaba Stadium, which is named after a deceased former leader of the ruling African National Congress’s Youth League (ANCYL).

One of South Africa’s most controversial personalities, the populist current

ANCYL leader Julius Malema also hails from Limpopo. Polokwane has further political associations for it was here that President Jacob Zuma crushed then president Thabo Mbeki in a vote for the ANC leadership in 2007 that divided the former liberation movement.

Peter Mokaba Stadium is one of five new World Cup stadiums. Built next to an older stadium, also called Peter Mokaba, it can hold 45,000 people.

Limpopo’s trademark tree has been integrated into the design: The steel structure that supports the roof plane is supported by stout pillars that are meant to look like baobab trunks.

Polokwane will host four first round games in the Cup but Didier Drogba won’t be returning there.

The Chelsea striker was one of the Ivory Coast players who played in Polokwane in the old stadium in 2003, losing 2-1 to South Africa in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

World Cup 2010 65

Stadium

Mbombela leaves a trail of murder, strikes and demolition

Mbombela Stadium has a capacity of 43,500 and cost 1.3 billion rand to construct

M

ore so than any other 2010 World Cup stadium the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit has been dogged by controversy.

The construction of the 137-million dollar stadium has been accompanied by tales of murder, land-grabbing, strikes and demolished schools.

The idea to build a 43,000-seater stadium in an area that does not have any teams campaigning in football’s top flight already resulted in raised eyebrows and the way in which the land for the stadium was acquired for 13 cents from the Matsafeni community was more than questionable.

Although the community went to court over the irregularities and the price increased to one million dollars after a court case in which the judge accused the municipality of acting like a colonial settler trying to buy land for mirrors and shiny buttons, controversy has continued to accompany the building of the stadium.

Talk of irregularities in the tender process around many aspects of the stadium have been ongoing and two officials who attempted to bring these to light were killed.

Two schools were demolished to make way for the stadium and although the

66 World Cup 2010

communities were promised that they would be rebuilt to the same standard, learners were housed in makeshift classes, prompting angry demonstrations, during which offices were torched.

Construction workers on site embarked on several strikes, prompting World Cup organizers to become involved and Joseph Blatter, the president of football’s controlling body FIFA, promising all stadium workers two free tickets.

Notwithstanding the controversies, the stadium, which is situated seven kilometres outside Nelspruit, is quite spectacular. Like several other of the newly erected stadiums, the Mbombela Stadium was designed around an African theme and as it is so close to the spectacular Kruger Park, animals-themes were used.

The 18 roof supports give the impression of being giraffes, while the seats are coloured black and white like a zebra pattern. Organizers hope the stadium will be used as a sports, entertainment and exhibition venue after the tournament. First, they will look to put all the controversies surrounding the building of the stadium behind them and put on four excellent World Cup games.

Matches: June 16 1130 June 20 1400 June 23 1830 June 25 1400 Factfile: Name : City : Construction : Completion : Gross Capacity :

Group H Group F Group D Group G Mbombela Nelspruit New 2009 43,589

Honduras v Chile Italy v New Zealand Australia v Serbia North Korea v Ivory Coast

New Zealand

”We’ll go down guns blazing,” outsiders’ skipper vows

New Zealand’s line-up ahead of a qualifier against Bahrein in November 2009: Back, left to right: Tim Brown, Chris Killen, Shane Smeltz, Mark Paston, Tony Lochhead and Rory Fallon. Front, left to right: Ben Sigmund, Ryan Nelsen, Leo Bertos, Ivan Vicelich and Michael McGlinchey

R

anked at 79 by FIFA - the third lowest finalist - and with a pretty dismal record in international tournaments, New Zealand will travel to South Africa with little real prospect of giant-killer glory.

Twenty-eight years have passed since the All Whites’ sole previous World Cup appearance when they lost all three first round games. And in three Confederations Cups since 1999, they managed just one draw, losing their eight other matches.

In all those 12 tournament games, New Zealand scored only four goals.

But qualifying for South Africa has given football an enormous boost in a country where it has long been a Cinderella sport to rugby and captain Ryan Nelsen promised in a recent interview, “we will go down all guns blazing.”

Admitting his team will be “major underdogs” as they line up in a group including defending champions Italy, Nelsen said, “this is the most balanced, competitive, All Whites side I’ve been in.

If we have a good day and one of them has a bad day, who knows?”

The tyranny of distance is New Zealand football’s biggest problem.

The country’s isolation gives its players

limited opportunities to compete with the world’s best and raise their personal and the national standard.

Star All Whites who want to make their mark on the sport have to join clubs in Australia, Europe or America and it is never easy for officials to get them all together and arrange national matches against challenging competition.

The All Whites managed only three games - two against New Caledonia and one World Cup qualifier against Fiji - in 2008 and badly needed the string of friendlies they were able to arrange around last year’s Confederations Cup. They beat Bahrain 1-0 at home in November to qualify for this year’s finals in an OFC-AFC playoff after a 0-0 draw in steamy Manama, firing enthusiasm for the sport among New Zealanders who will be hoping for some equally gutsy performances by the acknowledged outsiders in South Africa.

Coach Ricki Herbert has been casting his eyes far and wide for eligible Kiwis to assemble the best possible squad and a US commentator has suggested the All Whites could end up with more players currently playing in the American league than the United States team.

Herbert has welcomed a group of players who have taken advantage of a

FIFA rule change to play for New Zealand after turning out for other countries’ age level teams.

They include striker Rory Fallon, 28, (Plymouth Argyle), who became a national hero when scoring the crucial goal against Bahrain, and midfielders Michael McGlinchey, 23, (Motherwell) who previously represented Scotland and Chris James, 22, (Barnet) who like Fallon wore an English shirt.

THE COACH - RICKI HERBERT Ricki Herbert went to Spain in 1982 as an 18-year-old centre-back and now becomes the first New Zealander to have played and coached in the World Cup finals.

He played 61 full internationals for New Zealand before becoming in 2005 the first native-born coach of the national side in 50 years. He also coaches the Wellington Phoenix club which plays in the Australian league.

He reckons the All Whites, having “never had any success at the highest level of competition in the world”, have nothing to lose in South Africa and just qualifying for the finals has done the sport a power of good at home in firing the interest of a lot of youngsters who otherwise would have adopted the rugby code.

World Cup 2010 67

Brazil

Brazil: From

I

n Brazil, the posh Swiss Alpine town of Weggis is a symbol of what a team must avoid doing if it wants to win a World Cup. “Weggis, never again,” people say in the “country of football,” which still shudders at the thought of Brazil’s training camp prior to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The Brazilian squad that is set to compete in South Africa 2010 stands before the challenge of definitively burying the dissolute image of four years earlier, as they spectacularly failed to win the tournament and instead crashed out in the quarter-finals.

Problems arose in the superstarstudded squad of Germany 2006 almost immediately after players showed up for training, and the coach of the “Selecao” at the time, Carlos Alberto Parreira, did not solve them in time to prevent defeat to Zinedine Zidane’s France.

Several players turned up for national team duty with several kilos too many.

Striker Ronaldo, for example, weighed 96 kilos at the time, 10 more than he weighed when Brazil won the fifth World Cup in their history in South Korea/ Japan 2002. And almost all players were complaining that they were tired at the end of a long and intense European season.

Arguing that he needed to “recover the health” of his men, Parreira kept training to a minimum, with some 5,000 spectators watching each session from the stands, and he was generous in granting players days and nights off.

On one of those nights off, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Adriano and Robinho, among others, were photographed at the Adagio nightclub in Lucerne, where they celebrated well into the night while their rivals for the title underwent tough training and endured stiff discipline.

The result of all that was disastrous: the Brazilian “ultra-favourites” never put in a convincing performance, and they were deservedly out of the tournament in the early stages.

At the end of the mediocre campaign, and before leaving the Brazil bench, Parreira - who at the time used to define himself as “a talent manager, more than

68 World Cup 2010

stars to Dunga’s

a coach,” - made clear his fear of the reaction of Brazilian fans and asked that a “witch hunt” be prevented.

But there was indeed a witch hunt, and Parreira was its first victim. Soon after returning to Brazil, the experienced coach with a reputation for good strategy was fired.

He was replaced with Carlos Dunga, who had never before coached a

football team but whose discipline and seriousness as a player sounded like the perfect antithesis to the atmosphere in the 2006 squad.

Dunga’s first move was to wipe the slate clean of all his predecessor’s work.

He called unknown players to national duty, and he made a point of showing that talent, on its own, would no longer earn anyone a place in Brazil’s team.

Parreira’s dissolute

hard-working team

Brazilian coach Carlos Dunga in conversation with Gilberto Silva (l), Ronaldinho (2.v.l) and Naldo. Dunga has overome initial criticism, doubts and even booing at home with good results on the pitch

“Playing in the Brazilian national team will no longer be an exclusively technical issue, but an issue of commitment. And that is not just a demand from me, also from the group,” he warned.

Dunga, who overcame initial criticism, doubts and even booing at home with good results on the pitch - including titles at the 2007 Copa America and the 2009 Confederations Cup and first place in the South American World Cup qualifiers - has taken every possible measure to keep away from South Africa the so-called “ghost of Weggis.”

Unlike what happened under Parreira, training under Dunga is almost never recreational. And it includes long practice of free-kicks and other set pieces, which led to most Brazilian goals in the Confederations Cup, for example.

With a view to the World Cup that starts on June 11, and to strengthen his men’s commitment to fans within the South American country, Brazil’s pretournament training is set to start with a five-day stay in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, prior to travelling to South Africa.

Players’ privacy will be defended at all costs, through strict security measures.

The luxury hotel that is to host the “Selecao” in Johannesburg during the first round of World Cup play will be out of bounds for unauthorized visitors, and training is set to take place at adapted cricket grounds in a hidden corner of a local school.

“One of the things that cannot happen is harassment when the national team arrives. Those who are going out onto the pitch need to be calm in order to work. We need privacy,” Dunga argued.

Striker Robinho, one of the few survivors of the Germany 2006 wreck, says he is not upset by the drastic change in discipline requirements, but rather feels relieved by it.

“We will not make the mistakes of 2006 again. The national team group is closed, focused and well-prepared for this World Cup. Dunga achieved that on merit. When the Brazilian national team is united, it is very difficult to beat,” Robinho warned.

World Cup 2010 69

Coach

Portugal’s coach Querioz is widely regarded as a man of great knowledge, as a brilliant football “theoretician”

”Teacher” or “secondrate coach”: World Cup defines Queiroz Some admire and respect him and call him “professor”. Others, in turn, laugh at him and say he is a “second-rate coach.”

The CV of Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz, who was formerly Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United, supports both arguments: knowledge and failure sometimes go hand in hand.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is set to be the great opportunity for this well-educated, pleasant man to cast away the ghosts that have chased him and blemished his reputation as a manager.

Queiroz, who was born on March 1, 1953 in what is now the southern African country of Mozambique, cannot forget the time he spent running after a ball in his native Nampula, with his

70 World Cup 2010

grandfather’s black employees.

“I did not leave Manchester barely to get (Portugal) into the World Cup. I left with the dream of being world champion,” Queiroz said recently.

In order to win their first important international title, Portugal have the dribbling and the shots of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, but they also have Nani’s runs and Deco’s passes.

Among his colleagues, Queiroz is widely regarded as a man of great knowledge, as a brilliant football “theoretician.” He did plenty of research, he modernized training methods, and he discovered the talent of Luis Figo and Rui Costa, among others.

After moving to the Portuguese mainland at age 22, due to civil war in his home territory, Queiroz attended

Lisbon’s Institute of Physical Education, he spent time as a junior teams coach and he attained fame when he won the 1989 and 1991 Under-20 World Cups with Portugal.

From then on, it was almost one failure after another: designated as Portugal’s senior coach in 1991, he failed to get his men qualified for the 1994 World Cup. He was eventually fired, as he would be later at Sporting Lisbon (1991-96), in the South Africa national team (200002) or in his terrible experience at Real Madrid (2003-04).

With the MetroStars in the United States (1996), with Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan (1996-97), and in the United Arab Emirates’ national team (1999), things were not very different: plenty of experience but few successes.

In England, he did win several titles with Manchester United, but only as second-in-command to Ferguson (2002-03 and 2004-08). At Old Trafford, however, many think that Queiroz played a key role in those wins. He was “a crucial figure in Manchester United’s rebirth as European champions,” The Sunday Times said in 2008.

But if you ask around in Madrid, or at Sporting Lisbon, almost everyone will say that Queiroz will always be a “second-rate coach,” a loser. Those who know him best in Portugal say that Queiroz knows how to build a team as it should be done: “From the back to the front, with a firm defence,” in the words of a former aide at Sporting.

Others think he lacks the character it takes to guide stars and to be a leader “in the changing room.” And yet Cristiano Ronaldo himself is all praise for his coach: “He is like my father.”

Queiroz is now about to fulfil “a lifetime dream,” to be part of the action in a World Cup. But he does not just dream about football. On the contrary, he has other goals, other projects.

A man who, unlike his predecessor Luiz Felipe Scolari, always has a smile in his face, Queiroz co-owns an island resort in Mozambique, along with other investors.

The island of Vamizi looks like paradise. There, Queiroz supports several social and environmental projects, and he previously led a mineremoval programme and financed the construction of schools and hospitals.

For Queiroz, football is a passion with (many) limits. “A few years ago I realized that I had become a prisoner of football, that my head was turning into a ball, that I was losing control of my life,” he once said.

That is why, he notes, he has “a fantastic ability to ignore sports news.”

He does read, however, but prefers Brazilian author Paulo Coelho and magazines like Newsweek or Time.

“If you want to understand football better, you have to know what is happening in the world,” he says.

Kaka

Faith and discipline: Kaka’s recipe to shine with Brazil

Is Brazil’s greatest asset bound for glory in 2010?

T

he only major star in Brazil’s current national team, Kaka wants to have “his” World Cup in South Africa.

In order to do that, however, he knows he has to get back the level of play that led Real Madrid to spend 60 million euros (81 million dollars) on him last summer.

“I am not worried. In football, things change very fast,” the playmaker said in an interview, with reference to his recent poor form.

Kaka was Brazil’s greatest asset when the South American giants won the 2009 Confederations Cup. He later joined Real Madrid from Milan, but his

season has been far from brilliant.

Indeed, the midfielder has had so many problems that at times he even showed signs of irritability that are not very compatible with the image of permanent calm that has been his trademark.

Kaka’s main problem lay in a string of injuries, including a persistent hernia problem. The player himself denied versions that the injury might be a chronic problem requiring lifelong treatment.

The truth is that physical problems appear to have affected the performances of the talented footballer, who has been unable to play at Real

Madrid with the brilliance that made him an icon in six seasons at Milan.

More than 190 million Brazilians cheering for the national team are concerned about Kaka’s crisis, and so is the “number one” fan of the “Selecao,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

“I think Kaka is essential for the Brazilian national team, I think he is still a great footballer, but he is going through a delicate time,” Lula said in March.

Lula blamed what he termed “probably the most difficult time” in Kaka’s career both on injuries and on the atmosphere of competition in Real Madrid’s star-studded squad.

Less worried and more optimistic, the veteran former Brazil coach Mario Lobo Zagallo said he was “sure” of Kaka’s recovery.

“He pushes the team forward, and the national team needs him a lot,” the “Old Wolf” said.

In South Korea/Japan 2002, when he was only 18, Kaka basically watched from the bench as Brazil won the fifth World Cup in its history. Four years later, he was one of the few players that managed to shine in a dismal tournament for Brazil, who were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Now, aged 27, Kaka knows that South Africa will not necessarily be his last World Cup - but it might be, particularly if he does not manage to rise back up to the level that made him the FIFA Player of the Year 2007.

In order to shine again, Kaka is putting his faith in God - he is a loyal follower of the controversial Pentecostal church Rebirth in Christ, and he plans to become a preacher in the future - and in his own discipline and dedication.

Not by chance, Kaka’s great football idol is not his legendary compatriot Pele, or his Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, but former Italian defender Paolo Maldini, whom he calls “my captain” to this day.

“Maldini was an example: he won everything he could have won, but everyday he had the motivation to train, everyday he wanted to be better,” the Brazilian said.

Precisely that is Kaka’s recipe to become the unexpected great star of South Africa 2010, above favourites Cristiano Ronaldo, of Portugal, and Lionel Messi, of Brazil’s arch-rivals Argentina.

World Cup 2010 71

Nigeria

Nigeria

bank on European organization to reach target

The “Super Eagles�, as the Nigerian team have been nicknamed by their fans, only booked their flight to South Africa 2010 on the final day of qualifying action in November

72 World Cup 2010

N

igeria are back at world football’s showpiece event with very high expectations after they missed out on the extravaganza in Germany four years ago.

The “Super Eagles”, as the Nigerian team have been nicknamed by their fans, only booked their flight to South Africa 2010 on the final day of qualifying action in November.

They beat Kenya 3-2 in Nairobi as Mozambique did them a huge favour by beating erstwhile group leaders Tunisia 1-0 in Maputo.

Nigeria thus finished on 12 points from six matches, a point ahead of the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.

Four years ago, Nigeria failed to reach the World Cup on the head-tohead rule after they were tied on the same points with Angola.

Both teams finished the campaign on 21 points apiece and even though Nigeria enjoyed a far better goal difference than the Palancas Negras, it was the unlikely southern Africans who progressed as they beat their more illustrious opponents 1-0 in Luanda before forcing them to a 1-1 draw in Kano.

Like it was at Nigeria’s last two World Cup appearances, the west Africans have again replaced the coach who qualified them for the global tournament with just months to go until the big kick-off.

Coach Shuaibu Amodu guided the Eagles to qualify for the 2002 event in Korea and Japan only to be dropped and his place taken by fellow Nigerian, Adeboye Onigbinde, after a much-publicised spat with top government officials.

Amodu suffered a similar fate in February after he was again replaced by former Sweden manager, Lars Lagerback.

Amodu’s problem this time was that the team were not playing well and did not look like world beaters even after they finished third at the recent Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have now set a semi-final target for Lagerback at the World Cup. “I’m a realistic optimist,” said the 61-year-old Swede, who will be making his third World Cup appearance after he led Sweden to the finals in 2002 and 2006.

“Nigeria have a great chance to do well in the World Cup. Even the time I coached a small country like Sweden, I have always had the ambition and the belief that we can win matches and do well at the World Cup. “If you don’t believe that you can win matches in a tournament as a team and as a coach, then you don’t deserve to be at the competition.

“At this level it is all about winning. I think there is a realistic chance for Nigeria to go a long way in the World Cup in South Africa.”

The Eagles reached the knockout stages of the tournament in 1994 and 1998, but failed to do so eight years ago.

Lagerback has admitted that time is short for him to build a formidable team, but at the same time, he said he is hopeful that an adequate build-up before the team settle down at their World Cup

base in Durban will suffice.

A warm-up match against Colombia has been confirmed for May 30 in London, while the NFF are shopping for at least two more friendlies, which Lagerback plans to use to pick his final World Cup squad.

Locomotiv Moscow striker Osaze Odemwingie was the country’s shinning star during the qualifiers with Spain-based strikers Obinna Nsofor and Ikechukwu Uche finishing as the team’s top scorers of this campaign on four goals each.

