ENGLAND fans will be faced by emergency police teams rather than security guards and stewards at their next World Cup match as spreading strikes look like disrupting the tournament.
Several hundred workers staged an angry demonstration outside Johannesburg’s Ellis Park stadium yesterday as fans made their way in for Brazil’s match against North Korea.
Their protests over pay followed similar scenes in Durban and Cape Town, where police have now decided to take over security duties from private contractors accused of under-paying staff.
World Cup visitors could also find power supplies switched off and public services thrown into turmoil by other strikes threatened by unhappy workers across the country.
Thousands of employees at energy giant Eskom are threatening industrial action over their requests for an 18 per cent pay rise and special rates to work tomorrow’s (THURS) national holiday.
An estimated 1.2million public sector workers – including nurses, police and immigration officials – have already warned they could walk out if not offered an 8.5 per cent increase by the weekend.
And football fans were left temporarily stranded after 60 bus workers staged an impromptu strike after a game at Johannesburg’s Soccer City on Monday, though returned to work yesterday after a deal was agreed.
World football governing body Fifa called in police after attempts to resolve a row between stadium stewards and contractors Stallion Security Consortium broke down.
This followed clashes between riot police and stewards upset at being paid less than promised, following the Germany-Australia match in Durban in the early hours of Monday.
Police have now taken over from Stallion at Durban’s Moses Mabhida stadium and Cape Town’s Green Point stadium, where England face Algeria on Friday.
A reported 2,000 workers marched outside the Durban stadium yesterday, though many dispersed after accepting money to hand over their orange bibs.
Fifa officials had been confident of no similar scenes at Ellis Park yesterday, but a demonstration did get under way early in the afternoon.
Trade union official Jackson Simon said: ‘We have asked our provincial leaders to go to stadiums and co-ordinate what we have to do to defend our members against exploitation.’
Workers employed for 12-hour have shifts suggested they had been promised up to 1,500 Rand (£134) per day – only to be given as little as 205 Rand (£18) apiece.
Some have said pay rates have been continuously falling – or not being paid at all.
An Eskom walk-out could hit power supplies to shops, hotels, restaurants and bars used by thousands of supporters.
The ten World Cup stadia all have back-up generators, but parts of Johannesburg’s Ellis Park stadium did suffer a power cut on Saturday.
The ‘illegal’ bus driver strike came as Dutch and Danish supporters emerged from Soccer City following Monday’s match.
About 800 supporters were eventually given free rail tickets then put on replacement buses to their original destinations.
The bus drivers were unhappy about being asked to work longer shifts, and for less money, than expected.
But they were returning to work yesterday (TUES) after a deal was reached.
Jackie Huntley, chief executive of bus contractors Clidet, said: ‘I apologise to commuters and spectators for any confusion and inconvenience that was caused.
‘We are hoping that the rest of the Soccer World Cup period will run smoothly and that we are able to transport thousands of fans to Ellis Park and Soccer City to watch their teams in action.’
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
"The waiting is the hardest part..."
IRRITATED television viewers may have little sympathy, but 20 workers in South Africa have lost their jobs – just for blowing their vuvuzelas.
All 20 waiters at a steakhouse restaurant were all fired after three of them used the controversial horns to celebrate South Africa’s opening goal of the World Cup.
A pre-tournament meeting had apparently instructed Tulsa Spur employees in Witbank, Mpumalanga, only to blow the vuvuzelas outside – to avoid annoying diners.
But three could not control themselves when Siphiwe Tshabalala scored against Mexico last Friday – though they insist they went outdoors first.
One said: ‘We did as asked.
‘We were surprised when the manager stormed out, grabbed our vuvuzelas, smashed them and then fired us.’
Owner Gerhard Bouwer insisted he did not know of any agreement about blowing the instruments outside, saying: ‘They disobeyed a direct order that they shouldn’t watch TV and blow vuvuzelas.’
All 20 waiters at a steakhouse restaurant were all fired after three of them used the controversial horns to celebrate South Africa’s opening goal of the World Cup.
A pre-tournament meeting had apparently instructed Tulsa Spur employees in Witbank, Mpumalanga, only to blow the vuvuzelas outside – to avoid annoying diners.
But three could not control themselves when Siphiwe Tshabalala scored against Mexico last Friday – though they insist they went outdoors first.
One said: ‘We did as asked.
‘We were surprised when the manager stormed out, grabbed our vuvuzelas, smashed them and then fired us.’
Owner Gerhard Bouwer insisted he did not know of any agreement about blowing the instruments outside, saying: ‘They disobeyed a direct order that they shouldn’t watch TV and blow vuvuzelas.’
