England to play Egypt at Wembley

December 21, 2009

England will begin their countdown to next year’s World Cup with a friendly international against Egypt at London’s Wembley Stadium on March 3, the Football Association (FA) announced Monday.

After this month’s draw in Cape Town, England manager Fabio Capello said he wanted the side to play against African opponents – something they’ve yet to do under the Italian – as Algeria will be one of their Group C rivals at next year’s finals in South Africa.

“I think we will play March 3 at Wembley, against Egypt, then we have to find the date to play against Mexico,” Capello said following the draw.

“All the friendly games we played were against European teams and we know the style of these teams. We have to play against South Americans and African teams with a different style.”

However, Monday’s statement from the FA said no other England fixture details had been confirmed at this time.

Group C also features the United States and Slovenia.

Capello would like England to play Mexico in May as he believes they will provide his team with a useful warm-up ahead of their World Cup opener against the United States on June 12 in Rustenburg.

England are planning to play one more friendly ahead of the World Cup, with Japan the likely opponents, following a pre-tournament training camp in Austria.

Egypt, who’ve yet to play at Wembley, only missed out on a place in the 2010 World Cup finals after losing a tense play-off to Algeria last month.

England have played Egypt just twice previously, most recently at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Then a goal from England centre-back Mark Wright was all that separated the teams as the late Sir Bobby Robson’s side advanced to the second round.

Four years earlier, again under Robson, England won a friendly in Cairo 4-0.

A home win at Wembley in March would give England their 500th victory.

England have won the World Cup just once in their history, when they beat the then West Germany 4-2 after extra-time at Wembley in the 1966 final.

LONDON (AFP)

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US coach evokes spirit of ´Bel Horizonte´

December 5, 2009

The United States coach Bob Bradley is out to prove that history can strike twice when his side face England in the first round of next year’s World Cup.

Sixty years ago the US stunned England with a 1-0 win in the group stages of the 1950 World Cup at Belo Horizonete in Brazil in an upset that has become known in the States as “the miracle on grass”.

Bradley, reflecting on Friday’s draw in Cape Town which pits his Confederation Cup finalists against Fabio Capello’s team at Rustenburg on June 12, said: “Belo Horizonte – every US soccer fan knows those details, and so we look forward to another opportunity (to repeat it).”

Bradley, speaking to the BBC, added: “It’s a good group, we have a fair chance to advance.

“It’s amazing to start against England, everyone in the United States will be excited.

“Algeria and Slovenia (the two other Group C sides) are not big name teams but they are sides who could very well qualify.”

The US manager believes his side’s experience of playing in the Confed Cup in South Africa in June, when the US led Brazil 2-0 at half time in the final only to go down 3-2, will stand them in good stead come the 2010 finals.

“The Confederations Cup was a great experience. The stadiums for the world Cup will be packed to capacity, the passion for the game here is fantastic.

“And with it being winter in South Africa and the cooler temperatures the games are fast and at a high tempo – fans around the world are going to enjoy it.”

For the record, in the 1950 World Cup both the US, who owed their famous win to Joe Gaetjens’ first half header, and England failed to make it into the second round.

CAPE TOWN (AFP)

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Germany´s Bierhoff glad to avoid France, Portugal

December 5, 2009

Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff admitted Friday he was relieved his side had avoided both European giants France and Portugal in their group stage draw for the 2010 World Cup finals.

Germany will open their 2010 campaign in Group D against Australia in Pretoria on June 13, then play Serbia in Rustenburg on June 19 before the pool stage final game against Ghana at Johannesburg’s Soccer City on June 23.

But Bierhoff was happy to have avoided danger sides France and Portugal who qualified through the play-offs and could potentially have landed in the same group as the Germans.

“We are glad we did not draw France or Portugal, but Australia, Serbia and Ghana will also not be easy,” admitted former Germany striker Bierhoff.

Germany have never been beaten by any of their three World Cup opponents in previous meetings, but will be most concerned about Australia who reached the last 16 at the 2006 World Cup.

It took a penalty deep into injury-time for Italy to overcome the Socceroos in Germany and continue their run to the crown.

Germany were also given a scare when they beat Australia 4-3 in the Confederations Cup in 2005 on their last meeting when a late Lukas Podolski goal proved to be the winner.

And Germany also won the 1974 World Cup group stage clash against Australia 3-0 in Hamburg on their way to winning the world crown.

African side Ghana were beaten 6-1 by the Germans in a friendly in 1993 and Germany had to come from behind to be seal a 2-1 victory against Serbia in a pre-Euro 2008 friendly.

“We are quite happy with this draw, it’s an interesting group,” said coach Joachim Loew.