Uche is back in training with Real Zaragoza after a longterm knee injury, which sidelined him from this year’s Nations Cup. Once fully fit, his pace, dribbles and eye for goal will trouble any defence.

The back four though is widely regarded as the Achilles heel of the team with key defenders Joseph Yobo, Danny Shittu, Chidi Odiah and Elderson Echiejile all struggling to pin down first-team places at their various European clubs.

Everton central defender Yobo is one of the team’s most experienced players having featured at the 2002 World Cup. However, he has yet to get back into his club’s starting XI since he returned from Angola with a hamstring injury.

The other experienced player available for selection is skipper Nwankwo Kanu. First capped in 1994 against Sweden, ‘Papilo’ is on the verge of his third World Cup having starred at the 1998 and 2002 competitions.

Kanu will only be two months shy of his 36th birthday at the World Cup and there are some who argue he is over the hill and should give way to younger players.

The Portsmouth forward has made some meaningful contributions to his crisis-ridden English Premier League club this season to make a strong case for his inclusion in the party to South Africa.

“I am still a leader in this team and whenever I’m on the pitch, I will show my quality and show what makes me a leader,” stated Kanu, making a further case for his inclusion.

“In the team, I do a lot, not just playing. I try to carry every player and make sure that they are happy. What I bring to the national team is massive. I try to make sure the ship is steady.”

Whatever the results posted by the Eagles in South Africa, this World Cup will be a watershed for the national sport in the world’s most populous black nation.

Elections into the executive committee of the NFF are due in August and a poor run by the team in South Africa will most certainly usher in a new set of men to run the game in the country, while Lagerback would be back in Sweden sooner than you know it.

THE COACH - LARS LAGERBACK Lars Lagerback was considered ahead of several top managers like Sven Goran-Eriksson and Glenn Hoddle to lead Nigeria to the 2010 World Cup. ‘Lasse’ was in charge of his native country Sweden at two World Cups, in 2002 and 2006, guiding them to the knockout stages on both occasions.

The 61-year-old Swede is expected to bring his team organization and tactics to bear on a talented team, who though have often struggled to play as a unit.

Observers say Lagerback would be rated a success were he to negotiate Nigeria beyond a first round group that includes Argentina, Greece and South Korea.

Such a result would also go a long way to justifying his huge salary of about two million US dollars.

World Cup 2010 73

United States

US hopes World Cup reflects soccer’s growing popularity

The US team breezed through their CONCACAF qualifying rounds for the World Cup, losing only two of their 18 games: Back, left to right: Jay Heaps, Torwart Troy Perkins, Clarence Goodson, Brian Ching, Chad Marshall y Stuart Holden. Front, left to right: Logan Pause, Heath Pearce, Davy Arnaud, Robbie Rogers and Kyle Beckerman

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hey might call football soccer in the US, but after decades in which the world’s most popular game was regarded as nothing but a sideshow in the country’s sporting circus, all the signs point to the beautiful game finally forcing its way into the big tent.

Go to almost any corner of the US on any given weekend, and the number of youth soccer players you will see running around on football pitches will usually outnumber those playing baseball, basketball, American football or hockey.

David Beckham’s much heralded arrival to the Los Angeles Galaxy two years ago may have been blighted by injury. But his superstar status did help elevate the sport in the national consciousness, and helped persuade team owners to embark on ambitious plans for new soccer-specific stadia.

Soccer channels on cable and satellite television are further popularizing the

74 World Cup 2010

sport, and average crowds at games in the top professional division Major League Soccer are growing faster than those of any other sport.

The popularity surge could not come at a better time for the US national team. Boosted by an unprecedented number of players that have made their mark at some of the world’s top clubs, the team narrowly missed on its first major international trophy last year at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, where it beat Spain and was leading Brazil 2-0 in the final before a devastating comeback by the samba boys consigned the Yanks to a silver medal place.

The team also breezed through their CONCACAF qualifying rounds for the World Cup, losing only two of their 18 games, and head in to the World Cup with the confidence that they can upset big teams and go far in the competition.

Managed by Bob Bradley, a thoughtful

and inspiring master tactician, the team will regard it as a failure if they fail to exit the group stages, says Clint Dempsey, who has helped take his club Fulham to a successful season in the English Premier League and the final of the Europa League.

“There’s no doubting that the US will need to be at the top of its game to make an impression at the tournament.

Ranked 16th in FIFA’s rankings, the country kicks off its campaign with a game against England, and will also need good results against Slovenia and Algeria if it wants to compete in the knock-out stages.

“We know we’ve got a tough group and we’ll take each game one at a time,” says Dempsey, and who is regarded as one of the squad’s most pivotal players.

“But advancing through the group has to be the goal and anything less than that will be a failure.”

Dempsey will not be tackling the task single-handed. Other players expected

to make a splash on the world stage include Landon Donovan, the perennial golden boy of US soccer, who this season finally started to fulfill expectations with a successful loan spell at Everton.

Michael Bradley, the 22-year-old son of the coach, will hope to shine in midfield after a successful season at Borussia Moenchengladbach, as will Maurice Edu, who helped Rangers to the title in Scotland, while Tim Howard will don the goalkeeper’s jersey hoping to continue his excellent form for Everton.

But the team may have trouble scoring goals. Muscular striker Charlie Davis, who scored in the famous victory over Spain, was seriously injured last year in a car crash, and is considered doubtful to make the squad.

Jose Altidore, has had a poor season playing for Hull, which ended with his ultra-violent head butt of an opponent in April. Other potential striker Brian Ching is also on the injured list.

But the team will be well supported, as its fans have already bought more than 120,000 tickets - far more than fans from any other country besides South Africa. The fans seem to have realistic expectations.

“I’m not expecting for us to win the World Cup,” said Jesse Hancock, who is taking his two daughters on a “soccer safari” to South Africa. “But I’m sure it will be a great experience.”

THE COACH - BOB BRADLEY Coach Bob Bradley, 52, was hired to be the coach of the US team following the side’s disappointing performance at the 2006 World Cup and after first choice Juergen Klinsmann turned the job down.

Highly regarded in the domestic game Bradley had no previous international experience. But he had won the MLS title and the US Open Cup with a new team he built from the ground up in Chicago, and also had successful stints at several other US teams.

Bradley’s footballing philosophy is well suited to the discipline and physical strengths of US players and proved itself in the Confederations Cup campaign.

He places a priority on defending throughout the team and on an analytical approach to his opponents.

He is also obsessed with the little details that make the difference between success and failure, and on nurturing individual talents into a cohesive game strategy.

“With everything that we look at, it still does come down to these moments in the game, these plays, an individual making a special play at a moment when it really counts, a team that doesn’t give up,” he says. “You never know what will hold up or what will win out. I think that’s what makes it exciting.”

World Cup 2010 75

South Africa

South Africa is ready but will the fans come to the party?

Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg - the stage is set and South Africa hopes the World Cup will give it much-needed economic shot in the arm

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he stadiums have been built, the airports upgraded, the roads widened and thousands of extra police recruited to boost security.

But South Africa’s dream of turning the stock African story of conflict and chaos on its head by successfully hosting the world’s most-watched sporting event also depends on fans coming to the party.

With two months to go, the signs were inauspicious.

Despite boosting the number of cheap tickets by over half a million in February, the fourth phase of World Cup ticket sales ended with a whimper on April 7, with an equivalent number of tickets - half a million - still going abegging.

For the first time, the organizers spoke about the “tragic” spectacle of empty stadiums as a real possibility. The first signs of trouble date to last December.

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The final draw for the eight groups in the 32-nation tournament had come and gone in December without unleashing the usual stampede for tickets Stung by the global downturn, or fearing South Africa’s many “tsotsis” (criminals), many football fans in Europe, chief source of foreign spectators at World Cups, were choosing to sit this one out at home.

As international football associations began returning thousands of unsold tickets, FIFA decided to shift its focus to home fans, by increasing the proportion of cheap 20-dollar, South-Africanresidents-only tickets from 11 per cent of the total 2.9 million tickets to 29 per cent. Still they didn’t sell.

In early April, FIFA finally admitted its mistake. The Swiss-based organization’s sales strategy - which relied mainly on the internet - was “not the most friendly” in a country where far fewer than half

have bank accounts or internet access, FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke conceded.

FIFA is hoping that the empty seats will be scooped when over-the-counter ticket sales start across the country on April 15, but affordability is still an issue.

South Africans are used to paying under 5 dollars for a premier league game.

“Football is a poor man’s sport here,” former national team player, John “Shoes” Moshoeu, points out.

Meanwhile, South Africans are beginning to realize that Twenty Ten as the tournament is known here, is not the golden goose they once thought.

FIFA’s hospitality partner, Match, has handed back thousands of rooms to hotel groups and South Africa’s national parks that it had reserved for inclusion in World Cup packages.

Nicholas Barenblatt, group marketing manager of Protea Hotels, Africa’s largest hotel chain, said some of his hotels in

A man sniffing glue in the streets of Johannesburg - the South African city is a hive of social problems

Cape Town and Durban were only 50-60 per cent full on non-match days.

While hoteliers have got a bad rap for hiking their prices two and threefold during the tournament, Protea is, incredibly, running special offers, starting at 465 rand (65 dollars) per person sharing to try to drum up more business in June and July.

The World Cup will “probably bring tangible but small economic benefits,” according to Citigroup economist Jean Francois Mercier.

The government says it has spent 33 billion rand (4.5 billion dollars) on infrastructure for the Cup – a conservative estimate which puts the cost of the five new and five upgraded stadiums at 11 billion rand, whereas the final total is actually closer to 18 billion rand. Improving security has been a key priority.

South Africa has some of the world’s

highest crime rates, with around 50 people murdered each day and 40 vehicles hijacked.

While foreign visitors - of which there were 9.9 million in 2009 - are rarely affected by violent crime, and the country has hosted 140 major events since reopening to the world at the end of apartheid in the 1990s, one serious attack on a tourist during the Cup, when hundreds of millions of people are watching, could set the tourist industry back years.

The government is deploying 41,000 police to secure the tournament. Most hotels and guesthouses will also be patrolled by private security guards. ”We’ll be ready for any eventuality in air, water, on land,” national police commissioner Bheki Cele told the German Press Agency dpa.

Not everyone is convinced. Some technicians at German public

broadcaster ARD have refused to be part of the World Cup team, saying they fear for their safety.

Sceptics divined signs of doom for World Cup fans after white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche was murdered on his farm on April 3, allegedly by two black farmworkers.

The attack added to simmering racial tensions but there have been no signs of a backlash or of the “machete race war” sensationally foretold by Britain’s Daily Star tabloid.

“Why a certain community in the world doesn’t want to believe in it (a World Cup in Africa),” an exasperated FIFA president Joseph Blatter asked a press conference in Durban in March.

‘Let’s go now, let’s have this World Cup, and we will discuss at the end of July.”

World Cup 2010 77

Stadium

Continuous upgrades to the Loftus Versfeld Stadium have ensured that very little needed to be done to ensure that it meets the requirements of football’s controlling body, FIFA

Loftus Versfeld A good omen for Bafana?

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oftus Versfeld in Pretoria is one of the oldest stadiums in South Africa and home to some of the country’s best teams.

The Bulls, who campaign in the Super 14 rugby competition, as well as Mamelodi Sundowns and the reigning South African Premier League champions Supersport play their home games in the stadium.

Organized sport was first played at the site in 1906, when it was still a field without any structures. In 1923, a concrete structure to accommodate 2,000 spectators was built. At the time it was simply called the Eastern Sports Ground.

Five years later a tour of the New Zealand rugby All Blacks saw the local rugby association make enough profit to build changing rooms and toilets.

In 1932, when a sports official named Robert Owen Loftus Versfeld suddenly died, rugby officials decided to rename the stadium in his honour and since then it has been called Loftus Versfeld, although sponsorship agreements at times saw a company name added.

Continuous upgrades to the stadium has ensured that very little needed to be done to ensure that it

78 World Cup 2010

meets the requirements of football’s controlling body, FIFA. Amongst the changes was an improvement to the media facilities, as well as some work on the roof of the stadium.

For the hosts the stadium holds some special memories for it was there that the Bafana Bafana - as the South African national team is called - achieved their first victory against a European opponent.

In 1999, Bafana beat Sweden 1-0 in an international friendly through a goal scored by substitute Siyabonga Nomvete, who has recently come back into the national team fold and was included in the provisional 29-man squad announced by coach Carlos Alberto Parreira at the end of April.

Millions of South African football fans will be hoping for a repeat performance on June 16, when the hosts take on Uruguay at Loftus Versfeld in their second Group A game.

It is one of six game that will be played at the venue, with a Latin derby between Spain and Chile on June 25 being the other highlight of five group games scheduled for the stadium, which will also host one round of 16 match.

Matches: June 13 1400 Group D Serbia v Ghana June 16 1830 Group A South Africa v Uruguay June 19 1830 Group E Cameroon v Denmark June 23 1400 Group C US v Algeria June 25 2030 Group H Chile v Spain June 29 1600 Round of 16 1F v 2E Factfile: Stadium : Loftus Versfeld City : Tshwane/Pretoria Built : 1906 Construction : upgrade Completion : 2008 Gross Capacity : 49,365

Arjen Robben

The time is right for Robben The Netherlands are counting on Arjen Robben. The proud two-time World Cup runners-up have not reached a major final since winning Euro 88

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f the Netherlands are to live up to their proud World Cup history this summer in South Africa, in-form winger Arjen Robben will have to maintain the momentum that made him one of the standouts of the European club season.

The fleet-footed Bayern Munich man was the dominant figure for the German giants that won the Bundesliga and reached the final match of the Champions League and German Cup. The league crown is Robben’s fifth in eight seasons, from four different countries - after previously successful spells with PSV Eindhoven, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

The confidence with which Robben has been tearing through defences will surely cause the rival coaches of Group E, which includes Denmark, Japan and Cameroon, to take further stock of how they plan to handle the “Oranje”.

With Robin van Persie returning to full fitness and Wesley Sneijder in killer form of his own with Inter Milan, Robben will be an integral part of a dynamic attack that can also call on Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Dirk Kuyt up front.

But it is Robben who figures to draw the majority of attention after his determined goal-scoring heroics pushed Bayern through the knockout rounds of the competition, most famously with the screamer that sent Manchester United out at Old Trafford in the quarter-finals.

At one point late in the season, Robben had scored 16 times in 17 matches to push his tally to over 20 for the season - many of them spectacular. But the nimble Robben is much more than a

scorer, and he is capable of changing a game with one mazy run down either wing or, most havoc-wreaking, via a cut into the middle.

Frighteningly for his opponents, Robben is only just now moving into his prime at the age of 26, and he has, unusually for him, had a run of good luck with injuries.

He also has proven to have the right temperament for the big occasions, not only at club level, but with the Dutch at the last two European Championships and Germany 2006 - where he won two “man of the match” awards.

The proud two-time World Cup runners-up have not reached a major final since winning Euro 88, and it’s now been over three decades since the heyday of Total Football.

Not surprisingly their expectant supporters see the light of those halcyon days in the skilful Robben, who accelerates on a dime, is capable of scoring from long range and possessing of a decisive array of passing talents.

Praised by Dutch greats Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff and labelled “incredible” by compatriot and current Bayern boss, Louis van Gaal, Robben was called out ahead of the World Cup by the worried coach of Japan as the player his team needs to be most concerned about.

“Robben is an unbelievable player,” Takeshi Okada told reporters. “I do not know how you can stop him. He can score amazing goals.” Certainly in his current form, Robben is causing many to wonder if he can be stopped.

World Cup 2010 79

World Cup

The arrival of Paul Le Guen as a replacement coach for Otto Pfister saw Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions clinch their place in the finals with a 2-0 win in Morocco

Rocky road to the World Cup for some, easy for others

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ome of the world’s top footballing nations may have struggled for long periods to qualify for this summer’s World Cup but, with the notable exception of Russia, nearly all eventually managed to book their tickets to South Africa.

Two-time winners Argentina, who are coached by former player Diego Maradona and include in their ranks World Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi, only secured their place in the finals in the last game of the qualifiers against Uruguay, courtesy of Mario Bolatti’s late goal.

Striker Messi was a shadow of the player who last season led Barcelona to

80 World Cup 2010

a historic treble while other world-class stars, like Carlos Tevez or Sergio Aguero, were also unconvincing.

To make matters worse, upon securing a place in South Africa, Maradona rudely insulted Argentine reporters, for their alleged lack of support for the team.

The peculiar outburst brought him at loggerheads with public opinion in the South American country, and also prompted an investigation by FIFA, which resulted in a two-month ban.

Portugal and their superstar Cristiano Ronaldo also struggled through qualifying before a late rally earned them second place in their group and a play-off berth at the expense of BosniaHercegovina.

France came even closer to elimination, overcoming Ireland in a play-off through a controversial extratime goal from William Gallas that came from a blatant Thierry Henry handball.

Against all the odds, Raymond Domenech is still at the helm of Les Bleus, who had a dismal qualifying campaign, producing just 18 goals in 10 matches when finishing second behind Serbia.

Cameroon also started poorly in qualifying and were bottom of their group after two games. However, the arrival of Paul Le Guen as a replacement coach for Otto Pfister saw the Indomitable Lions clinch their place in the finals with a 2-0 win in Morocco.

Defending champions Italy also toiled at times but Marcello Lippi’s side never looked back after Alberto Gilardino secured a last-minute draw at home to Ireland to regain top spot in Group Eight.

Russia were always going to have difficulties booking the only automatic qualifying place in their group ahead of Germany but would have expected to overcome Slovenia in their second-place play-off.

Instead, Matjaz Kek’s side reached their second World Cup finals as Zlatko Dedic’s goal in the second leg in Maribor was sufficient to earn a victory on the away goals rule.

England had no such concerns as Fabio Capello’s side breezed through qualifying with nine victories out of 10, the only defeat coming away to Ukraine when qualification was already assured.

European champions Spain were even more impressive, winning all their matches in a six-team group while five-time winners Brazil recovered from a hesitant start to end the South American qualifiers at the top of the table.

The Netherlands became the first European side to qualify for the finals with a 2-1 away to Iceland while two-time winners Uruguay were the last team to secure their place in South Africa, courtesy of a play-off victory against Costa Rica.

Australia did not concede a goal in their first six games of the final group. By the time they let one in, Pim Verbeek’s side had already qualified, while Takeshi Okada’s Japan became the first team to book their place after earning a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

The Ivory Coast cruised through their qualifying group although Ghana, who won their first four matches, took the honour of becoming the first African team to qualify.

South Korea secured a seventh successive finals place with ease as neighbours North Korea obtained the draw they needed in their final group match against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh to qualify for the first time since 1966.

Striker Lionel Messi is but a shadow of the player who last season led Barcelona to a historic treble World Cup 2010 81

Slovakia

Slovakia making history of their own

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A former Czechoslovakia international, Vladimir Weiss was a midfielder in the team that went to the quarter-finals at Italy 1990

82 World Cup 2010

lthough they played a part in Czechoslovakia’s rich footballing history, Slovakia’s supporters are awaiting their bow at the World Cup this summer as if it were their debut.

An independent nation since 1993, the country of just over five million is traditionally associated with ice hockey and has not qualified for the European Championship or World Cup. Drawn into an even qualifying group for South Africa 2010 with challengers Slovenia, Poland and the Czech Republic, the Slovaks were given the most trouble in their group by Slovenia, who later got past Russia in the play-off to reach the finals also.