"Police and thieves in the street..."
A WORLD Cup criminal picked the wrong victim when he stole a laptop from one of South Africa’s leading prosecutors.
A Peruvian man has been accused of swiping the computer belonging to a Lieutenant-Colonel A Basi, from South Africa’s Directorate of Priority Crimes.
The crime has duly been made a priority, as one of the first 21 cases fast-tracked through the country’s special ‘World Cup courts’.
Other offences include the theft of four branded Coca-Cola umbrellas whose total cost was said to - somehow - be 5,000 Rand, or £500, at a ‘fan park’ in Mpumalanga.
The National Prosecuting Authority said 13 of the first defendants were foreigners, with eight South Africans.
The accused include a South African man in Pretoria accused of pretending to be a British tourist before fleeing without paying his hotel and car hire bills.
A South African taxi driver has also been charged with stealing from a British passenger’s bag, while an American was accused of stealing four laptops and
Two Zimbabweans and a Nigerian were last week jailed for 15 years for a gunpoint robbery of Spanish and Portuguese journalists at their hotel in Magaliesburg.
Players from the Greek and Uruguayan squads have also had cash and property stolen from their hotel rooms.
A Peruvian man has been accused of swiping the computer belonging to a Lieutenant-Colonel A Basi, from South Africa’s Directorate of Priority Crimes.
The crime has duly been made a priority, as one of the first 21 cases fast-tracked through the country’s special ‘World Cup courts’.
Other offences include the theft of four branded Coca-Cola umbrellas whose total cost was said to - somehow - be 5,000 Rand, or £500, at a ‘fan park’ in Mpumalanga.
The National Prosecuting Authority said 13 of the first defendants were foreigners, with eight South Africans.
The accused include a South African man in Pretoria accused of pretending to be a British tourist before fleeing without paying his hotel and car hire bills.
A South African taxi driver has also been charged with stealing from a British passenger’s bag, while an American was accused of stealing four laptops and
Two Zimbabweans and a Nigerian were last week jailed for 15 years for a gunpoint robbery of Spanish and Portuguese journalists at their hotel in Magaliesburg.
Players from the Greek and Uruguayan squads have also had cash and property stolen from their hotel rooms.
Monday, June 14, 2010
"I'll be buzzing round your hive, every day at five..."
GREAT news, all you devoted vuvuzela fans – they’re not only here to stay, but could soon be coming to rugby and cricket grounds near you.
That should prove a rude awakening to any aged MCC gents trying to sleep off those lunchtime Long Room gins on a summer’s afternoon at Lords.
The entertaining prospect – or chilling, you choose – emerged today from World Cup officials growing more bullish, the more the anti-cacophony crescendo builds.
The horns have been part of South African football fan culture all the way back to, ooh, at least the Eighties, but are now being heard at high-profile rugby matches.
Rich Mkhodo, from the World Cup’s organising committee, suggests: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re used in cricket in future.
‘You either love them or you hate them. We in South Africa love them.’
Well, up to a point, Lord Copper – traders here have been selling out of anti-vuvuzela earplugs, yours for 15 Rand (£1.30) per pair.
*
Yet all-comers, not just locals, are carrying customised versions into games and looking liberated with every honk – even if the horns will end up stuffed in some cupboard back home.
And in the ear-smothering open, the vuvuzelas don’t actually drown out every other sound: plenty of cheers, chants, “oohs” and boos rise above.
But they do ensure an incessant storm of noise, even in those under-populated stands sadly seen so far.
Even in the conventional, Subbuteo grandstand-style setting of Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld Stadium – used more for dull rugby, wouldn’t you know – Sunday’s football was lukewarm, but the atmosphere molten.
Not that this offers much comfort, I know, for those jamming their TVs’ mute button – even if some of the pundits should make those accursed horns a blessing after all.
*
En masse, they do of course sound like Satan’s own swarm of wasps – or the intro to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight Of The Bumblebee, only endlessly held in suspense.
(As performed on record by that Muppet, the Great Gonzo – not to be confused with that Muppet, the not-so-great Gonzalo, as seen up-front for Argentina the other day.)
Then again, plaintive single blasts sometimes heard early in the morning or late at night resemble the call of a faintly-resentful elephant.
Being amid the full din can certainly feel like being part of World Cup history – that is, a TV fuzzily transmitting from tournaments back in the Seventies and Eighties.
To other ears – well, at least, mine – it can call to mind orchestral ‘nightmare’ section of The Beatles’ A Day In The Life.