“We already started a tournament against Australia when we played at the 2005 Confederations Cup and we had some difficulties against them.

“It will be important to get some confidence for the two following games.

“Serbia is a very strong team technically who dominated their qualification group and posed France many problems.

“As for Ghana, for me they are one of the best teams out of Africa along with the Ivory Coast and Algeria.

“Now we can focus on getting our preparations right ahead of the first game on June 13.”

The draw means Germany could potentially meet Group C favourites England in the first knock-out phase and Loew was enthusiastic about the prospect of facing their arch-rivals.

“England in the knock-out phase would be a great game for us, without question,” said Loew.

CAPE TOWN (AFP)

Tags: confederations cup, euro 2008, final game, germans, group stage, injury time, joachim, johannesburg, Lukas Podolski, oliver bierhoff, play offs, pool stage, pretoria, qualification group, Rustenburg, Soccer City, socceroos, striker, world crown, world cup finals

Capello sees Spain, Brazil as key threats

December 4, 2009

Fabio Capello on Friday identified Spain and Brazil as England’s main threats at next year’s World Cup, but also said an African team could surprise.

England have been resurgent under Capello and qualified easily, doing enough to be one of eight seeds in Friday’s draw for the group stages, meaning there is no danger of a first round meeting with Spain or Brazil.

But they could be drawn against a African team.

“If you want to win then you have to play the great sides but I have confidence in my team,” Capello said on the sidelines of England presenting its bid for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.

“We have played all the top teams. For me, Spain is good and Brazil is very, very good.

“But I think the teams from Africa could surprise. I saw Ivory Coast and they really surprised me. And Cameroon are one of the best teams from the continent.”

England are expected to base themselves in Rustenburg, about two hours drive from Johannesburg, for the tournament from June 11-July 11 next year although Capello is concerned about the quality of the training pitches there.

“The pitches at the grounds are very good and the facilities are fantastic, but the training pitches are not great. But we have time,” he said.

“Rustenburg is one of our options.”

CAPE TOWN (AFP)

Tags: 11 july, Africa, brazil, cameroon, cape town, confidence, continent, England, fabio capello, group stages, Ivory Coast, johannesburg, Rustenburg, seeds, sidelines, Spain, World Cup

2010 WCup stadiums almost ready – S.African officials

November 30, 2009

Once a headache for the local organising committee, the 10 South African stadiums for the 2010 World Cup are now pride and joy as they are set to be ready on time for the football extravaganza.

Stadium construction faced many challenges, including strikes in July when more than 70,000 workers asked for salary hikes, countrywide blackouts in January 2008 that crippled the economy, budget deficits and sometimes unpredictable weather.

“It has been a roller-coaster ride. Sometimes we were happy and most times saddened by the criticism and the pessimism but we always knew we would be ready on time,” local organising committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo told AFP.

Mkhondo said five new and five renovated stadiums were now more than 95 percent complete and the final touches were being applied, such as security barriers, planting trees, roads leading to the stadium and parking lot paving.

To win confidence of the local and international community in advance was not easy as many times the capacity of South Africa to deliver world-class tournament infrastructure was scrutinised.

The country’s readiness for the world’s biggest sports spectacular was also questioned when the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth, which cost 2.1 billion rand (282 million dollars, 189 million euro), missed its construction deadline for the curtain-raiser Confederations Cup during June.

Instead, renovated stadiums such as Pretoria, Rustenburg (north-west) and Bloemfontein (central) stole PE’s limelight.

Since then the stadium was the first to be ready for the World Cup.

Other challenges the stadiums faced were public protests.

Greenpoint stadium in Cape Town, one of the semi-final venues, faced fierce competition when residents opposed the development and took the municipality to court.

“We overcame tremendous challenges because in the beginning some residents were opposed to the development (stadium) and tried to stop construction through legal process but lost,” Cape Town World cup 2010 spokesman Pieter Cronje said.

In Nelspruit, township residents protested outside the stadium, demanding a school be built as theirs was used as offices during the construction of the stadium with children taught in containers.

Authorities said construction of a new school would start this week and finish in March.

The stadium architecture had an African feel with roof poles resembled giraffe while criss-crossed black and white seating resembled zebra prints.

Soccer City in Johannesburg, venue for the June 11 opening match and the final on July 11, will seat 91,000 spectators and resembles a calabash while Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane is inspired by the locally iconic Baobab tree.

However, there are question around government spending about 10 billion rands (857 million euros), excluding host city contributions, in a country where poverty affects 43 percent of the population.

Mkhondo said all the stadiums had sustainability programmes beyond 2010.