Coached by former international Vladimir Weiss, Slovakia lost both home and away to Slovenia, but otherwise were perfect apart from a draw in Bratislava with the disappointing Czechs.

A late Erik Jendrisek goal in Prague had given Slovakia a 2-1 victory in Prague, which put them in charge of the group, which they ended up winning by two points over the Slovenians.

With a team of skilful, if relatively unheralded, players to call on, Weiss will like his chances drawn into Group F in South Africa alongside defending champions Italy, Paraguay and New Zealand.

Three points against the Kiwis in their opener is a must before they face what is likely to be a decisive contest with the South American. They will then hope to coast through with the favoured “Azzurri” into the second round.

A rising star with Napoli in Italy and the team’s captain, Marek Hamsik is a key figure in midfield, and how much the 22year-old imposes himself might be the key to their tournament.

Besides Hamsik, Weiss has a solid spine of players, although there is not a lot of high-level experience in the team.

Liverpool central defender

Martin Skrtel should be fit after missing much of the end of the season with a broken foot, and he is a vital cog for a defence that wasn’t the tightest in qualifying.

Luckily, the Slovaks have had little trouble scoring goals, and their 22 tallies in qualifying was one of the highest in Europe.

The main goal-getter is Bochum forward Stanislav Sestak, who bagged six goals in six qualifying appearances, including two late ones that led the side to a come-from-behind win over Poland.

Mainz’s Miroslav Karhan is the veteran in the middle of the park, and winger Miroslav Stoch was in good form for Dutch champions FC Twente this season, while the coach’s son, Vladimir Weiss Jr., offers another dangerous wide option.

Despite not having a lot of big names in their team, Weiss is confident in his side after the successes of the qualifying campaign.

“We have great team spirit and always play together,” he said. “It’s a dream to reach a World Cup, but we hope to go not as outsiders but as a team with a good chance of surprising people.”

THE COACH VLADIMIR WEISS Vladimir Weiss, 45, did not have a lot of experience before taking over Slovakia, but the team have gone from strength to strength since he came on the scene. He had lead (Bratislava) Petrzalka to two domestic league crowns and a spot in the Champions League, but expectations were low heading into World Cup qualifying.

A former Czechoslovakia international, Weiss was a midfielder in the team that went to the quarter-finals at Italy 1990, however he only played in one match at the finals. His father, also named Vladimir, was an international player and coach as well, while his son, Vladimir, is in the current team.

City

A spectacular view of Cape Town, which is not only the tourist capital of South Africa but of the whole continent

The ‘Mother City’ set for the D-day

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icknamed the Mother City, Cape Town is South Africa‘s oldest and most spectacular in terms of setting, with the iconic, flat-topped Table Mountain at its back and white sandy beaches splayed at its feet.

The first Dutch settlers landed in Table Bay in 1652, and built a settlement there to supply ships en route from Europe to the Dutch East Indies.

The garden they dug to supply the settlement and the house they built to store their tools still exist, albeit in a heavily modified form, in the guise of the Company Gardens and Tuynhuys, the official residence of the president in Cape Town.

Under a decentralization deal struck in 1910, Cape Town is the home of parliament.

It is also the tourist capital, not just of South Africa but of the continent, and a centre of Coloured culture (Coloured is a term used for Afrikaans-speaking, mixed-race South Africans).

Architecturally speaking, the settler

influence is still visible, with many homes built in the Cape Dutch style, a style dating to the 17th century, which is characterized by grand, curving gables.

Visitors often remark that Cape Town feels more like a European than an African city, because it has a thriving cafe scene, people are less car dependent than other cities, and has museums and galleries in plentiful supply.

Its vibrant jazz scene and surfing culture give it a bohemian feel. The Cape region’s famous vineyards and fruit orchards have also given the city a foodie culture.

Ascending the 1,087-metre hulking Table Mountain by cable car or by foot is a favourite tourist activity. Apart from the great views, the mountain and the larger Cape Peninsula are covered in thousands of species of fynbos (dutch for fine-leaved plants), which make up the Cape Floral Kingdom, the richest biome in the world.

Robben Island, where former president Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the anti-apartheid movement

were imprisoned for many years, is also a popular day trip.

The island is visible from the new 70,000-seat Cape Town stadium, which is nestled at the bottom of Table Mountain, within walking distance of the beach.

The stadium was the most controversial of the 10 stadiums, being built in a predominantly white area far from the townships where most football lovers live. At 4.5 billion rand (580 million dollars), it was also the most expensive but also the most technologically advanced. The stadium has a retractable glass roof and a facade of stretched fibre-glass mesh that guards against light pollution.

World Cup visitors will probably try to integrate Cape Town into their trip but its remoteness makes it a poor base for games in other cities. It it 769 kilometres from the nearest other host city of Port Elizabeth.

World Cup 2010 83

SerbiaSerbia

Third name lucky for Serbia?

Serbia’s national team: With months melting into weeks until the start of the South Africa World Cup, both the Balkan nation and its players are aware that the stage is likely to be occupied by the heavyweights

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erbia, standing for itself alone in South Africa for the first time ever at a major tournament, has high hopes for the World Cup while trying to forget how the last one went.

Finally not a part of one Yugoslav team or another, with the new nickname and colours - Eagles and red instead of Blues - Serbia now looks at what is different than in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup. “I can finally say that I’m really playing for my country, after Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro,” team captain and Inter Milan midfielder Dejan Stankovic told TV B92.

Stankovic takes part in his third World Cup in Africa and will be playing for a third country - Serbia, after debuting as a teenager for Yugoslavia in France in 1998 and leading the short-lived Union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2006.

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As for the upcoming Mundial, Stankovic’s squad qualified directly for Germany - and that is pretty much where the similarities end.

This time Radomir Antic is the coach, the team has more stars with a major role in big matches and a much easier group.

“All the problems of our team surfaced and overshadowed everything else - we were like a disbanded gang,” goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic told radio B92. “I’m sure it will not happen again.

In Germany, Serbia and Montenegro were dropped into the “Group of Death,” with Argentina, Holland and the Ivory Coast. This time Serbia are with Germany, Australia and Ghana. “It could have been worse,” Standard Liege’s striker Milan Jovanovic said after the draw.

In South Africa, Serbia will rely on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Vidic of Manchester United in defence, Stankovic in midfield and Valencia and Ajax strikers Nikola Zigic and Marko Pantelic up front.

Many, however, expect CSKA Moscow’s winger Milos Krasic, an unassuming young man from Kosovo who is now wanted by major European clubs, to become Serbia’s if not the tournament’s brightest star in South Africa.

“Mundial is certainly a huge spectacle for me, big teams, big world players,” he said in a recent interview. “I expect all to pass well and that Serbia will show itself from its best side.”

Possibly the most painful weakness of the Serbian team is goalkeeper Stojkovic, who has a history of blunders and a hard time holding down a place in teams. Now he is on loan from Sporting Lisbon to Wigan Athletic.

At the end of the day, it is for coach Radomir Antic, who turned Serbia around from a boycotted to an adored squad since taking over in August 2008, to balance assets and liabilities.

It may be that he banks on the formidable, bruising tandem of Vidic and Ivanovic to cover Stojkovic, who may not be a top-notch goalkeeper, but, some reports said, raises the team spirit.

The players shy from giving forecasts and most point out that they have little knowledge of Australia and just a little of Ghana, owing to its stars such as Ivanovic’s Chelsea teammate Michael Essien.

Serbia start their expedition with a match against Ghana, the rival which many at home feel will be the one to beat for passage beyond the group stage, with Germany seen as the clear favourites to win the group and Australia as cannon fodder.

With months melting into weeks until the start of the South Africa World Cup, both the Balkan nation and its players are aware that the stage is likely to be occupied by the heavyweights.

“This is probably my last Mundial, so I expect much from it. I expect us to leave a positive impression, that we will play good football and make fans happy,” Vidic said in an interview with B92.

“When I was a kid, I always rooted for teams which were not favourites, but played football well and I would like us to be that team, the one playing good football. That is my goal,” he added.

THE COACH - RADOMIR ANTIC Radomir Antic, 61, is the only man to have coached Spain’s Big Three, Real and Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, but in Serbia his glory days in the Primera Liga are of no consequence, because enraptured football fans regard him as divinity.

After declining several offers to take the bench in apparently better times, Antic changed his mind and arrived in August 2008, when Serbian football was at a low ebb, following a 2006 World Cup disaster and failure to qualify for the Euro that year.

The first Serbia match he coached drew 800 people, the last qualifier just over a year later a roaring capacity crowd of 50,000. He removed the old guard plagued by vanities and promoted the new stars to create a tightly-woven, disciplined and selfless squad.

Now he has a hard time convincing the nation to keep its feet on the ground, warning against overblown expectations and pointing out that not a single team at the World Cup is a pushover.

During a 17-year career as a defender, Antic, played for Partizan Belgrade, Fenerbahce Istanbul, Real Zaragoza and Luton in England. He coached at Partizan, Zaragoza before Real Madrid called on his services in 1991. He later also coached Atletico and Barcelona.

World Cup 2010 85

Cartoon

86 World Cup 2010

South Africa

Modest goals for underfunded township football

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azarus Tlhahane lifts a row of trophies off the shelf in his living room, removes the cottton wool patch taped over his right eye after that morning’s cataract operation and squints at the inscriptions.

Golden Winter Tournament, U/17 winners, 2009, Stress-Free Tournament, U/15, winners 2008... his team has done him proud over the years.

Tlhahane, a 70-year-old grandfather of seven, is the coach of Diepkloof Helllenic, a football club in Soweto townsship, which trains on a bumpy pitch with no goalposts or changing rooms.

Some of South Africa’s best players, past and present, have been through the Diepkloof stable before going on to a career in the country’s premier league.

Everton striker Steven Pienaar, the best striker in the World Cup host side Bafana Bafana, togged out with Diepkkloof Hellenic as a boy growing up in the nearby township of Westbury, says Tlhahane.

Renowned former midfielder John “Shoes” Moshoeu, a member of the 1996 African Cup of Nations winning team, is also a veteran of Diepkloof.

Despite its illustrious history, the club struggles to obtain the most basic of equipment.

There are two battered balls for about 200 children in the junior teams.

The government recently put down grass on what used to be a dirt pitch but there is still no money for kits, so the children play in their own jerseys or bare-chested.

They’re lucky to have a ball. In many

parts of the country and the African continent, a tin can or a wad of rubber bands passes for a football.

“There is no money for grassroots football,” a disillusioned Tlhahane, who cuts a rakish figure in a red leather hat, blue blazer and white runners, says. “I’m paying for us with my pension.”

He’s hoping that the first World Cup in Africa, which kicks off up the road in Soccer City stadium on June 11, will shine a light on the important social role played by clubs like his.

With unemployment among under35s in South Africa running at 70 per cent, according to government statisttics in 2009, the temptation to make a career out of crime is high.

For a talented few, like Pienaar, footbball offers an attractive alternative: Premmier Soccer League players can earn as much as 200,000 rand (around 20,000 dollars) a month in South Africa. Europpean teams pay much more.

And yet, while the government has spent around 33 billion rand (4.5 billlion dollars) on infrastructure for the World Cup, including five new and five upgraded stadiums, grassroots football remains woefully underfunded.

The chief executive of the World Cup local organizing committee, Danny Jorddaan, blames the apartheid state, which was voted out of power 16 years ago.

“One of the worst legacies of sport under apartheid was the dearth of footbball facilities in disadvantaged areeas and the complete lack of recognition and support of the sport by the apartheid government,” he says.

That continued lack

of support is preventing football from attracting the best sporting talent, acccording to Neil Tovey, coach of Premier League side AmaZulu FC, who captained the 1996 African champion team.

“I think more needs to be done at a younger age,” says Tovey, adding that the youth development structures in rugby or cricket are far better.

Football’s ruling body FIFA, which has already grossed 3.3 billion dollars from the 2010 World Cup, says it will hand over “dozens of millions of dollars” in profit to the cash-strapped South Africcan Football Association after the tournnament.

“It (the proceeds) must go to grassrroots football,” Jordaan insists. SAFA did not reply to questions about how the money would be spent.

Meanwhile, FIFA and SAFA are buildiing 52 football pitches in disadvanttaged communities across the country – a project funded by South Africa’s nattional lottery.

FIFA, which has reserves of 1 billion dollars, is also aiming to build 20 Footbball for Hope centres across Africa at an estimated cost of 10 million dollars - but is looking for partners to come up with the bulk of the money.

The first Football for Hope Centre, which uses the game to address health and social issues with children, opened in Khayelitsha township outside Cape Town in December.

Soweto suffers from a dearth of football facilities but enthusiasm for the game among youngsters runs high

World Cup 2010 87

Vicente Del Bosque

Vicente del Bosque the discreet winner

V

icente del Bosque belongs to an endangered species, a type that proves that you don’t need to shine to be a star.

As an uncommon national team coach, the Spaniard very quietly adopted a winning attitude.

Del Bosque made discretion his trademark in a unique and successful career, and he is now travelling to South Africa with the intent of leading Spain to the World Cup title for the first time in their history.

“Yes, being world champion would make all my dreams come true,” he told the German Press Agency dpa in an interview, with a smile.

But Del Bosque’s smile is not vain or even ambitious. It rather shows the wish to make many people happy, including himself.

Del Bosque is far from being one of those coaches that make a lot of money for wearing designer sunglasses or advertising coffee. He has few problems talking to reporters and he will gladly attend any event organized by one of his numerous acquaintances.

It is not easy to find someone who will criticize Del Bosque, and he is not known to have many enemies - perhaps Florentino Perez and Jorge Valdano, Real Madrid’s current top officials, who fired the coach in 2003, just days after he won La Liga, without providing convincing explanations.

That is the biggest disappointment in Del Bosque’s professional career.

Now, at age 59, he tackles a more important goal: to lead Spain to the

88 World Cup 2010

world championship title.

The coach undertook this task, perhaps the last of his career, in July 2008: when he took over from Luis Aragones, demands on the newcomer were massive, as he took command of a team that had just won the Euro.

Any doubts were soon dispelled, however, and Del Bosque remained true to himself. He adopted his classic low profile and kept all the good things he inherited from his predecessor.

Then he added “personal details”: a good relationship with the media, an empathy with the fans, a desire to integrate young players, a few tactical solutions to increase harmony on the pitch.

But not everything was as easy as it looks. Coaching a national team is not like coaching at the club level, where you have a daily routine. “I also realized that it is a great responsibility,” he told dpa.

After retiring as a midfielder in 1984, following more than a decade at Real Madrid, Del Bosque kept working for the Spanish giants, first as a second team coach and later in the senior side, which he managed 1999-2003.

His record as Real Madrid coach includes two La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues and one Intercontinental Cup, among others.

“I did not expect to get that far. I did not have great talent (as a player) and I spent 11 years in the same club. And then to have enjoyed football like I have enjoyed it... Of course I feel very happy,” he said.

Del Bosque does not like to talk about

his own achievements, but time has put them in context: since he was sacked from Real Madrid seven years ago, no coach has been able to keep the job for two whole seasons.

A pleasant, calm man, he rarely gets annoyed. But he is also quick to show his mistrust for those who define him as a “great group manager” rather than a coach with an ability for tactical issues.

“That hides a touch of wickedness, doesn’t it?”

But he always has a smile on his face, a smile fit for the coach of one of the top candidates for the 2010 World Cup title.

Del Bosque describes former South African leader Nelson Mandela as “a legendary personality who has shaped a bit the history of the world, and of that country in particular.” And he is convinced that Africa deserves the chance to host the World Cup. “I think it’s Africa’s moment. And we have an obligation to support them unconditionally,” he stressed. “Football is universal and it has to be seen everywhere, not just in the great world powers.”

Anything else is to be said on the pitch.

“Our top goal is to make it to the end, of course,” Del Bosque admitted. “But we have to go step by step.”

“Everyone thinks that this is going to be a walk in the park, and that is not reality. It does not do justice to the World Cup. Looking down on rivals is the worst thing a sportsperson can do,” he said.

Paraguay

Paraguay optimistic about getting past historic second-round barrier

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Paraguay’s squad in Colovray stadium before an encounter with Saudi Arabia

araguay never made it past the second round of a football World Cup, but this time around they are overflowing with confidence.

The reason rests not only with the team and with its managers, but also with their Group F rivals in South Africa 2010: Italy, New Zealand and Slovakia.

Paraguay’s optimism seems immune even to Salvador Cabanas’ absence, after he was shot in the head in Mexico in January, and to the poor form of Roque Santa Cruz, who cannot quite seem to get over a persistent injury.

Indeed, there is plenty to get excited about in the goals of Oscar Cardozo with Benfica and of Nelson Haedo Valdez with Borussia Dortmund.

Argentine coach Gerardo Martino, who has commanded Paraguay since 2007, also trusts the experience of players like goalkeeper Justo Villar and defenders Paulo Da Silva, Antolin Alcaraz and Claudio Morel Rodriguez, as well as the talent of rising stars Rodolfo Gamarra and Marcelo Estigarribia.

Paraguay no longer have influential and charismatic players like goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert, defender Carlos Gamarra or striker Jose Saturnino Cardozo, Paraguay’s top scorer ever with 25 goals in 82 matches 1991-2006.

“This time we have the fixtures going in our favour, and the squad

is more complete, more balanced in all its lines. That is why it would be difficult for Paraguay not to go through to the second round, first, and then to the quarter-finals,” former player and coach Carlos Kiese, currently a football commentator, told German Press Agency dpa.

Italy are likely to be the toughest rival in the first round. And yet analysts and fans alike note that the world champions are far from their best form, so can hardly be perceived as daunting.

New Zealand and Slovakia are “accessible,” according to Paraguayan media. They will not be easy, because global football is more balanced these days, but Paraguay are confident in their own potential, analysts stress.

The atmosphere of enthusiasm that surrounds the national team is impressive. The common goal is to look ahead with confidence, to encourage the thought that Paraguay can indeed do better than the second rounds they played in Mexico 1986, France 1998 and South Korea-Japan 2002.

The top two teams in Group F are set to play the second round against those in Group E, which holds the Netherlands, Denmark, Cameroon and Japan.

Alcaraz acknowledged that “the whole country” sees them among the world’s eight best teams.

“People hold very great hope because

for Paraguayan media our group is not too difficult and we should get through behind Italy,” he said.

“There are always surprises in the World Cup, where each qualified team is solid whether or not they have a big reputation. We will definitely have to put all rivals on the same level,” Alcaraz warned, to escape over-confidence.

This will be Paraguay’s fourth consecutive World Cup, and eighth overall. The upcoming event in South Africa emerges as a great chance to make history for the country of around 6 million people, a chance to join national football legends like the silver medal winners at the Athens 2004 Olympics and the titles in the Copa America in 1953 and 1979.

THE COACH - GERARDO MARTINO Gerardo Martino, 47, rose through the ranks of the Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys as an attacking midfielder, and he remains a club idol there. In 1998, he launched his coaching career in a second-division club in his native Argentina.

In 2002, he got a break-through offer to coach Libertad, one of Paraguay’s top clubs. This would mark the start of Martino’s successful relationship with Paraguayan football. He led Libertad and Cerro Porteno to several local titles, before being called upon to coach the national team from 2007.