Still on a ‘musical’ tip, visiting Brit Neil Morrissey claims it ‘feels like I’ve been in the front row of a Status Quo concert’.
Love or hate the vuvuzela?
Well, I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it …
"Where did you go...?"
IT’S a good job the Soccer City seats are orange, all the better to look like Dutch fans, because today’s match was another marked by curious no-shows.
Fifa claim stadia are indeed sold out – or near enough, anyway – despite all those embarrassing patches of empty seats.
So evidently many people have bought tickets but for some reason not turned up – or not been able to make their way in.
Organisaing officials also this morning insisted new traffic management guidelines would solve the gridlock problems that delayed many fans for the opening game last Friday.
Yet the fixture between the Netherlands and Denmark this lunchtime certainly looked rather more sparse than such promises – or official figures – might suggest.
The attendance was announced as 83,465 – 1,035 below the stadium’s World Cup capacity – but there looked to be at least 2,000 missing in the hospitality sections alone.
To be fair, the atmosphere – as on Sunday, in Pretoria – hardly seemed to suffer, despite the action on the field being only attractive in phases.
Since organisers insist the tickets have been sold, then concerns about high prices are only semi-relevant here.
From tomorrow, stadia for all games bar the lunchtime kick-off will open four hours ahead of kick-off, rather than three, in another attempt to get people in and settled down punctually.
Those going AWOL from Soccer City today did not necessarily miss much in terms of football, whether they arrived late or not at all.
Despite a stereotypically bright enough start from the Dutch, too often the likes of Robin van Persie and Rafael van der Vaart got a little bogged down in selfishness or over-elaboration.
After spending the first quarter of the match defending stoutly, if unambitiously, the Danes did approach half-time in a more expansive frame of mind.
Nicolas Bendtner, despite at times making Peter Crouch look elegant, dropped very deep into midfield to help sweetly and suddenly switch the play goalwards.
And some raking cross-field balls from left-back not only found their man – and found their man able to trap the ball and move ahead with it, unlike, say, South Africa’s Modise on Friday or Serbia’s Krasic on Monday.
Not quite the 1986 vintage Danes, then, but encouraging as the opening half drew to a close – only for the start of the second to wipe that all out.
Simon Poulsen – one of three non-related Poulsens in the squad – blotted his encouraging first-half copybook by nodding a Van Persie cross into his own net, less than a minute after the restart.
Actually, perhaps Daniel Agger will be ‘given’ the own goal, since it brushed in off his back – but the guilt was all Poulsen’s. At least he was involved, however unhappily – usual attack-dog Christian was anonymous in midfield.
After that, Denmark hardly looked like coming back into the match, even when introducing much-hyped 18-year-old Christian Eriksen as a sub.
At least he didn’t do what Ajax team-mate – and fellow creative ‘wonderkid’ – Nicolas Lodeiros did, as a Uruguay sub last Friday. But doing something, anything, might have helped – ah, it’s still early days, of course… And the circumstances hardly helped.
Especially once Dirk Kuyt had tapped in for a Dutch double, following perhaps the most incisive move of the match – and a rather shoddy failure to play catch-up by Simon Kjaer.
The final through-ball came from Wesley Sneijder, named man of the match and yet still looking to be playing on cruise control – with several more gears still to be moved up into.
This was certainly a steadier start for the Dutch than their entry into the Euros two years ago, though whether they exit similarly might depend on whether their defence gets better-tested.
Surely it must, with the likes of Van Bronckhorst and Mathijsen vulnerable to pacier and classier opponents than today – even if they did have the best defensive record in Uefa’s World Cup qualifiers.
Many – especially goalkeepers, surprisingly enough – have been complaining about the ball, though often simply getting their excuses in early (or late and implausibly, in the England camp).
But perhaps the altitude of some games is more to blame for the slightly-reserved nature of performances so far – not that players are puffed out already, but taking things as cautiously as possible to preserve their strength.
The most exciting performances – and matches – have been those played at less-debilitating sea level, the lucky in Germans in Durban above (so to speak) all.
The Italians, despite only drawing in Cape Town tonight, certainly ended the match robustly enough, as had South Korea in Port Elizabeth and even England and the USA in Rustenburg.
Maybe a better idea of just how wunderbar these German tyros really are will come not only when they meet someone less abysmal than the Aussies, but when forced to move up on to higher ground.
With, hopefully, full houses hitting the lofty heights too.
Fifa claim stadia are indeed sold out – or near enough, anyway – despite all those embarrassing patches of empty seats.
So evidently many people have bought tickets but for some reason not turned up – or not been able to make their way in.