“Before we gave the go ahead to cities to build stadium we asked them (about) long-term plans to utilise them and were satisfied. Most of them will be turned into multi-purpose centres,” he said.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP)

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South Africa passes World Cup test

June 29, 2009

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – The Confederations Cup, which came to a colourful climax here on Sunday, has served to dispel any fears or doubts over South Africa’s ability to stage what promises to be a memorable 2010 World Cup.

With less than a year on the clock to kick-off at Soweto’s stunning Soccer City, players, managers, fans, and crucially FIFA’s top brass all gave the rainbow nation the thumbs up.

United States coach Bob Bradley spoke for many when he concluded: “We have had an amazing time in South Africa.

“The way people have treated us like friends, their passion for the game, the security personnel who actually smile, the organisation – in all those ways it’s been a great experience and to a man in our squad everyone would say they can’t wait to complete the task of qualifying and get back here next year.”

The Confed Cup has played an important role in helping South Africa prepare to greet the world next year, this two-week warm-up identifying a number of areas where there is still work to be done.

Perhaps at the top of this list is transport.

Johannesburg’s roads are creaking under the weight of traffic and the eagerly-awaited new bus network, not ready in time for the Confed Cup, will be essential to helping fans get to and from matches.

A chaotic park-and-ride service operating at venues like Ellis Park in Johannesburg and Rustenburg will need to work better in 2010.

Security, particularly in the country’s state and commercial capitals of Pretoria and Johannesburg, is an issue.

There’s probably no more crime here than Paris or London or New York, but its violent nature requires the visitor to be attentive at all times.

FIFA’s army of specialists in conjunction with the local organising committee have been quick over the past two weeks to act where the inevitable problems have arisen.

Electricity, for instance, went out to lunch in the cavernous media centre at Ellis Park on the day of the first match, leading to the installation of a private generator to ensure power at all times.

Security checks, conducted always with the utmost charm and courtesy, appeared somewhat haphazard – on one day sniffer dogs were checking bags, on another there was barely a control.

One German journalist had to take his car to be ’sweeped’ for bombs at a special centre but, as he said, that’s a fairly pointless exercise unless it’s conducted every day before a game.

Again towards the end of the competition the security procedures seemed to tighten up.

More than anything the Confed Cup has united a country whose past is blighted with disunity, with blacks and whites standing side by side in the stadiums.

“For me this was a test event for the organising committee and for FIFA, but I must say for South Africa it has been an historic moment,” said Irvin Khoza, chairman of the local organising committee.

“Never in the history of this country have we seen South Africans so united on the field of play. The spectators showed that all of South Africa can be united facing the same direction.

“The Confederations Cup has achieved what no other sporting code has achieved. This was the greatest achievement of this tournament.”

Organising committee chief executive Danny Jordaan was refusing to get carried away with the success of the Confed Cup given next year’s World Cup is an altogether different ball game.

“I think we achieved everything we set out to at this tournament,” he said.

“The key issue is that the teams are happy, the media are happy, the commercial partners are happy, and the fans are happy.

“But we are not going to celebrate the plus points but look at the debrief after the tournament to help us deliver the kind of World Cup that we all want to deliver and we will work with FIFA to make that a reality.”

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South Africa, Spain go to extra time

June 29, 2009

RUSTENBURG, South Africa (AFP) – South Africa and Spain were drawing 2-2 at full-time, taking the Confederations Cup third place play-off to extra time here Sunday.

Tags: confederations cup, drawing 2, extra time, full time, LA Liga, place, Rustenburg, rustenburg south africa, South Africa, Spain, Sunday, World Cup

Torres warns S.Africa of Confed Cup Spanish backlash

June 28, 2009

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Spain striker Fernando Torres has warned South Africa to expect a backlash when they clash in the Confederations Cup third place play-off on Sunday.

“We must go back to square one and start putting some more wins together,” Torres said in the aftermath of a stunning semi-final loss to the United States on Wednesday.

European champions Spain cruised into the semi-finals with three consecutive group-stage victories and no-one expected ‘La Furia Roja’ to come unstuck in the central city of Bloemfontein.

But Liverpool star Torres and company saw a world record-equalling 35-match unbeaten run come to an abrupt halt as the USA scored in each half while keeping a clean sheet on a freezing night.

“I would love us to go another 35 matches without losing. That would be great, especially with a World Cup in the middle,” said the three-goal joint-leading Confederations Cup scorer.

“The most important thing now is that we keep showing the same down-to-earth approach as we did when we went all that time unbeaten. The really big challenges are only just beginning.”

Torres accepts that a South African team beaten 2-0 by Spain last weekend will be hopeful of a reversal in fortunes at the Rustenburg Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace after putting on a brave show in the 1-0 semi-final loss to Brazil.