World Cup 2010 89

Didier Drogba

Master of the Elephants

Fiery Abidjan native Didier Drogba has had disciplinary problems with Chelsea - famously being sent off in the Champions League final

O

ne of world football’s biggest yet most enigmatic stars, Didier Drogba is acutely aware that at the age of 32, the World Cup this summer is probably his last bite at the biggest football apple there is.

The Ivory Coast striker has become perhaps the most feared target man in the world in the six years he has been playing with English Premier League champions Chelsea, but along with the rest of his Ivorian team-mates there

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is the feeling that something is left undone at the international level.

The Elephants, who hired Sven-Goran Eriksson to coach them at the finals, have been African football’s glamour side since reaching the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006 and qualifying for Germany 2006 at the expense of Cameroon and Egypt. Drogba played a significant part in each.

With a spine of talent as strong as any in African history, Ivory Coast were disappointed to go out of the last

finals at the group stage despite being drawn into the ‘Group of Death’ against Argentina, the Netherlands and Serbia and Montenegro.

Likewise for Drogba, the event was an anti-climax after he was suspended for the third match, which the West Africans won to claim their only points. Drogba did manage to score his country’s first World Cup goal in the opener against Argentina.

The fiery Abidjan native has had disciplinary problems with Chelsea - famously being sent off in the Champions League final - and he has won a reputation for theatrics, but for the Elephants, he is an inspirational captain and leader.

Ivory Coast’s failure to win any silverware - despite moments of brilliance, they ultimately disappointed at the 2008 and 2010 Cup of Nations - continues to dog Drogba, and what better time to prove the naysayers wrong than at Africa’s first finals?

Of course, who is going to quibble with him? This is the man who has managed very nearly 100 goals in all competitions for his club over the last four years and scored a goal every hour for the Elephants in qualifying to reach South Africa 2010, including the goal that sealed their place in the tournament just minutes after coming off the bench against Malawi.

Drogba has won the African Player of the Year award twice in the last four years, having only finished out of the top-three shortlist for the prize once in the last seven times.

He was even recently named to TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world - largely for his leadership role in helping heal Ivory Coast’s internal strife.

But despite being one of the biggest superstars in the world and shouldering the expectations for his national team, Drogba is always looking to share the success.

“Anything achieved by the national team is because of collective effort”, he said after the team qualified for South Africa 2010. “Everything we achieve, we do it as a team. It’s important that we feel like a family and that we love playing for our country”.

However, there is no question that all eyes will be on Drogba in Group G this summer up alongside the likes of Kaka and Brazil, Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal and North Korea.

Uruguay

Uruguay in search of lost football heritage in South Africa

The Uruguay national team before a friendly game against Switzerland in March 2010.

Back, left to right: Diego Forlán, Fernando Muslera, Luis Suarez, Alvaro Pereira, Jorge Fucile and Diego Godin. Front, left to right: Andres Scotti, Nicolas Lodeiro, Maximiliano Pereira, Diego Perez and Walter Gargano

U

ruguay won two football World Cups and two Olympic football tournaments, but that was a long time ago: they have not performed well at a World Cup for 40 years.

The “charruas,” as Uruguayans are known, are searching for this long-lost heritage in South Africa 2010.

“We must have some thread that links us to those great champions,” coach Oscar Tabarez often says. Tabarez now dreams of giving his compatriots - “especially the children who never saw an international win” - a reason to celebrate.

Uruguay won Olympic football gold in Paris 1924 and Amsterdam 1928, and they lifted the World Cup trophy at home in 1930 and in Brazil in 1950.

But since coming fourth in Mexico 1970, the small South American country of around 3.2 million people has barely managed to stand out.

The world changed, and so did football. Nowadays many more elements come into play in major international tournaments. Winning such events is extremely difficult, so Uruguay seeks only “to have a good World Cup” in South Africa.

And yet the veteran Tabarez knows Uruguayan football very well, and he wants to build on its strengths. “We seek

to work with the great environment we have, (with) the continuous emergence of talented players,” he said.

“The fact that they sometimes go away to more demanding championships and they succeed means that we have foundations, which is something to do with our football culture and perhaps with our past, which some pejoratively call football pre-history,” Tabarez said.

“But many of those who say that never won anything,” he slammed critics. Tabarez has worked since 2006 with a group of players who are mostly active abroad, although some were still playing in Uruguay when the process started.

Goalkeepers Juan Castillo, Fernando Muslera and Martin Silva have taken turns in goal. In defence, Diego Lugano, Diego Godin, Martin Caceres and Maximiliano Pereira are Tabarez’s first choice, as are Walter Gargano, Jorge Fucile, Ignacio Gonzalez and Andres Scotti in the midfield.

But it is the attack that bears the brunt of Uruguay’s trust and hopes. Ajax’s Luis Suarez, Atletico Madrid’s Diego Forlan, Palermo’s Edinson Cavani and veteran Sebastian Abreu, currently at Brazilian club Botafogo, are an impressive group.

Tabarez is busy making sure that the whole squad is at their best and that players perform as well as they possibly

can against France, South Africa and Mexico in Group A in South Africa.

He is trying to convince his men that they must play without complexes and that they must tackle every match “with a very clean mind,” so as to “enjoy” the World Cup and to get as far as possible in the tournament.

In South Africa, Uruguay plan to rely on their trademark resources in the hope of surprising the world of football.

Perhaps that way they can get closer to their forebears - but Tabarez knows it will not be easy to get that close.

“To win (the World Cup) you have to have experience on the pitch and a historic weight that few countries have,” he said. Uruguay hopes to tap on that history.

THE COACH - OSCAR TABAREZ Oscar Tabarez, 63, is a very experienced coach. He has managed teams at club level in Colombia, Argentina, Italy and Spain, as well as his native Uruguay, and he had two stints in each of Uruguay’s Under- 20 and senior national teams.

Nicknamed “El Maestro,” the teacher, Tabarez makes a point of standing by his players through thick and thin. Since his current stint with Uruguay started in 2006, he has insisted on stability as the best path to recover the country’s lost football prestige.

World Cup 2010 91

Netherlands

Will unruly Dutch come of age in South Africa?

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ogic, backed by statistics, argues for including the Netherlands among the favourites to win this year’s World Cup in South Africa.

The Oranje stormed through their qualifying stage by winning all eight of their matches, scoring a total of 17 goals and conceding just two in the process.

Some of its greatest talents are shining in top-flight European clubs like Inter Milan and Bayern Munich, and FIFA - the sport’s governing body - ranks them the third strongest team in the world after Euro 2008 champions Spain and 5-times world champions Brazil.

And yet, if Wesley Sneijder and friends are to shed their reputation as perennial World Cup underachievers, they will also need a generous dose of luck and a more mature approach to the tournament.

In their best World Cup appearances to date, back in the glorious “total football” days of legendary playmaker Johan Cruyff, the Dutch had the misfortune of twice meeting in the final against the hosting nation - West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978. Despite being credited with playing marvellous football, they lost on both occasions.

Last time round, however, it was their notorious lack of discipline that cost them dearly. The eve of their round of 16 match against Portugal in Germany was characterized by reports of a furious row between Ruud van Nistelrooy and then coach Marco van Basten, with the star striker reacting angrily to the news that he would not be starting the game.

A day later, the Dutch lost 1-0 against the Portuguese at the end of one of the most ill-tempered games in World Cup history, which saw Russian referee Valentin Ivanov wave a total of 16 yellow cards and four red cards in what came to be known as “the Battle of Nuremberg.”

The Dutch have a history of internal strife. But these days, the men

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in orange seem genuinely interested in putting their divisions behind them.

“The most important thing is that we all work together to make sure that the team is a success,” inspirational attacking midfielder Sneijder said in a recent interview.

What’s more, many of the the Netherlands’ star players are now approaching full maturity, as testified by their performances at club level.

Sneijder, for instance, has become a reference point at star-studded Inter Milan. Bayern, for their part, have Arjen Robben’s often spectacular goals to thank for for their stellar performance in this year’s Champions League. And if Arsenal’s Robin van Persie can return to form following a nasty injury, he will be able to pair up with either Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt or AC Milan’s Klaas Jan Huntelaar to create a potentially devastating attacking lineup.

While Hiddink believes that “if the Netherlands does well, it will be because of its well organised defence,”

The Dutch national side in November 2009: Back, left to right:Stekelenburg, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Kuyt, Bommel and van Persie. Front, left to right: Elia, De Jong, van der Wiel, van Bronckhorst, van der Vaart

most commentators argue that, in the absence of veteran Edwin van der Sar, the lack of a solid goalkeeper could prove the Dutch’s greatest weakness.

In South Africa, the Oranje have been drawn in Group E with Denmark, Japan and Cameroon. But coach Bert van Marwijk says that while his side might be seen as favourites, “the group will be very difficult for us.”

At the same time, the former Feyenoord coach stresses that if all of his players are in top form, then “we can beat everyone”.

Assistant coach Frank de Boer recently told the FIFA website that the Netherlands are on a mission “to be champions of the world.”

Some say that if another chronic underachiever, Spain, finally managed to win a trophy, there is no reason why this could not be a Clockwork Orange World Cup.

THE COACH - BERT VAN MARWIJK Bert van Marwijk replaced Dutch legend Marco van Basten at the helm of the Oranje after the 2008 European Championships. He first made a name for himself by steering Dutch side Feyenoord to the 2002 UEFA Cup. And while a subsequent two-year spell at German side Borussia Dortmund proved unspectacular, he quickly earned the respect of his nation by leading the Netherlands to 8 straight wins in the qualifying stage of the World Cup. While he may lack the celebrity status of some of his predecessors, van Marwijk has shown that he is not afraid to make difficult decisions - for instance by dropping AC Milan’s Clarence Seedorf from the squad - and says he does not “believe in systems”.

His decision to recall midfielder Mark van Bommel has raised eyebrows, since the Bayern Munich midfielder also happens to be his son-in-law.

World Cup 2010 93

Mark Paston

A roller coaster ride to South Africa for Paston

Paston is now hoping that running out on the pitch for New Zealand’s opening game against Slovakia would bring his World Cup roller coaster ride to a positive end

F

or most footballers an appearance at the finals of the World Cup is the end of a dream - for Mark Paston playing a match in South Africa would be the end of a roller coaster ride.

The goalkeeper is given much of the credit for getting the All Whites to their second-ever World Cup finals as he saved a penalty from Bahrain’s Sayed Mohamed Adnan in the return leg of the play-off for a place in South Africa.

New Zealand went on to win the game 1-0 and the tie 1-0 on aggregate to qualify for the finals.

For Paston playing in the play-off against the Asian team in November was yet another part of his rocky ride.

Just a few months earlier his main rival for the number one jersey in the New Zealand team, Glen Moss, had received rave revues for his outstanding performances for the All Whites in the Confederations Cup in South Africa.

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Moss’ heroics in goal had earned the team a historic point against Iraq and coach Ricki Herbert heaped praise on his goalkeeper.

A four-game suspension Moss received after insulting a referee in a World Cup qualifier against Fiji more than a year earlier, however, brought Paston back into the fray as the Confederations Cup games did not count towards the ban.

Paston, who plays in the A-League for Wellington Phoenix, grabbed the opportunity with both hands, so to say.

The 33-year-old started playing senior football for Napier City Rovers before moving to the UK in 2003, where he had spells with Bradford City, Walsall and St Johnstone.

He failed to make much of an impact in Europe though and returned home and signed for the New Zealand Knights, before switching to Wellington Phoenix.

At first he spent much of his time

at Phoenix on the bench as he played second fiddle to Moss, but when his rival left to join Melbourne Victory, Paston became the starting goalkeeper.

Shortly after the World Cup draw in Cape Town in December, which saw New Zealand drawn into Group F with world champions Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia, Paston suffered a leg injury during a training clash.

The goalkeeper thought it was just a dead leg and continued training for a week and played a full game before an x-ray showed the injury to be a fractured tibia.

There was some doubt whether Paston would recover in time for the World Cup, but his progress has been remarkable and he was named in Herbert’s extended World Cup squad.

With Moss still out suspended for New Zealand’s first two games at the finals, Paston is expected to be first choice - if fully fit.

After training with the World Cup squad Paston said that there had been times when he doubted whether he would be ready. “There have been times when you think ‘gee, am I going to really get there?’, but week by week you get stronger, and then you start thinking ‘I’m a lot closer’.”

What made matters worse was that he was on a roll when the injury occurred.

“At the time I was playing pretty well for the All Whites and my club, and when you’re in full flow it’s disappointing all of a sudden to have it cut short and the surgeon say you’re out for three months.”

Paston’s injury and Moss’ suspension leaves Herbert with a very difficult choice regarding his goalkeepers and the coach was even considering taking four goalminders to South Africa as he could be left without a regular number one if both goalkeepers are injured before or during the first two games.

“The biggest fear for me at the moment is injuries. You just don’t need them. I don’t want to single anyone out, but you certainly don’t need them to key players.”

In the end, Herbert went with Paston, Moss and Team Wellington’s James Bannatyne. He is also likely to nominate one non-travelling reserve goalkeeper.

Paston is now hoping that running out on the pitch for New Zealand’s opening game against Slovakia would bring his World Cup roller coaster ride to a positive end.

City

A ‘fountain of flowers’ for the World Cup

Bloemfontein is South Africa’s judicial capital and the calmer panorama hereabouts also attract many students

T

he city of Bloemfontein, in the agricultural heartland of central Free State province, is the coldest place to be during the winter World Cup. Situated about 400 kilometres southwest of Johannesburg, at an altitude of 1,395 metres, Bloemfontein is a rugby bastion but supporters of Bloemfontein Celtic football team are among the most enthusiastic in the country.

Their kit is very similar to that of Scottish side, Celtic, with green and white horizontal stripes. Like all South Africans, football fans in Bloemfontein also have a special place in their hearts for Brazil.

Bloemfontein was one of four host cities during the FIFA Confederations Cup in June 2009. During the two weeks of the tournament, thousands of people turned up at Free State Stadium to watch

the victorious Selecao in training.

Brazil considered basing itself in Bloemfontein again during the World Cup, but in the end opted for Johannesburg.

Free State Stadium required only a minor upgrade to boost its capacity to 45,000 spectators for the World Cup, which will see it host five first round games and one round of 16 game.

Many South Africans view Bloemfontein as a place to rest and refuel on the main road south-west out of Johannesburg to Cape Town.

But there’s more to Bloemfontein than a way tion.

The Fountain of Flowers, as its name translates, has been the country’s judicial capital since 1910. The Renaissancestyle Supreme Court of Appeal and the provincial legislature dominate the city centre.

Bloemfontein is also a student town.

The University of the Free State, an institution that is battling to overcome its conservative white Afrikaner image, is located here. On weekday nights during term, bars in the are hopping.

Furthermore, the Free State is the country’s food basket. The province’s flat plains are covered in fields of corn and wheat and shops selling homemade jams and rusks are a familiar sight in farming dorpies (villages).

Not all of the province is flat, either.

The ground rises into the Maluti Mountains at the border with the kingdom of Lesotho. The Big Five may not be roaming the Free State but there are plenty of smaller animals to see in its one national park - the Golden Gate Highlands Park, so-called because of the gold colour cast by the sun on its sandstone cliffs.

World Cup 2010 95

Switzerland

Injuries and tough group means Swiss need to score

The Swiss line-up against Uruguay in March of this year: Back, left to right: Reto Ziegler, Stephane Grichting , Eren Derdiyok, Marco Streller, Jonathan Rossini and Marco Woelfli. Front, left to right: Xherdan Shaqiri, Pirmin Schwegler, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Goekhan Inler and Valon Behrami

S

wiss fans are refusing to be pessimistic, though they believe their team has been landed in a tough World Cup group that comprises European champions Spain, Chile and Honduras.

The hard-core supporters believe the team can pull off victories over the weaker of the opponents, but expect some nail biting, and from the start are almost ready to take a defeat to Spain.

On June 16, the two teams will face off in Durban in the sides’ first game of competition. The Spanish are hoping complacency will not lead to a downfall and the Swiss are looking to garner at leasta draw and gain some momentum going into their next matches.

Hope was alive and kicking despite Spain and the tough Chilean side, for making it to the second round until the injuries came. In a blow, their top player went and broke his arm in a Swiss league game earlier this year, sending jitters through the Alps.

Calming things down was Switzerland’s coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. He was stoic and unmoved by the injury to striker Alexander Frei, the team captain, taking the glass-half-full approach to managing.

“Maybe he’ll benefit then from not being exhausted,” Hitzfeld was quoted

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as saying.

After the injury, in February, doctors estimated Frei, Switzerland’s all-time top scorer, would be out for eight to ten weeks, putting him back into play just before the start of the games in South Africa.

In 2006, Frei was also injured before the start of the games, but came back to push his team into the second round, where Switzerland made FIFA history.

Schweizer Nati, as the side is known at home, were eliminated by Ukraine, despite having not conceding a goal in the tournament.

The side lost in a penalty shootout, after missing every spot-kick, also a unique entry in the football record books. Switzerland made it into this year’s World Cup by winning their qualifying group ahead of main rivals Greece and Israel.

In March, nonetheless, the Swiss took a tough 3-1 loss to Uruguay in a friendly game. Rife with injuries, the Alpine team lacked cohesion and was simply without top players.

In addition to Frei, Blaise Nkufo, who plays normally with FC Twente in the Netherlands was also missing, along with much midfield power, owing to other key players having to sit out.

Diego Benaglio, the goalkeeper, was on the bench for that game, but has since made a return to play.

A team at full strength, after learning to work together with the fluid motions of the famous Swiss watch, might give the others in Group H a run for the money.

Fans will be hoping for Frei to return healthy, ready to score and with the leadership skills the side despearately needs. Meanwhile, eyes will remain on midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta, one of the team’s stars, as a strong wingman who can score and raise faith in the squad.

Learning from the Uruguay game, Hitzfeld will have to pull his players together for the upcoming rivals at the World Cup. The group has no clear losers and for the Swiss, that’s enough to push ahead for a second round qualification.

THE COACH - OTTMAR HITZFELD Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, nicknamed The General, is a German national who has won numerous titles. He coached Swiss clubs, including Grasshopper Club Zurich and teams in his native Germany, winning the Champions League with both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

His involvement in Swiss football began in the 1970s as a player, when he joined FC Basel. He has bounced back and forth between the two countries and took up the helm of Switzerland’s national team in the summer of 2008.

Australia

Goals elude Verbeek’s defensive Australia

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ormer international Francis Awaritefe is brutally frank about Australia’s chances of matching it with Germany, Ghana and Serbia in Group D. “We’ve drawn the second-hardest draw and out of the four teams in it, we’re the weakest team,” Awaritefe said. “We’re not going to beat Ghana and we’re not going to beat Germany, because unfortunately when you look at our side at the moment it’s hard to see how we’re going to score goals.”

Just how desperate the Socceroos are for a scorer was the roar of approval when 18-year-old Tommy Oar wore the green and gold for the first time in an Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia.

“He offered something that Australia doesn’t have - a genuine wide man who can send in some good balls,” said Fox Sports commentator Simon Hill. “If Australia are going to play Harry Kewell up forward, you need to give him some service.”