Organisaing officials also this morning insisted new traffic management guidelines would solve the gridlock problems that delayed many fans for the opening game last Friday.
Yet the fixture between the Netherlands and Denmark this lunchtime certainly looked rather more sparse than such promises – or official figures – might suggest.
The attendance was announced as 83,465 – 1,035 below the stadium’s World Cup capacity – but there looked to be at least 2,000 missing in the hospitality sections alone.
To be fair, the atmosphere – as on Sunday, in Pretoria – hardly seemed to suffer, despite the action on the field being only attractive in phases.
Since organisers insist the tickets have been sold, then concerns about high prices are only semi-relevant here.
From tomorrow, stadia for all games bar the lunchtime kick-off will open four hours ahead of kick-off, rather than three, in another attempt to get people in and settled down punctually.
Those going AWOL from Soccer City today did not necessarily miss much in terms of football, whether they arrived late or not at all.
Despite a stereotypically bright enough start from the Dutch, too often the likes of Robin van Persie and Rafael van der Vaart got a little bogged down in selfishness or over-elaboration.
After spending the first quarter of the match defending stoutly, if unambitiously, the Danes did approach half-time in a more expansive frame of mind.
Nicolas Bendtner, despite at times making Peter Crouch look elegant, dropped very deep into midfield to help sweetly and suddenly switch the play goalwards.
And some raking cross-field balls from left-back not only found their man – and found their man able to trap the ball and move ahead with it, unlike, say, South Africa’s Modise on Friday or Serbia’s Krasic on Monday.
Not quite the 1986 vintage Danes, then, but encouraging as the opening half drew to a close – only for the start of the second to wipe that all out.
Simon Poulsen – one of three non-related Poulsens in the squad – blotted his encouraging first-half copybook by nodding a Van Persie cross into his own net, less than a minute after the restart.
Actually, perhaps Daniel Agger will be ‘given’ the own goal, since it brushed in off his back – but the guilt was all Poulsen’s. At least he was involved, however unhappily – usual attack-dog Christian was anonymous in midfield.
After that, Denmark hardly looked like coming back into the match, even when introducing much-hyped 18-year-old Christian Eriksen as a sub.
At least he didn’t do what Ajax team-mate – and fellow creative ‘wonderkid’ – Nicolas Lodeiros did, as a Uruguay sub last Friday. But doing something, anything, might have helped – ah, it’s still early days, of course… And the circumstances hardly helped.
Especially once Dirk Kuyt had tapped in for a Dutch double, following perhaps the most incisive move of the match – and a rather shoddy failure to play catch-up by Simon Kjaer.
The final through-ball came from Wesley Sneijder, named man of the match and yet still looking to be playing on cruise control – with several more gears still to be moved up into.
This was certainly a steadier start for the Dutch than their entry into the Euros two years ago, though whether they exit similarly might depend on whether their defence gets better-tested.
Surely it must, with the likes of Van Bronckhorst and Mathijsen vulnerable to pacier and classier opponents than today – even if they did have the best defensive record in Uefa’s World Cup qualifiers.
Many – especially goalkeepers, surprisingly enough – have been complaining about the ball, though often simply getting their excuses in early (or late and implausibly, in the England camp).
But perhaps the altitude of some games is more to blame for the slightly-reserved nature of performances so far – not that players are puffed out already, but taking things as cautiously as possible to preserve their strength.
The most exciting performances – and matches – have been those played at less-debilitating sea level, the lucky in Germans in Durban above (so to speak) all.
The Italians, despite only drawing in Cape Town tonight, certainly ended the match robustly enough, as had South Korea in Port Elizabeth and even England and the USA in Rustenburg.
Maybe a better idea of just how wunderbar these German tyros really are will come not only when they meet someone less abysmal than the Aussies, but when forced to move up on to higher ground.
With, hopefully, full houses hitting the lofty heights too.
"You don't have to put on the red light..."
SEX workers hoping to cash in on the World Cup are being swept into slums by South African police – to the alarm of those trying to help them.
Aid workers have been taken aback by how many women expect ‘busloads of tourists’ to arrive at the hotels they increasingly use as brothels in major World Cup city Johannesburg.
But they are determined to get more to follow the example of an ex-prostitute now receiving a different kind of client, after managing to retrain as a beautician.
Promises of earning up to £300 per day have been luring many women – often desperate immigrants - into prostitution.
This is despite warnings they face harassment by police and violence by clients and the owners of supposed bars and hotels used effectively as brothels.
Football fans coming to South Africa and sleeping with prostitutes could also be exposing themselves to HIV, in a country with one of the world’s highest Aids rates.