“We know that it is going to get harder to win. Our opponents are going to know more about us and will want to beat us because defeating Spain now is like it was before to beat Brazil or Argentina,” Torres added.

Torres will also be keen to get back on the goal trail having failed to hit the target against Iraq, South Africa or the United States after a 12-minute hat-trick demolished New Zealand.

His likely minder on Sunday afternoon is Matthew Booth, the tallest footballer at the 2010 World Cup dress rehearsal and a favourite of the home crowd, who chant his name in admiration each time he touches the ball.

Booth has shortcomings, particularly in the pace department, but sticks to opponents like glue as Brazilian Luis Fabiano will testify after an unrewarding semi-final outing.

“We want revenge over Spain,” Booth told reporters. “We have grown as a team on and off the field during this tournament and much of the credit must go to coach Joel Santana.”

Czech Republic, United States, Australia, Turkey and Germany won the previous third-place play-offs, with easily the most memorable match being the Germans’ 4-3 extra-time triumph over Mexico four years ago.

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To fill Confed stadiums, tickets are given away

June 26, 2009

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – The Confederations Cup has drawn near-record South African TV viewers and packed stadiums at the most popular games, but gaps in the stands has prompted organisers to give away thousands of tickets.

The tournament kicked off amid concerns about slow tickets sales, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter criticising the local organisers for failing to fill the stands for the opening match on June 14.

Sales were especially soft for matches played by teams not well known to local fans, with some unfolding before half empty stands — most noticeable in the Spain-New Zealand game in Rustenburg, just two hours from Johannesburg.

The solution: give away the extra tickets.

Private companies and government agencies have purchased bulk batches to give away thousands of tickets.

Tickets had been specially priced to encourage locals to attend. At Wednesday’s semi-final when the United States bested Spain 2-0, the cheapest seats were 140 rands (17 dollars).

But in a country where 43 percent of the population live on less than two dollars a day, even that price is steep.

Moses Ntsizi, a janitor who earns 1,300 rands a month, lucked out by receiving a free ticket from his employer to see Wednesday’s match in Bloemfontein.

“My dream has come true. I can see Spain playing,” he said during the match. “I can see their method. They do not panic when they have the ball.”

Ntsizi says he regularly watches the Bloemfontein Celtics, but those tickets cost only 20 rands.

Others in the crowd said they received free tickets from the city government, but many have turned to TV parks where big screens have been set up to allow the public to watch the games for free.

“I did not have the money to go to the stadium. But I enjoy the big screen,” said 18-year-old orphan Diteboho Lefeta, who despite the cold weather came to a tent set up by the city to watch the game with others from his orphanage.

FIFA’s ticketing system drew criticism ahead of the June 14-28 tournament for focusing on online sales in a country where Internet access remains a luxury.

Tickets could also be bought from a bank, but getting to the branches also posed a problem due to the lack of public transportation.

The policy was later relaxed and ticketing kiosks were rolled out in the four host cities.

Organisers say they are happy overall, and television audiences for games that South Africa played in were near record size, according to FIFA.

The Bafana Bafana match against New Zealand on June 17 attracted over six million viewers, not counting fans at the TV parks or other public spaces, according to FIFA.

That’s lower than the 10 to 12 million Germans who watched their team play on TV when they hosted the last Confed Cup. But officials point out that Germany’s population is larger and almost every home has a television. Not all South Africans even have electricity.

“The figures compare well considering difference in population,” FIFA television broadcast director, Niklas Ericson told reporters.

Rich Mkhondo, spokesman for the organising committee, said South Africa had done its best to publicise the games and make them accessible to the public.

“The organisation of the tournament cannot be judged by a couple of games which did not attract maximum crowds. Attendance has been very impressive at most of the games,” said Mkhondo.

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Quick Report: Brazil 1-0 South Africa

June 26, 2009

A late free kick from Daniel Alves was enough to lead Brazil past Confederations Cup hosts South Africa in Thursday’s semi final.

A passionate South African side showed from the start that they were planning to stun the holders, who often seemed to lack initiative.

The Bafana Bafana even had the better chances although the really big opportunities were rare on both sides. The image didn’t change in the second half where the South Africans combined better than their opponents but failed to get close to Julio Cesar’s goal.

The Brazilians eventually did find their way past the opposing defense, albeit from a free kick in the 88th minute. Daniel Alves’ effort beautifully curved in at the far post, just out of reach for keeper Khune.

As a result, Brazil play Sunday’s final against the United States and won’t have to travel away from Johannesburg. South Africa and Spain meet for third place in Rustenburg.

Written by: Jonathan Roorda