But dour Dutch coach Pim Verbeek is unlikely to give the fans a thrill and send Oar out against Germany for their June 13 opening game.

Verbeek, who will return to club coaching in Europe after the campaign in South Africa, is not one to take chances and will likely stick with a 42-3-1 formation with Oar lucky to start on the bench. Kewell is likely to be the sole striker, backed up by midfielder Tim Cahill.

If it weren’t for the retirement of frontman Mark Viduka, Australia’s lineup would be little different from the starting XI in Germany four years ago.

“That’s the concern, that no one has broken through since then,” Hill said.

Verbeek worries more about goals conceded than goals scored. Through playing in Asia, Australia have become a physical side, to make the most of the bulk that Japan and others have to concede.

Against Germany, Ghana and Serbia they are not going to be noticeably taller or bulkier - and they are likely to see more yellow cards because of the rough game they play.

(It was captain Lucas Neill’s unwise sliding tackle, resulting in a penalty for Italy, that put paid to Australia’s World Cup campaign in Germany.)

Under Verbeek, Australia’s reliance on part-time striker Tim Cahill has grown.

“There has to be a change of mindset coming out of midfield,” said former international John Cosmina of the defensiveness of Verbeek. “The ball’s going backwards or sideways too

Verbeek, who will return to club coaching in Europe after the campaign in South Africa, is not one to take chances often.”

In the game against Indonesia, Australia scored then defended for the rest of a match against one of the world’s weakest national teams.

Just how dangerous giving up on attack was on show in their previous game, against Kuwait. Australia squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2. They were two goals up after 5 minutes, then hibernated in the hope their advantage would stick.

Even staunch fans expect the cautiousness of Australia will be exposed in South Africa. Their first game is against Germany, a powerfully built outfit with a free-scoring, free-shooting style.

“In some ways, Germany are predictable, purely in that you know they’re going to play,”Verbeek said when the World Cup draw was announced.

Australia are equally predictable: heavy on defence, light on attack and reliant on a rare shot finding the net.

THE COACH - PIM VERBEEK Pim Verbeek was hired in 2007 with the express demand that he get Australia into the World Cup and the Asian Cup. The 54-year-old coach has fulfilled that job sheet and will leave after the South African campaign and likely go back to club coaching in Europe.

Verbeek was not a first choice replacement after likeable fellowDutchman Guus Hiddink left at the

end of the World Cup in Germany. And analysts say that his brief was not as expansive as that prepared for Gerard Houllier and Dick Advocaat, the coaches who turned down offers.

The Rotterdam-born tactician was not entrusted with the rebuild that Australia requires. Most of his players are survivors of the German campaign, aged in their 30s and looking at their last World Cup. Verbeek didn’t opt to revamp Australia’s commitment to Dutch formats, Dutch training methods and, some argue, dull Dutch play.

“Despite what many may think of Verbeek, the players like him and say he’s an excellent man manager,” football commentator Robbie Fowler said in response to the welter of criticism that Verbeek has received over this two-year term.

Former international Paul Wade despairs of Verbeek’s penchant for defence - a trait that saw the national side score 19 goals in 14 matches against sides that were rarely world class.

“You can’t defend for 90 minutes at the World Cup,” Wade said. “We’re just too slow with our build up out of midfield.”

But Verbeek’s answer is that he has delivered: Australia got to South Africa and it will be in Kuwait for the Asian Cup.

World Cup 2010 97

Lucas Barrios

Lucas Barrios, the wandering striker

For Barrios playing in the 2010 World Cup is the fulfillment of a dream

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ucas Barrios always dreamt of playing in a World Cup like so many other children in his native San Fernando, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

In his dream, of course, he scored goals in the blue-and-white shirt of Argentina, the country where he was born.

Now, a major portion of his dreams are set to come true: to play a World Cup, to score goals, to be a hero. And yet there is one detail that is at odds with his childhood longings: he is set to wear a striped shirt, yes, but it will be Paraguay’s red-and-white jersey.

Tired of waiting for a call from the Argentine national team and its coach Diego Maradona, Barrios, 25, opted to naturalize himself as Paraguayan, his mother’s nationality. The paperwork was completed in March.

98 World Cup 2010

A few days later, Barrios got the much-anticipated news: he had been called upon by Argentine-born coach Gerardo Martino to play for Paraguay, paving his path to South Africa 2010.

“It brings great happiness, also great excitement. I know that Paraguay are putting a lot of trust in me, and the only thing I can do is to not let down those people who put so much trust in me,” says the wandering striker with various passports and changing identities.

He was called upon to do what he does best: to score goals.

“I can’t promise goals, I can only commit my sacrifice and work to contribute my share to the team,” Barrios tells German Press Agency dpa in an interview.

But he notes that he needs “to feel the coach’s trust and the affection of the fans.” That is precisely what his main goal is to get Paraguayans to identify

with him.

“It was always like that, in every team I played for,” says The Panther, as German fans call him since he has been scoring goals for Borussia Dortmund.

In the Argentine clubs he played for - the lowly Argentinos Juniors, Tigre and Tiro Federal - Barrios did not manage to stand out as a goalscorer. He left for Chile, where he started to grow, first with Deportes Temuco and then with Cobreloa. Then he headed for Mexico, but crashed at Atlas, with just one goal in 14 matches.

“I did not do well, I felt bad from the start,” he recalls. Barrios returned to Chile, and really shone at Colo Colo, where he scored 37 goals in 38 matches and became “the global world scorer of the year” in 2008.

“I owe Colo Colo everything that came later, and it was the coach, Claudio Borghi, who was decisive and changed me. It was him who made me change mentality and made me think as a winner,” Barrios says.

A year ago he went to the Bundesliga, with Dortmund. And, in a case that is unusual for a South American player, he adapted “very fast to the change of world, of language, of food, of play and of the way of understanding football.”

“I needed just seven matches, and that was where the run started,” he recalls.

The “run” ended ended with 19 goals in 33 Bundesliga matches, and left Barrios third in the list of the top goalscorers.

“I know they’re going to ask for more, and that’s what Paraguayan fans expect from me too.”

Barrios knows that an unfortunate, lamentable event paved the way for him to join Paraguay: the space that opened up when striker Salvador Cabanas was shot in the head in Mexico in January, leaving him out of the World Cup. Does Barrios mind having to stand in for a national icon?

“No, it happened to me at Colo Colo, when I was called upon to replace the great idol Humberto Suazo, and it happened to me again at Dortmund, when another idol of the fans, (Switzerland’s) Alex Frei, left. And in both cases I performed well.”

“That’s where I am, I hope it can happen again now with Paraguay,” Barrios stresses.

South Korea

South Korea trying to measure up to 2002

South Korea’s line-up: Back, left to right: Du Ri Cha, Dong Gook Lee, Woon Jae Lee, Jung Soo Lee, Jung Woo Kim, Yong Hyung Cho: Front, left to right: Sung Park, Chung Yong Lee, Young Pyo Lee, Keun Ho Lee, Sung Yueng Ki

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outh Korea were seeing red in 2002. Clad in their home-turf crimson, the co-hosting Taeguk Warriors marched toward unforeseen success in Korea/ Japan 2002, reaching the semi-finals.

And the rest of the world took note as swarms of their countrymen donned red and came out in rowdy droves in support, earning the nickname the “Red Devils.”

Although the Red Devils retained their celebratory mood through South Korea’s appearance at Germany 2006, there was little reason to cheer. Korea failed to make it past the group stages and some say that since 2002 they have been dogged by their one-time success.

“The unprecedented feat has left us with great expectations to live up to,” coach Huh Jung Moo, 55, told FIFA.com.

“We perform at the world stage not only representing our country but also the continent.”

It’s true, the Taeguk Warriors are Asia’s most frequent and successful visitors to the World Cup with South Africa 2010 to be their eighth appearance. But victory, even early on, will be hard to come by against tough Group B opponents Greece, Argentina and Nigeria.

Huh, coming on the heels of highly respected foreign coaches Guus Hiddink and Pim Verbeek, is certainly feeling the pressure, as demonstrated at a ceremony for the Seoul stop on the World Cup trophy tour in April. “Of course, like everyone else, I’d like to bring this trophy home,” he said. “But everything has to be done step by step, and that’s what we will do. So the first goal is to advance to the second round.”

More than bragging rights are on the line, as this World Cup is a chance for South Korea to solidify its bid for the 2022 tournament, and it marks the first time the two Koreas have appeared together as North Korea will also be in South Africa.

“It will be good if we reach the round of 16 for the bidding movement for the 2022 World Cup,” said Park from the KFA. But he discounted the chance of any inter-Korean drama happening on the pitch. “For the media’s sake, it’s very good that they can write a lot of stories about North Korea and South Korea, but the fact is they’re in different groups and don’t really have a chance of playing against each other,” he said.

There are plenty of players to watch on just the South Korean side, though.

Korea/Japan 2002 not only put veteran stars like this year’s captain Park Ji Sung, 29, on the map, but also opened up opportunities for younger athletes.

While South Korea’s chances are slim, much is at stake for this young group of players. And as the days to South Africa 2010 tick down, their loyal fan base is no doubt gearing up to fuel the fire.

THE COACH - HUH JUNG MOO Huh Jung Moo is no stranger to the World Cup. Aside from taking the helm as coach, he’s played on the pitch scoring notably against Italy at Mexico 1986 - and served as fitness trainer, assistant coach and even television commentator. The one-time interim manager landed the head coach job in December 2007 after Mick McCarthy and Gerard Houllier turned it down.

Despite bumps along the way, his strategy of infusing the Taeguk Warriors with fresh blood has paid off as he was named 2009’s AFC Coach of the Year and led South Korea to a 27-game winning streak.

Even so, the coach revealed in early April that no matter the result in South Africa, he will resign from his post after the tournament. “I hope a good coach takes over the job and continues what I have been doing,” he told the-afc.com.

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100 World Cup 2010

Wolfsburg midfielder Karim Ziani (28) is among a group of young and experienced Algerian players who play for European clubs.

Algeria

Hoping to revive the 1980s, Algeria carry Arab hopes

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ot only do Algeria return to a World Cup finals after a 24-year absence for this summer’s event in South Africa, the Desert Foxes are also the lone representative of the Arab World in the tournament.

This makes the 2010 tournament unique for Algeria as they carry the hopes and aspirations of millions of Arab football fans everywhere, which also makes their mission all the more difficult.

Despite their good reputation after appearances in the 1982 and 1986 World Cup finals followed up by winning the African Cup of Nations in 1990 at home, Algerian expectations are not high after things went downhill in the last two decades.

After becoming one of the strongest teams on the continent through a team that included household names like Rabeh Madjer, Assad and al-Akhdar Balloumi, Algerian football has failed to leave a strong mark in recent years.

Football is very popular with Algeria’s 40-million-population and many feel that the time has come for the Desert Foxes to write a new chapter in their history.

Memories of the 1982 World Cup in Spain still overshadow any discussions about football in the North African country especially after Algeria’s 2-1 victory over West Germany, which is the match that brought Madjer and Balloumi to international fame.

Until now, football fans still talk of that win, however, the team could not sustain the success they had in the first match, as their next game ended in a 2-0 loss to Austria and their 3-2 victory over Chile was not enough to enable them to qualify from their group, as West Germany and Austria contrived to force them out of the competition.

Four years later, Algeria qualified for Mexico, but they were not helped by a tough draw which grouped them with Brazil and Spain, and they lost these two matches in the first round, and had a 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland.

After Mexico, Algeria succeeded in winning the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations, which they hosted, beating Nigeria 1-0 in the final. Yet, this tournament was the end of a glittering era and coincided with the retirement of a generation of key players.

For a long time, Algerian football suffered from decline. The team even failed to qualify for the 2006 Cup of Nations in Egypt and the 2008 edition in Ghana.

It has only been recently that the team has bounced back and qualification for the 2010 Nations Cup finals in Angola and this summer’s finals in South Africa was the result of much-improved performances.

The Desert Foxes safely negotiated the first World Cup qualifying group which included Liberia, Gambia and Senegal, and finished ahead of Rwanda and Zambia but on equal terms with Egypt in their second, necessitating a play-off against the Pharoahs on neutral terrain.

The one-off play-off match took place in in Khartoum, Sudan, on November 18, with Algeria prevailing 1-0, a score that resulted in riots both in Egypt and Algeria.

Although they knocked out the reigning African champions, Algeria will still go into the finals considered one of the tournament’s weaker sides.

They have been pitted in Group C alongside England, the United States and Slovenia.

“I do not say that it is possible to qualify for the second round, but we will take our chances with all our effort,” team coach Rabah Saadane told the German Press Agency dpa.

“We will strive, without doubt, to put in an honourable performance, since we are the only representative of the Arab and Islamic world, which makes it a double task,” he added.

Algeria will be hoping to build on the success in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations when they beat Ivory Coast 32 in the last eight before going out to eventual winners Egypt at the semi-

final stage.

Saadane depends on a a mixture of young and experienced players who play for European clubs. These include 35-year-old Istres player Rafik Saifi, VfL Wolfsburg midfielder Karim Ziani (28), Karim Matmour, 24, who plays for German club Borussia Moenchengladbach, and 27-yearold Madjid Bougherra, a defender for Scottish champions Rangers.

Portsmouth left winger Nadir Belhadj received a two-match ban for the red card he picked up in the Cup of Nations defeat to Egypt so the 27-year-old will be suspended for the opening game against Slovenia in Polokwane on June 13.

Central defender Rafik Halliche of Portuguese side C.D Nacional and goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi are also suspended.

THE COACH - RABAH SAADANE Rabah Saadane, 63, took the helm of the Algerian national team for the fifth time in 2008 after leading Wifaq Setif to the Arab Champions League title in 2007.

Previously, Saadane led Algeria from 1981 to 1982 and between 1984 and 1986, taking the team to two World Cups. He also coached the team in 2004, taking the Desert Foxes to the second round of the Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia.

He has been in charge of several club teams, winning the African Champions League with Raja Casablanca of Morocco.

Saadane has always been the first choice for the football authorities in Algeria when looking to restore balance to the team after the failure of foreign coaches, of which there have been 42 since 1962.

His objective in South Africa will be to reach the second round of the World Cup for the first time.

Although some people called for the hiring of a foreign coach along with Saadane, the team’s success under his leadership has been enough for him to remain in his position.

World Cup 2010 101

Casillas

Casillas keen to prove himself world’s best

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wo years ago Iker Casillas proved himself to be the best goalkeeper in Europe.

Now he intends to demonstrate that he is the best keeper in the world. The Real Madrid keeper was outstanding at Euro 2008, conceding just one goal in five matches and captaining Spain to triumph.

In particular, he was brilliant in the tense quarter-final against Italy. Casillas made a vital late save to foil Mauro Camoranesi - then saved two Italian penalties in the shootout, in which La Roja finally came of age and showed that it could scrap with the big boys for the major prizes.

Casillas also won his personal duel with Gianluigi Buffon, until then considered the best goalkeeper in Europe. “2008 was a wonderful experience,” said Casillas.

“To captain your country to victory at a major tournament is something very important, something that very few players manage to achieve. “The best moment for me was when we arrived back in Madrid,and there were thousands of people waiting for us at the airport. That had never happened before for the national team.”

Now his aim is to prove himself the best number one on Planet Football - at the same time as helping Spain to live up their billing as one of the favourites in South Africa.

“Something always goes wrong for us at the World Cup,” Casillas said.

“In 2002 (in Korea and Japan) we were very badly treated by the referee (in a controversial quarter-final against South Korea). In 2006 we came across a French side (in the round of 16) that was getting better with every match and growing stronger. We took the lead against them (through David Villa), but we lacked the experience to build on that.”

However, he really believes that things can be different in South Africa.

“Two years ago we showed that we can compete against the strongest side. That has really improved our selfconfidence.”

Casillas will go to South Africa in excellent form, He is one of the principal reasons why Real have challenged

102 World Cup 2010

Casillas promises to do even better in South Africa

Barcelona for the Spanish title this season. For example, last Wednesday he pulled off several astonishing saves early on away to Mallorca -a match which the whites ended up winning 4-1.

He hails from the working-class suburb of Mostoles, and made his Real debut at the tender age of 17, in an eventful 3-3 draw away to Athletic Bilbao in 1999. By the age of 21 he had already helped the whites to win two Champions Leagues, in 2000 and 2002.

In the 2002 final Casillas came off the bench late on for the injured Cesar, and kept Bayer Leverkusen at bay with several astonishing saves. Since then, he has never returned to the subs’ bench.

He has played 102 times for La

Roja, since 2000, and is well on course to beat the Spanish record of 126 caps established by 1990s goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta.

Casillas did well at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, but promises to do even better in South Africa.

He will not have a great defence in front of him. Full-backs Sergio Ramos and Joan Capdevila leave a lot of space behind them down the flanks, Carles Puyol and Carlos Marchena are looking old and slow nowadays (though Gerard Pique is looking sharp).

This means that Casillas will have his work cut out in South Africa, giving him every chance to prove himself the best in the world.

Italy

Optimism is Lippi’s one and only weapon

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f part of the job of a national team coach is to instill optimism in and around his squad, Marcello Lippi has been very good at it in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup. Since he returned to the Azzurri bench in 2008, two sabbatical years after lifting Italy’s fourth cup, the 62-year-old coach has often said that what brought him back is the conviction that he can win again in South Africa.

In spite of a forgettable showing at the 2009 Confederations Cup and after middling World Cup qualification games, Lippi stated that “Italy don’t go to the World Cup to cut a good figure, they go there to win.

“We shouldn’t forget that we are the reigning champions. We must remember this not to brag, but because we know how to do it: we know what it takes to win.” There is a general feeling, however, that Lippi can count on few other weapons beside his upbeat mood.

When the Azzurri open their campaign against Paraguay on June 14 in Cape Town, with New Zealand and Slovakia also in Group F, Lippi’s line-up is likely to be very similar to the one that won the 2006 final against France in Berlin on penalties.

Italy were no favourites at the tournament’s start and didn’t shine in the group phase, but gradually gathered confidence and strength largely thanks to a rock-hard defence, breached only twice in the tournament.

What now worries most Italian fans is the age and the recent performances of world champions Fabio Cannavaro, Fabio Grosso, Gianluca Zambrotta and protective midfielder Gennaro Gattuso.

They all are above 30, captain Cannavaro the oldest at 36, and seem to have no reliable substitutes with the exception of Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus.

Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is still quite competitive at 32, but his side, where also Cannavaro, Grosso and candidate Nicola Legrottaglie play, come from a disastrous season that saw them concede about as many goals as relegated teams.

Gattuso, 32, and playmaker Andrea Pirlo, turning 31 in May, have been far from shining with AC Milan, while only Udinese’s Antonio Di Natale has scored consistently among the candidate strikers.

For Lippi, these are irrelevant details. “You can be called up to the national team even if you play poorly at your club,” he said at a convention on team sports in April. “Your team can be stuttering, and with the Azzurri there can be a different situation.”

He stressed the importance of “enthusiasm, experience, charisma and an ability to judge. All is part of the (player’s) evaluation. The quality of players is not to be judged only on age or technical qualities.”