Current president Jacob Zuma has tried to distance his government from the attitude of predecessor Thabo Mbeki, who attracted global scorn for doubting a link between HIV and Aids and blocking drugs treatments.
Yet there are still an estimated 5.7million people in South Africa living with HIV, or more than 10 per cent of all South Africans – the fifth highest rate in the world.
Aids is thought to have killed 756,000 people in South Africa in 2008 – more than in any other country.
With risks still so high, health workers were concerned last week to make their usual visits to test sex workers’ HIV status, offer help and hand out condoms – only to find doors barred and buildings empty.
Ellen Crabtree, a British VSO volunteer in Johannesburg’s deprived inner-city Hillbrow district, said: ‘All the buildings were padlocked from the outside – it was clear police have been moving women on.
‘If we don’t know where they are, we can’t help them – and if they’re now working alone on the streets, or living in squats, they’ll be much more at risk.
‘If we’re not addressing HIV in the sex worker community, we’re not addressing the pandemic.’
Her colleague, clinical nurse Nonklankla Motlokoa, said: ‘The perception of the girls is that they will get rich.
‘They think there will be a busload of tourists dropped at their hotel.
‘So many are saying to me, after 2010 I will be rich and then I will leave sex work.’
Studies suggest only five out of 100 women working in Johannesburg brothels will be successful in leaving the sex industry at some point – despite the dangers.
Nonklankla warned: ‘Often girls with no money are raped by the police - all they have to give is their bodies.
‘Our girls on the streets are also very vulnerable to cuts, bruises and attacks from their clients.
‘Some men even pretend to be clients and then attack or kill sex workers. They will go just to be violent.’
Many foreign prostitutes have no legal papers and are too scared to come to established clinics or even leave their brothels, she added – making their mobile clinics all the more important, so long as they can find people to assist.
POLICE have been threatening for months to launch a World Cup clean-up programme aimed at Johannesburg’s prostitutes, according to a woman who refuses to leave the sex trade.
Mary, 32, had wanted to work as a beautician but has been working as a prostitute to pay healthcare bills for two blind sisters.
She said: Cops have been harassing girls, promising: “We will arrest you for 2010.”’
But she insisted: ‘Sex work has been around for centuries.
‘We are not stealing from anyone. We know there is a lot of money there.
‘There is no way to survive in Johannesburg with no work, no education.’
There is hope of a way out for some, though, if willing and able to take it.
Zimbabwean mother-of-three Pauline, 35, gained confidence as one of the Hillbrow project’s ‘peer educators’ – accepting a 1,000 Rand monthly stipend instead of up to 3,000 Rand per day as a prostitute.
Pauline, previously a prostitute for two years, said: “Becoming a peer educator allowed me to train as a beauty therapist this year and I have a dream that one day I will be able to be my own businesswoman with my own spa.
‘People think sex workers can’t do anything, they can’t think, they have no education, she can’t think.
‘I want to show that as sex workers we are talented in our minds.
‘I used to earn 5,000 to 6,000 Rand (£450 to £540) a week and now I earn 500 to 600 (£45 to £54) a day.
‘But now I meet different people, I am not in danger. I have focus and I have a job and pride.
‘I am done with my former work.’
Aid workers have been taken aback by how many women expect ‘busloads of tourists’ to arrive at the hotels they increasingly use as brothels in major World Cup city Johannesburg.
But they are determined to get more to follow the example of an ex-prostitute now receiving a different kind of client, after managing to retrain as a beautician.
Promises of earning up to £300 per day have been luring many women – often desperate immigrants - into prostitution.
This is despite warnings they face harassment by police and violence by clients and the owners of supposed bars and hotels used effectively as brothels.
Football fans coming to South Africa and sleeping with prostitutes could also be exposing themselves to HIV, in a country with one of the world’s highest Aids rates.
Current president Jacob Zuma has tried to distance his government from the attitude of predecessor Thabo Mbeki, who attracted global scorn for doubting a link between HIV and Aids and blocking drugs treatments.
Yet there are still an estimated 5.7million people in South Africa living with HIV, or more than 10 per cent of all South Africans – the fifth highest rate in the world.
Aids is thought to have killed 756,000 people in South Africa in 2008 – more than in any other country.
With risks still so high, health workers were concerned last week to make their usual visits to test sex workers’ HIV status, offer help and hand out condoms – only to find doors barred and buildings empty.
Ellen Crabtree, a British VSO volunteer in Johannesburg’s deprived inner-city Hillbrow district, said: ‘All the buildings were padlocked from the outside – it was clear police have been moving women on.