To believers that good ball handling still matters, Lippi explained the difference between those he calls the champions and the world-beaters “Champions are soloists, roosters in the henhouse … who don’t

The triumph at the 2006 World Cup topped a brilliant coaching career that Marcello Lippi began in 1982 at Sampdoria, where he also played for 10 seasons as a defender make themselves available to the group. They don’t help the team.”

What he looks for are the world-beaters, whose talent is not only in their feet, but who have leadership and qualities also off the pitch.

Lippi said that he is not sure he took to Germany the best available technical players, but he relied on a group with many world-beaters, and no roosters in the henhouse.

“Cannavaro best embodies this kind of player,” he said. The captain, who won the FIFA world player award in 2006, has reason for pride and, along with millions of Italy’s fans, hopes that his coach’s philosophy proves right again in South Africa.

THE COACH - MARCELLO LIPPI The triumph at the 2006 World Cup topped a brilliant coaching career that Marcello Lippi began in 1982 at Sampdoria, where he also played for 10 seasons as a defender.

Before taking over the Azzurri squad in 2004, he won five Serie A titles, one Italian Cup and four Supercups with Juventus. In 1996 he steered the Turin club to the Champions League, the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Supercup.

Before and during the 2006 World Cup, he was marginally linked to a wide match-rigging scandal. He returned on the Azzurri’s bench in 2008 after two sabbatical years.

World Cup 2010 103

Spain

Spain planning to justify favourite status

The Spanish national line-up in Austria in November 2009 before a friendly match against Austria: David Cesc Fabregas, David Villa, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa, Raul Albiol, Cesc Fabregas, Sergi Busquets, Sergio Ramos, Carlos Marchena

104 World Cup 2010

d Silva, io

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pain have often gone to the World Cup as one of the favourites - only to flop on the big stage.

In 1990, for example, a muchfancied Spanish side failed to get beyond the round of 16 in Italy. Eight years later, Spain were expected to do well in France - but failed to even get out of their group.

In 2002, the Iberians crashed out on penalties against hosts South Korea in the quarter-finals, just when they were looking like potential finalists.

And in 2006, “La Roja” confounded their status as one of the favourites by crashing 3-1 against France in the round of 16.

This time, however, the Spaniards are determined to fulfill expectations and finally justify their status as one of the favourites.

It will be Spain’s 13th finals appearance and their ninth successive presence, a record bettered only by Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany. But whereas those four teams have all won the World Cup at least twice, the best that Spain have been able to manage was a fourth-place finish in Brazil in 1950.

“I really believe that this time we will do well in the World Cup,” said in March goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas, a veteran of the 2002 and 2006 disappointments.

“After all,” he added, “we are the champions of Europe and we are a stronger and more complete side than four years ago.”

Casillas was speaking straight after the handsome March 3 2-0 friendly win away to Paris, a game in which Vicente del Bosque’s side impressed the watching world with their slick passing and sharp finishing.

There are several reasons why Casillas’ optimism might not be misplaced. To begin with, the elegant triumph at Euro 2008 has given Spain the confidence and self belief that they lacked in the past. They have lost just one match since 2006 and are top of the FIFA world rankings.

In addition, Del Bosque - who took over from Luis Aragones after that 2008 success - has sensibly stuck by the players from two years ago, whilst bringing in talented youngsters like towering defender Gerard Pique, pacey winger Jesus Navas and promising strikers

Juan Mata, Fernando Llorente and Alvaro Negredo.

Also, Del Bosque has at his disposal two of the best strikers on Planet Football in Fernando Torres and David Villa.

Alfredo Relano, editor of Madrid sports daily AS, told German Press Agency dpa that “never before have Spain gone to the World Cup finals with so much confidence and talent, and with such high hopes.”

Relano added that “since 2007 this team has been playing some of the best football to be seen anywhere, with Xavi and (Andres) Iniesta setting the tone…with their precise and patient passing game.”

The Spanish defence is nothing to write home about, with full-backs Sergio Ramos and Joan Capdevila leaving too much space behind them after their anarchic surges down the flanks - and with veterans Carles Puyol and Carlos Marchena often puffing and gasping.

Maybe Casillas and Pique might be able to plug the gaps at the back.

In any case, a team which boasts the talent of Xavi, Iniesta, Torres and Villa - without mentioning Cesc Fabregas, who is struggling to be fit in time, Xabi Alonso and David Silva - must surely stand a good chance of going all the way in South Africa.

THE COACH - VICENTE DEL BOSQUE Vicente del Bosque, aged 59, was the unanimous choice to take over from Luis Aragones after the latter had led “La Roja” to triumph at Euro 2008. He had gained respect and success as coach of Real Madrid from 1999 to 2003, guiding the whites to two Champions Leagues and two Spanish leagues.

He has intelligently continued with most of the players and with the tactical system left behind by Aragones - a flexible 4-4-2 formation with two defensive midfielders and two wide men probing down the flanks.

Taciturn and unflappable, Del Bosque has firm control over the dressing-room and - rarest of rare thing in today’s game - good relations with the media.

World Cup 2010 105

Japan

Japan lacking in confidence but still hoping for upset

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Japan’s national side: Back, left to right: Seigo Narazaki, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Sunsuke Nakamura, Yuji Nakazawa, Keisuke Honda, Makoto Hasebe and Yuto Nagatomo. Front, left to right: Yasuhito Endo, Shinji Okazaki, Atsuto Uchida and Daisuke Matsui

fter the draw for the first round of the 2010 World Cup, many Japanese fans smiled wryly or even let out a resigned sigh.

Japan, who lie in 45th spot in the April FIFA rankings list, were pitted against third-ranked Netherlands, 20th-ranked Cameroon and 34th-ranked Denmark in Group E. Long gone is the certainly and enthusiasm that enveloped the country when the national team first appeared at the World Cup in 1998.

Coach Takeshi Okada, however, still keeps up a brave front, reiterating his goal is not only to go beyond the first round but to reach the semi-finals.

While Japan have won three of the last five Asia Cups, they disappointed at the last four consecutive World Cups for which they have qualified.

In 1993, Japan’s professional J-League was established to raise the level of football and boost the nation’s chance of hosting the World Cup. In 1998, Japan’s debut in the World Cup resulted in three straight losses to Jamaica, Croatia and Argentina. When South Korea and Japan co-hosted the 2002 event, Japan celebrated its first win in the World Cup, beating Russia.

The victory excited the Japanese populace so much that right-wing politicians wasted no time in trying to stir up national pride.

Japan even advanced to the next

106 World Cup 2010

stage of the tournament, where they were defeated by Turkey 1-0.

In 2006, Japan’s early exit after getting beaten by Australia and Brazil and ending in a scoreless draw with Croatia disenchanted so many fans once again.

The team travelling to South Africa will be led by Shunsuke Nakamura, who struggled at Espanyol after leaving Celtic last summer. and came back to Japanese side Yokohama F Marinos because of the World Cup, he told the major daily Yomiuri.

“The World Cup is getting close, and I wanted to be somewhere where I could play,” left-footed midfielder Nakamura was quoted by the daily as saying. “I want to bring a good game to the World Cup.” Many also agree that Keisuke Honda, who plays for CSKA Moscow, is probably a rising key player at the 2010 World Cup. Though pessimistic views have already permeated the air even months before the World Cup, captain Yuji Nakazawa is still confident the team can build on its performance in German four years ago.

“I feel that the team’s maturity has been certainly enhanced,” Nakazawa told popular sport magazine “Number.”

Japan’s most recent game against the Netherlands team was back in September, which ended in a 3-0 loss.

Even after the defeat, Nakazawa was still upbeat, saying, “I did not feel an overwhelming power gap” between

Japan and the Netherlands. “There is still a possibility of winning.”

Okada also described the game as “one of the best.”

Though Okada has gone on record as saying his team was improving, Japan suffered a shocking 0-3 defeat to fellow finalists Serbia in early April, even though the Europeans played without many of their big names.

The loss prompted Sergio Echigo, a football commentator, to deliver a scathing criticism in his column for the daily Nikkan Sports.

The game was “so miserable that I feel sorry for supporters and the Serbia team. Aren’t players proud of being a member of the squad?” Echigo asked.

“Though the players have problems, Okada should be responsible” for the loss.

THE COACH - TAKESHI OKADA In 1997, Takeshi Okada became coach of the national team months after his predecessor Shu Kamo was abruptly ousted due to the team’s poor results. But Okada left the team after disappointing results, losing all three matches at France 1998, Japan’s first appearance at a World Cup. Okada then coached Consadole Sapporo (1999 - 2001) and Yokohama F Marinos (2003 - 2006).

Okada was once again named Japan’s head coach in December 2007 after Ivica Osim suffered a stroke.

Stadium

The new World Cup stadium has it in spades

The 66,000-seater Green Point stadium nestles at the base of Cape Town’s iconic flat-topped Table Mountain, a few hundred metres from the Atlantic Ocean in the Greenpoint neighbourhood

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he 66,000-seater stadium is nestled at the base of Cape Town’s iconic flattopped Table Mountain, a few hundred metres from the Atlantic Ocean in the Greenpoint neighbourhood.

The stadium will host nine World Cup games, including a semi-final on July 6.

It’s not the biggest of the 10 stadiums - Soccer City is bigger but it has the biggest price tag of 4.5 billion rand (616 million dollars).

That’s more than Beijing’s Bird Nest.

Cape Town’s 2010 manager Pieter Cronje says the stadium’s spectacular setting hiked up the costs by 1.2 billion rand.

The wind that barrels down Table Mountain was the biggest headache.

“It’s as if you’re driving on the motorway and you get caught in the slipstream of a passing truck,” Robert Hormes, the German-born stadium architect explained to dpa.

Around 400 extra tonnes of steel had to be brought in to prevent the retractable roof from shaking violently.

Special measures also had to be taken to prevent noise and light pollution, given the stadium’s location in a residential area, near the

city centre.

The outer teflon-coated fibre glass membrane diffuses the light at night, giving the oval stadium a soft, almost fairytale quality.

From the beginning, the venue was beset by controversy. Many said the stadium was too far from the Cape Flats - the vast area of black and mixed-race townships to the southeast of the city, where most football fans live.

Others argued that the city’s rugby stadium should have been upgraded for the World Cup instead of building a new venue, which could become a white elephant.

The city has two Premier Soccer League teams, Ajax Cape Town and Santos, but neither team has enough support to fill a stadium of this size.

A consortium composed of Stade de France and local company SAIL has been chosen to operate the stadium after the World Cup. It plans to attract concerts, operas and other big events.

Meanwhile, the public park around the stadium, Greenpoint Common, is also getting a facelift. During the World Cup, a Fan Mile will link the stadium with the city’s main train station.

Matches: June 16 1130 June 11 1830 June 14 1830 June 18 1830 June 21 1130 June 24 1830 June 29 1830 July 3 1600 July 6 1830 Factfile : Name : City : Construction : Completion : Gross Capacity :

Group H Honduras v Chile Group A Uruguay v France Group F Italy v Paraguay Group C England v Algeria Group G Portugal v North Korea Group E Cameroon v Netherlands Round of 16 1H v 2G Quarter-finals W52 v W51 Semi-finals W58 v W57 Cape Town Stadium Cape Town new 2009 66,005

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108 World Cup 2010

Ghana’s squad includes Kwadwo Asamoah, who shone like a million stars in his first competitive Nations Cup in Angola

Ghana

”Africa’s Brazilians” aim for the stars in South Africa

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lot more is expected of the Black Stars of Ghana in South Africa after they reached the round of 16 on their World Cup debut at Germany 2006.

Before their first-ever World Cup qualification four years ago, Ghana were proud four-time winners of Africa’s biggest championship, the Africa Cup of Nations. But it was not until 2006 that the team widely referred to as “Africa’s Brazilians” because of their natural ball skills finally advanced to the World Cup after several failed attempts.

In Germany, Ghana, the youngest team at the tournament, recorded the best African performance when they qualified from a tough first round that included eventual champions Italy, Czech Republic and USA. “It was a marvellous experience not just for the team, but the entire country,” recalled the boss of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi.

Four years on, expectations are even a lot higher as Ghana line up a younger team, who already showed at the Nations Cup in Angola earlier this year that there is life even in the absence of superstars Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah.

The Black Stars, packed with several members of the first African team to claim the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt in September, went all the way to the final of the 2010 Nations Cup before they fell to a late goal by defending champions Egypt.

From the Black Satellites team have emerged several exciting prospects like Samuel Inkoom, Emmanuel AgyemangBadu, Andre ‘Dede’ Ayew and striker Dominic Adiyiah.

Add to this talented group Udinese playmaker Kwadwo Asamoah, who shone like a million stars in his first competitive Nations Cup in Angola.

Chelsea star midfielder Essien remains the fulcrum of this team, so much so that many believed that Ghana would have offered a bigger resistance against Brazil in the round of 16 four years ago, but for the fact that he was missing due to suspension.

A couple of long-term injuries have

denied him a decent run with the Black Stars in the last four years or so.

The bull-strong former Bastia and Lyon star is again on the treatment table for a knee injury that has sidelined him for most of this season.

“As of now I don’t know (whether I will play at the World Cup). I am just taking it day by day and if I can make it, I will.

If not then I will have sit at home and support the team like every Ghanaian,” said Essien in a recent interview.

“The World Cup is the best and most difficult football tournament in the world and I will rather be there fully fit.

We will just have to wait and see.”

Inter midfielder Sulley Muntari is another of the country’s top stars. He was left out of the squad for Angola 2010 due to issues of discipline, but Serbian coach, Milovan Rajevac, has since patched things up with the attacking midfielder and so he will be in South Africa.

Injury depleted the team leading to this year’s Cup of Nations, but the likes of fullback John Pantsil, Laryea Kingson and John Mensah will be fit to regain their places in the first team.

The 27-year-old Mensah is a toughtackling central defender, who has been aptly nicknamed ‘Rock of Gibraltar. He will add stability to a defence that is seen, along with a strike force, as areas of concern for this team.

Goalkeeper Richard Kingson remains Ghana’s automatic choice between the sticks even after he was released by Birmingham City.

While at the other end of the pitch, Asamoah Gyan is the country’s most potent force even though two years ago he considered quitting international football after so much flak from the home fans at the Nations Cup. Gyan has again found his range at French club Rennes. He also delivered the knockout goals against both hosts Angola and Nigeria in the quarterand semi-finals of the Nations Cup, respectively.

The team’s other striker is Matthew Amoah, whose recent form has seen his Dutch club NAC Breda extend his contract. A long way from when he flopped at German Bundesliga club

Borussia Dortmund.

The Black Stars became the first African team to qualify for South Africa 2010 as they booked their passage with two rounds of matches to spare in a qualifying group that included starstudded Mali.

Ghana coach Rajevac has already begun to feel the pressure of facing his native country Serbia in the group stages after his house was demolished.

However, that will not stop him from being bullish about his team’s chances in South Africa.

“We are in a strong group with Australia, Germany and Serbia; and all the matches will be tough. The opening match is against Serbia and as a Serb, I know much about them. Australia has a strong team and Germany are the favourites in the group. For us our target is to advance from the group stage and will move on from there,” said the man simply called “Milo” in Ghana.

The Black Stars will be based in Paris between May 24 and 29 and play fellow World Cup finalists the Netherlands in Amsterdam on June 1. They will then finalise their preparations with another warm-up game against Latvia on June 5 in England.

COACH - MILOVAN RAJEVAC The unheralded Serbian coach is now the toast of Ghana after qualifying the country to the 2010 World Cup and then guiding a make-shift side to the final of the Nations Cup in Angola.

Since he took charge of the team in August 2008, the 56-year-old “Milo” has shown great courage by blooding several talented youngsters while calling the bluff of some of the team’s top stars like Muntari.

The former Red Star Belgrade defender and later coach has also brought more discipline to a team known for their attacking flair so much so that his critics knock him for being too defensive and so shackling the Black Stars offensive prowess. His reply is - “I prefer to play ugly football and win, than play pretty and lose”.

World Cup 2010 109

North Korea

Underdog North Korea determined to beat the odds

North Korea’s line-up as of April 2010. Back, left to right: Ri Jun Il, Pak Chol Jin, Cha Jong Hyok, Torwart Ri Myong Guk, Ri Kwang Chon, Kim Yong Jun and Hong Yong Jo; Front row left to right: Ji Yun Nam, Mun In Guk, Choe Kum Chol y Pak Nam Chol.

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orth Korea are hoping to beat the odds with defensive tactics and mental agility as the underdog Asian country makes a return to the World Cup finals 44 years after shocking the world by advancing to the quarter-finals of the 1966 World Cup. The North Koreans stand almost no chance of going further than the other 31 finalists and being among the topfive most underrated World Cup 2010 teams in South Africa is not the only reason.

Luck was also against them as December’s group draw pitted North Korea against five-time winners Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast.

North Korea open their World Cup campaign against Brazil at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on June 14, and are expected to field a defensive 5-4-1 lineup.

However, the big problem will be scoring as evidenced during qualifying when North Korea scored only five goals in eight games. Against the odds, however, North Korea are determined to buck their underdog tag.

“Everybody has rated us as an underdog. But we are determined to show the world in the Cup how powerful the underdog can prove otherwise,” said Kim Kook Jin, 21, one of North Korean football players in an April 15 interview

110 World Cup 2010

with FIFA. In fact, no teams remain as mysterious as the North Korean team, making it unpredictable about how things will play out. A heavily slanted loss will cause the team to storm out with no words left. A scoreless draw could be an extreme shocker, inviting them to make a speech. A surprise win would create legendary stars in modern football history.

Back at the 1966 World Cup, all of the North Koreans were literally weeping, North Korean defectors later recalled in Seoul, while watching the 1966 World Cup game when their team’s winning streak was reversed by a 5-3 defeat to Portugal.

Although a live TV broadcast of the matches won’t be available for ordinary North Koreans, any news of victory will be quickly spread from diplomats or high-class North Koreans who can watch real-time satellite TV broadcast while staying at top-tier hotels in Pyongyang.

North Korean defectors in South Korea have said that in North Korea, football is one of the most popular sports while basketball or golf are shunned as ‘capitalist sports’ reserved for the rich only.

Football is, arguably, the most liberalized area in the North Korea’s reclusive community. North Korea

allows its star players like Hong Young Jo and Kim Young Jun to play for Russian league side Rostov and China league team Chengdu, respectively. Ahn Young Hak plays for Japan league of Omiya Ardija while forward Jong Tae Se plays for Kawasaki Frontale Japan.

THE COACH - KIM JONG HUN When North Korea earned its place at the 2010 World Cup last June thanks to a 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia, North Korean coach Kim Jong Hun was hailed as a hero who created the second milestone moment in the country’s football history after the stunning 1-0 victory over Italy at the 1966 world Cup Known as a cool strategist, Kim was credited with having organized his team into a well-aligned outfit that was strong in defence and dangerous on the counterattack. Under the Kim’s leadership, the team emerged from the 44-year shadow of anonymity through the toughest of qualifying stages to reach the World Cup. Although his fame was dented by October’s failure to qualify for the 2010 East Asian Championship after a draw with Hong Kong, Kim kept his team under control. Despite the limelight, Kim was troubled by speculation that he may be replaced with foreign coaches like Guus Hiddink, who had led the South Korean team to the semi-finals at the 2002 World Cup.

Brazil

Brazil gives up “jogo bonito” for sake of efficiency in South Africa

Carlos Dunga captained Brazil in the 1994 event, where he got to lift the trophy

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ith few stars and only modest aspirations to put on a show on the pitch, the Brazil team of austere coach Carlos Dunga appears to have given up its trademark “jogo bonito.”

The concept of beautiful play has been cast aside for a reason, however, as the team strives for efficiency in the hope of winning the country’s sixth World Cup title - the title that Brazil could not win in Germany 2006, for all their superstars and attractive play.

Dunga’s Brazil is not, like that of four years ago, a group that includes most of the world’s best players in their position. It does not feature innovations or attacking strategies with catchy nicknames, like the “Diabolical Duo” of Romario and Bebeto in 1994, the “Triple R” with Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho in 2002 or the “Magical Square” of the 2006 disappointment.

Under the command of former Brazil captain Dunga - who led the South American giants to the World Cup title in 1994 - expressions like “art football” and “individual talent” have given way to the slogan “discipline and commitment.”

The new Brazil haven’t impressed football lovers like German legend Franz Beckenbauer. Last year, during the Confederations Cup in South Africa, Beckenbauer made clear his doubts about the team’s potential, particularly in attack.

“It is not enough to win the World

Cup,” he said of their play.

Dunga’s low-profile style also fails to impress Brazilians, who miss their superstars and heroes of old. But the coach does not heed the criticism and has collected extremely convincing statistics to back up his arguments.

Since Dunga took over the most successful national team in the world in 2006, and although he had no previous experience as coach, Brazil have won 37 matches out of 53 played, with only 5 defeats.

The percentage of points obtained stands at 76.7, beating even the 76.4 per cent attained by Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led Brazil to their fifth World Cup title in South Korea-Japan 2002. Dunga’s men have scored an average of over two goals per match, which appears to dispel doubts as to their attacking potential.

Over almost four years, Brazil won the 2007 Copa America - with a commanding 3-0 win over arch-rivals and favourites Argentina - and the 2009 Confederations Cup - including a 3-0 win over defending world champions Italy - and they finished first in the South American World Cup qualifiers.

These results strengthened Brazilians’ confidence in the “Selecao,” although they did not generate a wave of optimism like that of four years ago, when everyone in “the country of football” took it for granted that the trophy was on its way to Brazil.

Analysts, coaches and former Brazil

players agree that this time Dunga’s side is unlikely to face the problems that are believed to have caused the disaster of 2006: bad preparation and excessive self-confidence.

However, experts note that South Africa 2010 is probably one of the editions of the World Cup with the largest number of candidates for the title: the “usual suspects” - Germany, Argentina, Brazil and Italy - are now joined by strong teams from Spain, England and the Netherlands.

Dunga’s low-profile World Cup strategy is to go fully into force on June 15, when Brazil play their World Cup opener against mysterious North Korea.

A match against Ivory Coast is to follow, with a game against the Portugal team of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo as Brazil’s toughest challenge in the first round of play.

THE COACH - CARLOS DUNGA Carlos Dunga, 46, had a long and successful career as a defensive midfielder in Brazil as well as in Italy, Germany and Japan. He played in the 1990 World Cup and captained Brazil in the 1994 event, where he got to lift the trophy.

However, his defensive play never quite pleased his demanding compatriots, and that, coupled with his lack of coaching experience, led many to resist his appointment as Brazil coach in 2006. While the team’s play still fails to impress Brazilian fans, good results have secured Dunga’s position as coach.

World Cup 2010 111

Daniel Jensen

Denmark’s Jensen: With a little bit of luck we can go through

Werder Bremen snapped up Daniel Jensen in 2004 - like his team-mates Jensen is confident that the Danes have a chance to go through

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lthough Daniel Jensen’s season with his German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen will end on a highlight with a cup final against champions Bayern Munich, his real highlight is still to come.

The 30-year-old midfielder is hoping to play a part in Denmark’s World Cup campaign in South Africa.

With just three international goals from more than 40 internationals, Jensen is not known as a prolific scorer, but he scored one of his country’s most important goals en route to the June 11 - July 11 finals.

With just two minutes to go in Denmark’s qualifying game in Lisbon against Portugal, the home side was leading 2-1 before Christian Poulsen found an equalizer.

Two minutes into injury time Jenson unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the area and the ball took a deflection before beating goalkeeper Quim. The 3-2 victory sent Denmark well on their

112 World Cup 2010

way to South Africa, where the Danes will be facing Cameroon, Netherlands and Japan in Group E. Jenson told German Press Agency dpa that they were not too focused on their opponents. “As we have qualified for the World Cup, we don’t look that much at the others,” he said.

“We concentrate on our own players and hope to get the maximum out of each player and then hope to go through.”

Jensen, whose older brother Niclas was also a former Danish international, said that he is aware it will not be an easy ride into the second round.

“It will be very difficult, but in a World Cup every group is tough. If we have the little bit of luck that you need to go through, then I think we have a big chance of advancing,” he said.

Most people consider the Netherlands to be the favourites to advance from Group E and Jensen is aware that the Dutch have a very strong squad.

“If you look at the players on paper, the Dutch side are favourites to win the group, but the other teams are also very strong.

“I recently played against South Korea. They play the same kind of football as Japan. They have quick players who are technically very strong and we have to have respect for them.”

Like his team-mates Jensen is confident that the Danes have a chance to go through. “Otherwise we don’t have to travel all the way to South Africa if we don’t believe in it.”

Jensen started his career in Denmark with Boldklubben 93 before moving to Heerenveen. From the Dutch club he moved on a free transfer to newlypromoted Real Murcia in the Spanish La Liga where he spent one season, before Werder Bremen snapped him up in 2004.

His playing time in the Bundesliga has been curtailed by an achilles tendon injury.

“I have been struggling with the injury for almost a year, but things are looking up now that I am injury free,” he said.

“The last couple of weeks have been going very well and I don’t feel the injury anymore and I have been building strength. Now I am looking forward to the World Cup very much.”

Jensen believes that his team-mate Niklas Bendtner could be one of the stars of the tournament. “He has been very important for Arsenal and I think he will be an interesting name for the next 10 years.”

In 2002 Morten Olsen gave Jensen his first cap and the midfielder is very complimentary about the coach, who will also be in charge of the Danish side in South Africa.

“He is the best trainer you could find and you have to admire all the work he has put into football,” he said.

“Because he has been doing the job for so long, he has been growing into it and he is getting good results.

“He is very moderate and that is something that he projects onto the players. He has the experience of having played at the World Cup and that will help us.”

Diego Forlan

Diego Forlan: Every Uruguayan boy’s dream come true

Forlan won the European Golden Boot award with Villarreal, and did it again with Atletico Madrid

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n a football-crazy country like Uruguay, four out of five boys want to become professional players in Europe.

Diego Forlan was no exception to the dream, but unlike the huge majority the balanced, tenacious striker made it come true.

“He realized the dream of us all,” says Andres Mendez, 32, who has been friends with Forlan since childhood.

“The group of friends cannot see him as a star.”

“It is hard to see kids on the street wearing Diego’s shirt, but for us he is the same friend as always, he never changed: tremendously generous, humble, responsible, supportive and a good friend for his friends.”

Forlan was born on May 19, 1979 in a residential neighbourhood in Montevideo. He went to private primary and secondary schools, he speaks English and even started studying

International Relations at university, although his football career led him to drop out.

He is not a typical player for Uruguayan football, where most players come from poor families. Forlan played tennis as a child, and he likes that sport, along with table-tennis and golf, as much as he likes football, friends say.

For a few years, he has been going out with Argentine model Zaira Nara, 23, who unlike other WAGs in the region keeps a low media profile. Forlan stood out as a goal scorer from a very early age.

“In children’s football, his team would score 100 goals, and 90 were

by Diego,” Andres Mendez recalls. His brother, Diego Mendez, smiles. “I would score the other 10, but I never played professionally,” he said.

Diego Mendez praises Forlan for being “a simple guy, who greatly values everything that life has given him and

who did not get dizzy with fame.”

“Of course sometimes, in public, he has to behave a certain way, but he is still the same as always,” he says.

When Forlan returns home to Uruguay, he enjoys family life with his parents and his three older siblings, including Alejandra, who is in a wheelchair as a result of a traffic accident in 1989.

Forlan’s father Pablo was a defender in the Penarol Montevideo team that won many championships in the 1960s and 1970s, and who also played for Brazilian clubs Sao Paulo and Cruzeiro, Uruguayan club Defensor and the national team. His grandfather, Juan Carlos Corazo, coached Uruguay in the 1962 World Cup in Chile.

But the Atletico Madrid striker never played professionally in Uruguay.

He rose through the youth ranks of Uruguayan clubs Penarol and Danubio, but at 17 he travelled to Argentina to join Independiente.

“I think those were the most difficult years. He had to live alone at a club dormitory, far from his friends and his family. It was not easy, but I like to highlight his tenacity and responsibility to face and overcome those challenges,” Andres Mendez says.

From Argentina, Forlan moved to Manchester United (2002-04) before going to Spanish club Villarreal. He became Villarreal’s most prolific goalscorer in the top flight of La Liga, with 54 goals in three seasons.

Forlan won the European Golden Boot award with Villarreal, and did it again with Atletico Madrid. “He thinks very hard before making a decision,” his friends say.

That is why many were shocked this season when he scored a goal and reacted by insulting home fans at Atletico Madrid stadium Vicente Calderon who had been criticizing him: “Suck my dick!”

“It was a moment’s rage,” Forlan explained. “I felt they had been unfair.”

Usually, Forlan is keen to talk more with actions than with words, let alone rude words.

A UNICEF ambassador since 2005, he always showed great sensitivity on social issues. He promotes the rights of children and teenagers on campaigns in Uruguay and beyond. Perhaps one of those children can also grow up to fulfil his dream.

World Cup 2010 113

Domenico Criscito

Fearless Criscito

awaits ticket for South Africa

Blonde and blue-eyed, Criscito moved to Genoa as a promising teenage footballer

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oung, fearless and optimistic, Genoa defender Domenico Criscito is ready for the biggest adventure of his career when Italy travel to South Africa in June to defend their world champions crown.

About a month before selector Marcello Lippi issues his 23-man roster for the World Cup, Criscito is widely considered to have a place reserved in the squad that lifted Italy’s fourth World Cup in 2006.

“I feel I’m in up to a certain point because the official call has still to arrive,” he told German Press Agency dpa on a sunny April afternoon at the training camp of Genoa.

114 World Cup 2010

“I have been in the national team group for one year.

At 23, it’s not something that happens to many players.

For me it’s an honour to don the jersey of the world champion national team.”

With team-mate Salvatore Bocchetti, Criscito is the youngest among the players that Lippi has fielded since his return in 2008 after taking two years off.

The Genoa defender is not new to playing for his country, having begun with the Azzurrini in the under17 set-up and becoming a fixture with the under-21 team.

But the Azzurri, the squad that the Italian football federation (FIGC) calls Nazionale A, are something else.

“I think my most important debut was the one with the national team, with Switzerland on August 12 (2009). It was my first cap. I was on the pitch from the start and I absolutely didn’t expect it.

“I think the most emotional moment was when I found myself next to so many champions to sing the national anthem.”

After the debut, Criscito played another full game in a World Cup qualifier against Georgia and part of three friendlies against the Netherlands, Sweden and Cameroon.

There won’t be lack of competitors for Criscito in his role of left-flank defender, with Juventus world champion Fabio Grosso boasting his experience and 19-year-old Davide Santon of Inter Milan hoping to recover from a knee injury.

Leaving aside his hopes of playing, the defender is confident that Italy will do well in the tournament despite the average showings of the past two years.

“Italy go into this competition as world champions, so I think that they are among the favourites,” he said. “They have always done well at the World Cup, therefore I think that this year too they will cut a very good figure.”

If fielded, there will be no stage fright for Criscito, who said he is “not one who gets anxious before a game. I always face things with tranquillity.

“With the youth team I have already played the (2008) Olympics and two European championships. I now that the World Cup is totally different, but these are always good experiences to live through.”

The recent threats of terrorist attacks in South Africa don’t worry the Genoa defender as he believes that “there will be much security and it will be well done.”

“I don’t know anything (about South Africa), but I know that there are opportunities to go on great safaris. I told my wife that, World Cup aside, we’ll take a trip there for a safari.”

Blonde and blue-eyed, Criscito moved to Genoa as a promising teenage footballer, but has not forgotten his native Cercola, a suburb of Naples.

“In Naples there is my family. It’s my city,” he said.

“There are many there who follow me. They also created a Genoa fan club bearing my name in my town.

“It’s nice to go down (south) and be welcomed by all my town people. I go there often.

“Genoa is similar to Naples. I’m fine here. I grew up here. I know the city well. The fans like me and think that this is important for a footballer.”

Stadium

Moses Mabhida is Durban’s Sydney Opera House

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Moses Mabhida Stadium, named after a local hero of the struggle against apartheid, will host several games during the World Cup, including a semi-final.

If Durban gets its way, it will also one day host the Olympics

f all five new grounds built for the World Cup, Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium is the most transformative in terms of its impact on the

city.

Until now South Africa’s third-largest city had no iconic monument or outstanding natural feature that made tourists really sit up and take notice.

Moses Mabhida Stadium, which is named after a deceased anti-apartheid activist and will host several games, including a semi-final, changes all that.

This spectacular stadium does to the skyline of this Indian Ocean port what Sydney Opera House does for the Australian city. The 70,000-seat concrete and steel colossus, which was built in a sports precinct close to the city centre and near the beach, is straddled by a 350metre long, 106m high arch.

Two legs hold up the arch at one end of the stadium but the legs gradually merge into one, in a Y-shape that symbolizes the reunification of blacks and whites in postapartheid South Africa.

It packs a punch in architectural terms but the arch is also about making the stadium commercially viable. The city is already raking in money from a tourist funicular that climbs the arch several times a day to a platform that gives panoramic views of the city and its beaches.

Bungee jumping off the arch over the pitch and its sea of blue and orange seats has also taken off. Like the Cape Town Stadium, Durban also makes maximum use of natural light.

Light pours in from a massive southfacing “window” and through the halfdrawn teflon-coated glass fibre roof, which covers the grandstands and part of the pitch.

To the south of the stadium, the finishing touches are also being put to a 30,000 square-metre “people’s park”.

“It’s a world-class stadium, on a par with any stadium in the world,” Alf Oschatz, the German project manager of the stadium told German Press Agency dpa proudly.

Contrasting his experience working on Frankfurt and Berlin’s 2006 World Cup stadiums with his three years on the 3.1 billion-rand (403- million-dollar) Durban venue, Oschatz says: “For South Africa it’s (the stadium) more important because the social situation is more difficult.”

“The stadium is part of the development programme of Durban. If anyone talks about Durban now, they talk about the stadium,” he said.

“We wanted a stadium that is iconic,” Mike Sutcliffe, Durban’s municipal manager, said, explaining how the city paid six teams each 1 million rand to design a stadium before selecting a winning German-South African model.

There was another option: For a fraction of the price, the city could have upgraded a nearby rugby stadium to be able to host a semi-final.

But by building a multi-disciplinary venue, which can be fitted with a running track, expanded to 85,000 seats, and is next door to an Olympic-size swimming pool next door Durban has put itself in the running for the 2020 Olympics.

Matches: June 13 1830 Group D Germany v Australia June 16 1400 Group H Spain v Switzerland June 19 1130 Group E Netherlands v Japan June 22 1830 Group B Nigeria v South Korea June 25 1400 Group G Portugal v Brazil June 28 1400 Round of 16 1E v 2F July 7 1830 Semi-finals W59 v W60 Factfile: Name : Durban Stadium City : Durban Construction : New completion Construction : 2009 Gross Capacity : 69,957

World Cup 2010 115

Cameroon

look to improve on illustrious history Cameroon

Cameroon’s national side seen in March 2010: Back, left to right: Sebastien Bassong, Georges Mandjeck, Hamidou Souleymanou, Alexandre Song and Dorge Kouemaha. Front. left to right: Stephane Mbia, Achille Emana, Nicolas Nkoulou, Benoit Assou Ekotto, Enoh Eyong and Samuel Eto’o

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hen Cameroon take to the field in South Africa, it will be their sixth appearance at the World Cup finals since 1982.

The Indomitable Lions have played in more finals than any other African team and were the first from the continent to reach the quarter-finals.

Their greatest World Cup success came in 1990, when a 38-year-old Roger Milla inspired them to the last eight. After victories over Argentina, Romania and Colombia, England eventually ended the dream with a 3-2 win, but it was Cameroonians who won people’s hearts, particularly Milla, who celebrated each of his four goals with a shimmy around the corner flag.

It is these memories of Milla and 1990 that the current crop of players are looking to surpass, but the team has been less formidable in recent years.

Cameroon’s record since 1990 - out in the first round in 1994, 1998 and 2002 and failing to qualify in 2006 - does not suggest that this team will be among the most-feared.

Nor does their quarter-final exit in January’s Africa Cup of Nations at the hands of Egypt bode well, considering previous form saw them win the tournament in both 2000 and 2002.

Nonetheless, Cameroon’s football federation (FECAFOOT) believes manager Paul Le Guen - a former French international defender whose managerial career at club level fizzled out after early success at Lyon - can lead to the team to new heights.

“Going to South Africa with Le Guen is probably the best thing that can happen to the Lions,” says FECAFOOT official Namanga Divine Lingondo.

“I think that Cameroon will do even better than they have done in the past at any World Cup.”

Le Guen, 46, took over Cameroon two games into the World Cup qualifying campaign and turned the team around.

The Indomitable Lions won four games on the trot, recovering from a 1-0 defeat to Togo and a 00 draw with Morocco to qualify on the last day.

Egypt may have put a dent in the recovery at the Africa Cup of Nations, but Cameroonians are still optimistic that their team - buoyed by the fact that the tournament is on African soil for the first time - can make an impact.

“This may be the last FIFA World Cup on African soil so it’s time to take up the challenge and get to the end,” says filmmaker Achille Brice. “We are back for another 1990.”

Cameroon face the Netherlands, Denmark and Japan in the group stages, and certainly have good enough players at their disposal to realistically hope for second place.

The Indomitable Lions have in Inter Milan’s Samuel Eto’o, 29, a player capable of ripping apart any defence, and as the new team captain he is expected to lead by example.

At the back, veteran defender Rigobert Song, 33, is a dominating, if occasionally erratic, presence although Le Guen may use him sparingly at the World Cup. Song’s nephew Alexandre, 22, has cemented his place as Arsenal’s holding midfielder and, alongside fading star Geremi, 31, could form part of a respectable midfield for his country.

However, Le Guen has shown he is not afraid to call up new players, and organized a training camp in mid-April to identify local players who could possibly make the grade.

One of the newer recruits, Ajax’s Eyong Enoh, who has a dozen caps to his name, believes Cameroon could spring a surprise.

“In reality, we have a young emerging squad at the moment and our objective is to make it as far as possible in the tournament,” the 24-yearold midfielder says. “There are high possibilities, knowing the spirit of the team at the moment. I think we will go very far.”

THE COACH - PAUL LE GUEN Frenchman Paul Le Guen, 46, took over Cameroon in July, when the team had secured only one point from two qualifying games and turned the campaign around. He came to prominence when he led Lyon to three consecutive French titles between 2002 and 2005.