‘If we don’t know where they are, we can’t help them – and if they’re now working alone on the streets, or living in squats, they’ll be much more at risk.
‘If we’re not addressing HIV in the sex worker community, we’re not addressing the pandemic.’
Her colleague, clinical nurse Nonklankla Motlokoa, said: ‘The perception of the girls is that they will get rich.
‘They think there will be a busload of tourists dropped at their hotel.
‘So many are saying to me, after 2010 I will be rich and then I will leave sex work.’
Studies suggest only five out of 100 women working in Johannesburg brothels will be successful in leaving the sex industry at some point – despite the dangers.
Nonklankla warned: ‘Often girls with no money are raped by the police - all they have to give is their bodies.
‘Our girls on the streets are also very vulnerable to cuts, bruises and attacks from their clients.
‘Some men even pretend to be clients and then attack or kill sex workers. They will go just to be violent.’
Many foreign prostitutes have no legal papers and are too scared to come to established clinics or even leave their brothels, she added – making their mobile clinics all the more important, so long as they can find people to assist.
POLICE have been threatening for months to launch a World Cup clean-up programme aimed at Johannesburg’s prostitutes, according to a woman who refuses to leave the sex trade.
Mary, 32, had wanted to work as a beautician but has been working as a prostitute to pay healthcare bills for two blind sisters.
She said: Cops have been harassing girls, promising: “We will arrest you for 2010.”’
But she insisted: ‘Sex work has been around for centuries.
‘We are not stealing from anyone. We know there is a lot of money there.
‘There is no way to survive in Johannesburg with no work, no education.’
There is hope of a way out for some, though, if willing and able to take it.
Zimbabwean mother-of-three Pauline, 35, gained confidence as one of the Hillbrow project’s ‘peer educators’ – accepting a 1,000 Rand monthly stipend instead of up to 3,000 Rand per day as a prostitute.
Pauline, previously a prostitute for two years, said: “Becoming a peer educator allowed me to train as a beauty therapist this year and I have a dream that one day I will be able to be my own businesswoman with my own spa.
‘People think sex workers can’t do anything, they can’t think, they have no education, she can’t think.
‘I want to show that as sex workers we are talented in our minds.
‘I used to earn 5,000 to 6,000 Rand (£450 to £540) a week and now I earn 500 to 600 (£45 to £54) a day.
‘But now I meet different people, I am not in danger. I have focus and I have a job and pride.
‘I am done with my former work.’
Sunday, June 13, 2010
"Blame it on the Black Stars..."
AFTER Friday’s home draw that felt like a home win, today brought similarly joyous celebrations – even if today’s home win, well, wasn’t. Quite.
Yet those posters and pledges of ‘Africa United’ proved more than just symbolic as Ghana earned and embraced the continent's first triumph of the tournament - on the pitch, anyway.
The winter sun-smeared skies were cloudless over Pretoria, as I (finally) found my seat, cooped up high in the Loft...us Versfeld stadium, one of the more conventionally-built venues of the tournament with its Subbuteo-style grandstands
Ah, that’s why – it’s more usually used for dull rugby.
While the climate has lurched between poles of hot and cold, the football so far has felt a little lukewarm – yet the atmosphere again today was, as they say, electric.
Not just those horns and their literally breathtaking persistence - but also the uninhibited and vivid dancing, colour and expression, actually from hosts and visitors alike.
‘Feel it, Ghana is here’ declared a banner patiently paraded along the touchline towards the end of today’s compelling enough action, with the ‘Black Stars’ deserving winners – even if Aleksandr Lukovic’s red card looked a little petty.
No doubts about the late penalty award, with Zdravzko Kuzmanovic’s random hand up brought back to mind Fredi Kanoute’s similar moment of madness that once cost Spurs a Carling Cup tie against Liverpool B.
The temperamental Asamoah Gyan, today troublesome throughout but in a good way, drove it past Vladimir Stojkovic – one of two Wigan goalkeepers on the pitch, how odd – and unleashed that storm in the stands.
The crowd – alas, still a little sparse in patches - had gone crazy enough just to see Stephen Appiah come on a few minutes earlier.
The shrieks and acclaim made for possibly the most over-gleeful response to a substitution since David Beckham was making meaningless Wembley cameos.
For what little time he was on the pitch, Appiah trudged around further forward than at the last World Cup – but, along with Gyan, it was the wingers who really gave Ghana their oomph, up against Serbia’s better organisation.
Prince Tagoe – bested by Kevin-Prince Boateng in the battle to have simply ‘PRINCE’ on the shirt – darted around with skill and purpose, switching neatly at times with Kwadwo Asamoah right of central midfield.