However, Le Guen struggled to hit the same heights since. He was fired by Glasgow Rangers after only a few months and Paris St Germain refused to renew his two-year contract. He will be hoping to restore his earlier career sparkle with a strong showing in South Africa.

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South Africa

From rebel tours to World Cup: the history of sporting events in SA

South Africa captain Francois Pienaar receives the William Webb Ellis Trophy from Nelson Mandela

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n June this year, the world’s biggest sporting event, the football World Cup, will kick-off in Soccer City in Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

The journey to get to that point has been a long and hard one, which has seen people being shot demonstrating against rebel tours, South Africans organizing their own Games, which were like a substitute for the Olympic Games and - once Apartheid had been abolished - hosting major international events.

In the days before the rest of the world took a stand that South Africa’s policy of racial segregation, as exercised by the Apartheid, was abhorrent, the country was well integrated in international sport.

White South African athletes participated at the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games and at international tournaments and South Africa was a sought-after destination for international tours.

A staunch supporter of the Apartheid government was then FIFA president Sir Stanley Rous, who fought to keep the all-white Football Association of South Africa (FASA) as a FIFA member and was instrumental in getting FASA’s suspension from FIFA temporarily lifted in 1963 after a fact-finding visit.

The respite, however, was short-lived and from the mid 1960s South Africa found itself more and more isolated.

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FIFA suspended FASA in 1964 and finally expelled South Africa in 1976.

Six years earlier, the International Olympic Committee had already expelled the country.

The South African government and sporting bodies close to the government reacted to the increased sporting isolation with a number of measures.

The government introduced a socalled policy of multi-racialism, that allowed sporting contact between the races at a certain level, but within welldefined parameters, while sporting bodies - particularly those controlling racial cricket and rugby - organised rebel tours, whereby international athletes and teams were paid huge amounts of money to tour the country.

Another reaction to the difficulty in organizing international sporting competition, was the holding of the South African Games, which were seen as the country’s answer to not being allowed to compete at the Olympics.

In 1980, the United Nations started putting together a list of athletes and officials who had travelled to South Africa for sporting contacts and this “Register of Sports Contacts with South Africa” increased the country’s sporting isolation even more.

Seven years later the UN published the register, which contained the names of some 2,500 athletes and officials.

Amongst them were several

prominent athletes like Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors and Boris Becker, Lee Trevino, Fuzzy Zoeller, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer and Greg Norman.

Close to 200 athletes had their names deleted from the list after promising that they would never compete in South Africa again.

UN Assistant Secretary General Sotirios Mousouris said at the time that the register put pressure on the South African government to eliminate apartheid. “Convincing athletes to boycott South African sporting events has proved an effective tool since 1981.”

Without doubt, the sports boycott played an important part in the events that led to the first non-racial democratic elections in South Africa in 1994.

South Africa was allowed to compete at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup. In 1995, South Africa hosted the rugby World Cup for the first time and managed to win the trophy.

South African president Nelson Mandela donned the jersey of South African captain Francois Pienaar as the Springboks won the cup and that act has widely been accepted as being one of the most important nation-building measures Mandela undertook during his presidency.

A year later, South Africa hosted the African Cup of Nations tournament and even though many of the games were played in fairly empty stadiums, the tournament was still considered a success, made even sweeter for South Africans by Bafana’s victory.

In 2003, the cricket world championship was held in South Africa and even though the hosts were stunned in the first round and eliminated - alongside other cricketing nations like England, Pakistan and the West Indies - it was nevertheless a successful tournament that went off without any problems.

And so to the football World Cup, which has drawn its fair share of skeptics, who raise security issues, poor attendance and a weak Bafana side as the problem areas.

It is now up to South Africa and South Africans to show that they can - just as they did with the rugby World Cup in 1995, the African Cup of Nations in 1996 and the cricket World Cup in 2003 - host a successful and world class sporting event.

Stadium

Free State Stadium Rugby and football live together

Built in 1952 as a rugby stadium, Free State was upgraded for the 2009 Confederations Cup and saw one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when the US managed to beat the European champions Spain in the semi-final

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ootball and rugby have not always enjoyed a very harmonious relationship in South Africa.

In the apartheid days, rugby was considered the sport of the ruling white minority, while football was the sport of the black majority, who enjoyed no political rights.

In the capital of the Free State province, Bloemfontein, the Free State Stadium stands as a shining example that the two sports can quite comfortably exist next to - and with - each other.

The Cheetahs rugby team, which competes in the Super 14 series, where it plays against teams from Australia and New Zealand, and the Bloemfontein Celtic football club, both use the stadium for some of their home games.

There is a flip-side to this sharing though as the doubling-up has caused some extra work for the groundsmen as the pitch requires extra care due to frequent use and tough rugby matches being played at the venue.

Built in 1952 as a rugby stadium, it was upgraded for the 2009 Confederations Cup and saw one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when the US managed to beat the European champions Spain in the semi-final.

During the refurbishment, the

capacity was increased from 38,000 to 45,000, with a larger media centre, as well as increased parking also being introduced.

Last year’s Confederations Cup was not the first time the stadium has hosted matches during an international competition as the venue was used for both the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations a year later, which South Africa won.

Free State Stadium, which is centrally situated in Bloemfontein and thus easily accessible, will host six matches, including a potentially decisive game for the hosts in Group A against France on June 22, during the World Cup. The stadium will also see one round of the last 16 being played, which could potentially see a repeat of the 1966 World Cup final between Germany and England, should one of the two teams win their group and the other finish runner-up.

Visitors to late matches in the stadium will be well advised to dress warmly though as Bloemfontein has one of the coldest climates during winter nights and the stadium does not offer a lot of protection against the cold.

Matches (kick-off times in gmt): June 14 1600 Group E Japan v Cameroon June 17 1400 Group B Greece v Nigeria June 20 1130 Group F Slovakia v Paraguay June 22 1400 Group A France v South Africa June 25 1830 Group H Switzerland v Honduras June 27 1400 Round of 16 1D v 2C Factfile: Stadium : Free State Stadium City : Mangaung/Bloemfontein Built : 1952 Construction : Medium upgrade Completion : 2008 Gross Capacity (after upgrade): 45,058

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Argentina

In Diego Maradona Argentina have a legendary coach but what they conspicuously lack is a cohesive team

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Messi and other stars short of a team

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rgentina have a problem that looks difficult to solve in the run-up to the World Cup: they have Lionel Messi but cannot get him to play as he does at the glittering Barcelona.

Messi is arguably the world’s best player, Barcelona is arguably the world’s best team, and Argentina currently stand before the huge challenge of building a side in which the young superstar can flourish as he has proved he can do.

In fact, Argentina do not just have Messi. They also have other in-form strikers, like Carlos Tevez and Diego Milito. They have longestablished midfielders like Javier Mascherano and Juan Sebastian Veron, defenders like Walter Samuel and Martin Demichelis... and even a legendary coach like Diego Maradona.

What they conspicuously lack is a team, a connection between the parts that makes the whole worthy of being considered a candidate to the title in South Africa 2010.

Maradona, his men and others in the football-crazy South American country look forward to having the pieces come together when they train and work together for a full month before the World Cup. Perhaps that way they can get things to happen.

Argentina qualified for South Africa at the last minute, regularly underperformed on the pitch despite fielding scores of players in total and suffered humiliating defeats. They even had coach Alfio Basile sacked and Maradona brought in to motivate players who are otherwise widely regarded as global stars.

So far, the only thing that seems clear in the run-up to South Africa is that Messi and Argentina need each other. “What he won with his club is tremendous, he needs to put the icing on the cake by winning the World Cup,” legendary Argentine striker Mario Kempes said recently.

And Messi, set to turn 23 in South Africa, agrees. “To become a legend, to be great, you also have to win a World Cup,” he said in an interview with the Spanish daily El Mundo.

Argentina need to win the World Cup that they already won in 1978 and 1986. And Messi, who has already won everything with Barcelona, needs a team that can be his springboard to precocious greatness - real greatness, of the kind that can only be sealed in a World Cup. Before that can happen, a new set of connections needs to emerge on the pitch.

“Diego and his team-mates need a committed and convinced Lionel. And Lionel needs his coach and team-mates to believe in him, but not to leave him alone in what is a shared responsibility,” says prestigious Argentine analyst Juan Pablo Varsky.

Getting to the nitty-gritty, another Barcelona legend thinks Maradona can learn valuable lessons from the Catalan club.

“Nobody at Barca wears himself out less than Leo. If he spent the match running, chasing his moment, when it came he would have no spark, he would be exhausted by the time he had to shoot,” Johan Cruyff explained.

“Many ask themselves, and ask me, why Leo is not like that when he plays for Argentina. Because his team-mates are not the same, or even his situation on the pitch, and he is forced to run, to sort out his life individually, and he wastes energy in a pointless way,” Cruyff added.

Argentina have Messi, but so far they have been embarrassingly unable to make the most of having him, just as Messi has been unable to be in the Argentine blue-and-white shirt even half the player that has astonished the football world in Barca’s blue-and-red shirt.

South Africa will be a chance for Messi to redeem himself in the eyes of Argentine fans and to attain the only portion of football glory that he cannot aspire to with Barcelona.

It remains to be seen whether Argentina can provide him with the structure Messi needs to shine, and rise to greatness as a team in the process.

THE COACH - DIEGO MARADONA Diego Maradona, 49, is a global football legend, one of the game’s three greatest players in history.

As a player, he led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986, and he sealed his legend against England in the quarter-finals of that tournament, with the so-called Hand of God goal, which should have been disallowed, and with a magnificent dribbling effort that was voted the goal of the 20th century.

As a coach, however, he has had very little experience at club level, and both there and in the national team he has so far failed to convince fans and commentators alike of his aptitude for the position.

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FIFA

No new technology as FIFA keeps trust in old rules for World Cup FIFA president Joseph Blatter made it clear ahead of last December’s draw in Cape Town that there will be no change in refereeing this summer

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he format and rules for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will remain as they were for Germany four years ago after FIFA president Joseph Blatter ruled out the possibility of the introduction of a fifth referee or any kind of video technology.

The Europa League has experimented with a fifth referee this season and there were calls for the use of video technology after the unnoticed handball by Thierry Henry in the run-up to William Gallas’ play-off winning goal for France against Ireland.

However, Blatter made it clear ahead of last December’s draw in Cape Town that there will be no change in refereeing this summer. ”This is for 2010 definite, it will not be discussed,” he said. The 32-team format initially introduced in 1998 remains unchanged, with the teams drawn into eight groups of four from which the top two from the round robin play advance.

The standings are decided by greater number of points obtained in all group matches and then the goal difference in all group matches. If teams can still not be separated, the greatest number of goals scored in all group matches shall be taken into consideration.

If two, or more teams are still level using the above criteria, their place

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Nail-biting penalty shoot-outs remain a feature of the World Cup. Here Italian player Roberto Baggio powers the balll past Brazilian keeper Taffarel in the 1994 final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Brazil eventually won 3:2 on penalties

will be decided by greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned, goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned and the greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned.

Thereafter lots shall be drawn by the World Cup organizing committee.

Hosts South Africa have been placed at the top of group A, meaning they will play in the opening match against Mexico on June 11, 2010, in Soccer City, Johannesburg.

The group stage is followed by the knockout stage, consisting of the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, the third-place game and the July 11, 2010, final in Soccer City.

If a knockout round match is tied after 90 minutes of regulation, two 30-minute periods of extra-time are

added. If the game is still tied, a penalty shootout follows.

There have been 20 penalty shootouts in World Cup history since 1982.

Germany have a perfect 4-0 record while Italy lost on the first three occasions - the 1990 semi-finals with Argentina, 1994 final with Brazil and 1998 quarterfinal with France - before beating France in the 2006 final in Berlin.

The 1994 final was the only other final in World Cup history decided on penalties. Four years earlier both semifinals went to a shootout.

No match at the World Cup finals has ever been decided by lot, but the method was used to place Ireland and the Netherlands in the final group standings in 1990 after both finished tied on three points and a goal difference of 2-2 apiece.

Denmark

Denmark relying on team spirit to advance at World Cup

The Danish national team line-up which played the qualifier against Sweden in October 2009: Back, left to right: Thomas Sorensen, Daniel Agger, Niklas Bendtner, Simon Kjaer, Thomas Kahlenberg y William Kvist. Front, left to right:Martin Joergensen, Dennis Rommedahl, Lars Jakobsen, Jakob Poulsen and Christian Poulsen

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ne-time champions aiming to surprise at World Cup

European Denmark are create a new the upcoming finals in South

Africa.

At the 1992 European championships the team upset reigning world champions Germany with a 2-0 victory, chalking up Demark’s greatest football achievement to date.

Denmark start off their World Cup adventure against Holland – by most accounts the favourites to win the group that also includes Cameroon and Japan.

“In a World Cup every group is tough,” Werder Bremen midfielder Daniel Jensen told German Press Agency dpa, adding that with “a little bit of luck” Denmark have “a great chance of going through.”

And after qualifying for the World Cup, “we don’t have to look that much at other (country’s) players but can concentrate on our own players,” Jensen, 30, said, adding that he was hopeful of his own form after struggling with an Achilles injury.

Coach Morten Olsen has proved that his team - and tactics - are a force to be reckoned with after Denmark won their World Cup qualifying group ahead of both Portugal and Sweden.

This year’s World Cup finals mark Denmark’s fourth appearance at a

World Cup. Denmark made their first appearance at the 1986 World Cup finals when the team, nicknamed “Danish dynamite,” played an attacking style. Olsen was one of the players who experienced a humiliating 5-1 loss to Spain, ending Denmark’s run.

A quarter-final spot at the 1998 World Cup is to date Denmark’s greatest achievement at a World Cup. Denmark may lack a superstar in their lineup but the Scandinavian country has some high profile players that may shine in South Africa, including Liverpool defender Daniel Agger and Arsenal forward Nicklas Bendtner, who has made more of a mark at the Gunners as this season has progressed.

The veteran Olsen, who has coached Denmark since 2000 and is under contract until June 2012, “is the best trainer you could find,” Jensen said, describing him as “a very intelligent football trainer” who is also able to keep his cool. Jensen also mentioned Olsen’s previous experience of the World Cup as a player and coach.

As part of Denmark’s preparations, Olsen has set up friendlies against teams that have a similar style of football as the upcoming World Cup opponents: South Korea with fast technical players, Senegal who are a strong physical team, and Australia who play a style similar to Holland’s.

The friendly against “The Socceroos”

will be held in South Africa at relatively high altitude, partly so that players can get a feel for how the ball flies in thinner air.

Favourite to guard the posts is Stoke City goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen after a strong showing in qualifying.

The defence line-up includes Simon Kjaer, 21, who plays for Italian Serie A side Palermo and Liverpool’s Agger, 25.

Christian Poulsen of Juventus has a key role in the midfield.

Veterans tipped to join “Olsens Elleve” (Olsen’s Eleven) in South Africa include Feyenoord forward Jon Dahl Tomasson and forward Dennis Rommedal on loan from Ajax to NEC Nijmegen.

And on the sidelines, Olsen will keep a watchful eye.

THE COACH - MORTEN OLSEN The veteran Olsen, who has coached Denmark since 2000 earlier this year extended his contract to June 2012. In recognition of his achievements, Olsen was named a member of the Order of the Knight of the Dannebrog in connection with Danish Queen Margrethe’s 70th birthday on April 16. The order was instituted in 1671.

A central defender, he played 102 internationals for Denmark from 1970 to 1989, and the following year launched his coaching career with Danish side Brondby. He has also coached German club Cologne and Ajax Amsterdam.

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Roger Federer

Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi?

Both would be fine in my team

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ennis or football? There is no doubt that Roger Federer got over his teenage dilemma just fine.

Now, as world number one and beyond that as one of the best tennis players in history, he looks back and remembers his days in Swiss football as a multi-cultural affair.

“There were always many foreigners in football. I was the only Swiss in my team when I was 12. There were many Spaniards, Italians, Turks, Yugoslavs...

Even I was not totally Swiss,” Federer told the German Press Agency dpa in an interview.

The tennis legend is excited about the upcoming World Cup in South Africa, and that’s understandable: his mother, Lynette, is South African, so the Swiss has a direct link with the host country and spent several holidays there.

Boarding a private plane to get anywhere in the world fast and comfortably is something normal for Federer. He could do just that to go and watch Switzerland and others during the World Cup, June 11-July 11.

But he will not do that this time.

“I will watch it from a distance, because it is right between the French Open and Wimbledon. I’d like to go, but it would not be very professional,” he

said with an air of resignation.

A fan of FC Basel, Federer grew up in a football-loving environment. But now, married and a father of twin baby girls, he watches fewer matches than he used to.

He openly says that South Africa are his “second favourite team” in the World Cup, after Switzerland.

“It’s good for the host team to get through the first round,” Federer says.

And he pours praise on South Africa, to which he sounds genuinely attached.

“It has very beautiful landscapes. The Winelands are getting more and more popular in recent years. It is a country that really loves sport, known for rugby and cricket. Tennis and football are very present on television. People there are very open to the world.”

That is perhaps why he gets serious when he is reminded of the criticism of Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, who said it was a “big mistake” to have granted South Africa the World Cup. “There are always going to be people who are never satisfied, wherever it is you hold World Cups or the Olympics.

You also see that in the Euro, which is now being assigned to small countries.”

Hoeness’ criticism came up after the attack on the Togo national team in Angola, in January, during the African

Roger Federer in action at the semi-finals of the 2010 Tennis Australian Open in Melbourne

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Nations Cup. Federer thinks it is unfair to generalize.

“Africa is a very large continent.

You have to assess each country individually, I’m sure they reviewed and adjusted everything in that sense.”

Federer does not even need to look at the schedule to recall Switzerland’s path in the World Cup. He knows they are set to make their tournament debut against Spain, on June 16 in Durban.

“I would have liked to play Spain at the end (of the first round), because perhaps they would be minding themselves a bit more. We’ll have to play each match to the full, but in the first match they’re going to be hypermotivated, they’ll do their best.”

“We don’t have anything to lose against Spain, they are superplayers, so a draw would not be bad at all.”

After playing Chile June 21 in Port Elizabeth, the key to progress in the tournament could be the game against Honduras on June 25 in Bloemfontein.

“Honduras must be difficult, if they’re playing the World Cup. I always say that you only get to play two matches in a World Cup. In the third you might already be out if you lost the first two.

That’s what is tough about a World

Cup. Everyone has a chance to qualify in this group. Spain are the great favourites, and I hope Switzerland will come second.”

He praised national team coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, and defined Switzerland as “a young team.” Federer still remembers in shame the defeat against Luxembourg in the qualifiers - “it was not exactly a great moment, everyone laughed at us” - and he jokes about the defeat to the Ukraine in the penalty shootout in Germany 2006: “We didn’t score a single one! We lost 3-0...”

Federer told dpa that it does not matter whether Diego Maradona is a “good or bad coach” because the decisive factor is that “he is an idol in Argentina.” Among the favourites to the World Cup title, he also lists Spain, Brazil and Italy.

When it comes to choosing between current football superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Federer gets more elusive, but he does so with an elegance that would be fit for his backhand.

“Which one would I choose? I think both would fit quite well in my team!” he laughs. “It’s such a positive dilemma that I don’t think you need to make a choice.”

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