And Andre Ayew, while a little too tentative when given the ball and space to run at first, looked more threatening when summoning up the confidence to surge inside and through on goal.
Perhaps he could do with an ‘Arry-esque arm round the shoulder, and shot in the arm – or hypnosis to persuade him he’s actually the original Pele, instead of simply the son of the African version.
Whether those powers rest with Ghana’s Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac might be open to question – today he looked like a man recovering from a heavy night out, or a possible Rigsby in a Rising Damp remake.
But victory was his, rather than going the way of Serbia and their Serbian coach Raddy Antic, who looks to have put together a well-practiced but toothless team.
Certainly, CSKA Moscow winger Milos Krasic, dynamic in last season’s Champions League, was a huge disappointment today – barely touching the ball in the first half, aside from two embarrassing miscues on the touchline.
He did come closest to scoring for Serbia, with a well-wellied drive at Richard Kingson’s fortunate fists, but – as with Angel Di Maria’s subdued display for Argentina yesterday – hopes had been higher. Hey, have another go…
Nenad Milijas’ rehearsed and artful set-pieces could have worked surprises, but for failings of technique by those they were aimed at – and the Wolves man, so easily-tired, trudged off not long after his half-time breather.
Meanwhile, Dejan Stankovic didn’t quite stink the place out, but sat too umambitiously deep and kept hitting the ball too aimlessly long.
Milan Jovanovic gave glimpses of twinkly toes that could please Liverpool fans – all right, for free, anyway – but Nikola Zigic’s tangle of long legs when failing to score from four yards only suggested Birmingham’s £6million looks like money, well, just spent.
Serba gained a little more thrust when reduced to ten men, but Ghana themselves could – and should – have scored more than just their third penalty in five World Cup matches.
Perhaps that’s why Rajevac looked surprisingly rueful at full-time. Or, more likely of course, he recalled where he came from - as did John Pantsil, who even as his players and staff surged all over the field – John Pantsil having remembered tafter flourishing the Israeli flag four years ago, handily remembered to bring along the right flag this time.
All the while, the surrounding cacophony continued, justly defying those anti-vuvuzela misery-guts – among them now, it seems, the BBC. For shame.
The post-penalty rush was such, that no one even seemed to notice the steward who fell over when chasing a pitch invader.
That would guarantee some big, big laughs back home in Britain, surely...
Ah, but maybe there were more important things to worry about.
Like, simply, deliciously losing it while winning.
Okay game, sure - special occasion, more.
"It's not easy bein' Green..."
Hollywood has always done a prolific line in movies about gallant Americans getting one over on the dastardly – or doltish – English.
So Saturday night’s events could make a sequel to The Game Of Their Lives, the 2005 film – seldom seen in UK cinemas, funnily enough – about the USA’s 500-1 humiliation of Billy Wright’s England at the 1950 World Cup.
When asked at the Americans’ farm base in Centurion who might play him in a 2010 follow-up, US captain Landon Donovan suggested: ‘I do like Johnny Depp.'
Edward Scissorhands would probably prove a safer bet in goal than England’s Robert Green, mind.
As goalkeeping gaffes go, Green’s was a classic – perhaps aptly so, for a footballer who once snubbed the usual sports autobiographies or Andy McNab thrillers to name his all-time favourite book as the Iliad by Homer.
All together now: d’oh!
Many years from now, will East Enders be going on and on about how West Ham lost the World Cup in 2010?
Or does Green, like England’s 1950 goalkeeper Bert Williams, have an MBE to look forward to, in 60 years’ time?
***
Armour-clad English knights faced off against Captain America clones - including one in stars-and-stripe face-paint and cape in the stadium media centre, suggesting an impartiality worthy of England’s fervent Fifth Estate.
US Soccer chief Sunil Gulati said the match generated more ‘watercooler’ interest Stateside than any football match in history – though admitted many assumed it was the actual World Cup final.
First-timers tuning in might still be bemused it could end an unsatisfying tie.
Yet there should be little patronising the – admittedly shrill - US support inside the stadium, estimated at 10,000 to England’s ‘meagre’ 6,000.
It certainly seemed a little unnecessary for the stadium announcer to keep booming out the current scoreline – as if assuming we were watching in ITV HD.
***
Making his way to the team bus, Glen Johnson snorted in scorn when a journalist (from elsewhere) asked him whether it was time for ‘England in crisis’ headlines – not that his say-so was being sought, of course.
And Jamie Carragher was keen to make comparisons with England’s 1990 World Cup opener, after recently watching it on ESPN.
He has a point – that was another turgid 1-1 draw, against a bunch of well-drilled, limited but physical English-speakers, with possible salvation still to come against some North Africans.
If desperate – and after that display, why not? – you could also point out America’s equaliser came from a left-sided midfielder with a name ending in ‘-y’.
The scapegoat for Kevin Sheedy’s 1990 goal for the Republic of Ireland was Steve McMahon who – Rob Green, look away now – won a grand total of three more England caps.
Now if only, after all those alleged omens, we had a Gazza-esque midfield schemer in there somewhere - or at least anyone anywhere near half as creative, play-making...
***
Johnson emerged from the dressing room sporting a brightly-glowing lower-lip, suggesting he spent Fabio Capello’s post-match team-tirade sucking a Strawberry Mivvi for comfort.
He was keen to point out it was caused by an errant elbow – quickly fingering goalscorer Dempsey, so to speak.
Yet he stayed silent, when invited to politely confirm it must have been accidental.
***
Saturday night was a deflating experience in more ways than one.
A burst tyre when lost somewhere in the middle of South African outback nowhere – and in the early hours of the morning – was not ideal for the nerves.
Or the patience.
Without even being able to blame Rob Green for this mishap.
Instead, curse the crater-pockmarked excuses for roads that replaced the more sleek and even highways - about 50 yards beyond England’s Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace base.
Friday, June 11, 2010
"My mind is like an angry swarm of bees..."
South Africa 1 Mexico 1
Well, that was a bit of a buzz. Which almost had a sting in the tail.
Even Sepp Blatter, football’s most powerful man, looked and sounded a little taken aback by the pure power and intensity of Africa’s long-awaited World Cup welcome, as he forgivably gifted himself a little pre-match speech on the pitch.
And just when the relentless intensity inside the Soccer City ‘cooking pot’ bowl had reached the very top of its range, somehow the crowd - that feverish swarm of vuvuzelas - could send the volume surging still higher to a Spinal Tap-style level eleven.
Siphiwe Tshabalala’s sweetly-lashed opener should guarantee the self-proclaimed YouTube addict a hefty segment of the site to himself.
He spoke before the match about spending hours following ‘best free-kick’ links, to hone his own set-piece technique, but today’s open-play piledriver could provide a few lessons of its own.
And not just in the finish – Fulham’s Kagisho Dikgacoi need feel no urge to change his name, after a clever and committed second-half display and the cute through-ball putting Tshabalala on a clear path into the history books.
Patches of empty seats suggested the announcement of a capacity 84,900 crowd might have been a little less accurate than Tshabalala’s aim.
Yet there could have been twice as many crammed inside here, judging by the racket this bouncing, beaming crowd created – expressing somehow both a nervous make-the-most-of-the-moment disbelief and a satisfied this-is-how-it-should-be self-assurance.
While there was little let-up in terms of sound from the fans, the home players’ own confidence came and went.
A rocky, sloppy start, as the Mexicans threatened to canter away with it, was followed by some modestly intricate passing moves as the first half scampered by – especially as Pienaar deserted his right-wing station as if worried he might miss out on some fun.
His team’s left flank certainly needed some bolstering, with Giovani dos Santos sparkling and yet often found himself usefully overlapped by his own right wing-back, Paul Aguilar.
Yet early indications that Aguilar and central midfield organiser Gerardo Torrado would run the match just the way they wanted gradually receded.
South Africa not only hung on until half-time – helped no little by goalkeeper Ike Khune and a dutifully-flagging linesman – but could have nodded themselves into the lead, had lumbering frontman Katlego Mphela.
Did Mexico really need to persevere with three men in central – if elastic – defence when faced by a harmless Mphela and, tucked just behind, a miscuing Teko Modise?
At least the belated arrival, in the second half, of Andres Guardado gave them both impetus and deadly crossing down the wing, even if by that point South Africa had taken the lead, missed a sitter (Modise) and been denied a perfectly-arguable penalty.
Rafael Marquez, curbing his instincts to roam like an old-fashioned centre-half for much of the game, did turn up in the right spot at the right time to swipe an equaliser.
South Africa had ten men in the box as Guardado’s crucial cross swept over, though captain Aaron Mokoena could feel aggrieved to find himself abandoned and left to cover up to four attacking Mexicans.
Inevitably, one of them ended up hitting the net, suggesting home coach Carlos Parreira – a zonal marking devotee – has at least a little more fine-tuning to do.
But the fans sounded a fairly forgiving bunch, the only moment of quickfire quiet coming in the few seconds after an anti-climactic – and inaudible – final whistle.
The pipes were soon parping again – surely lips should be chapped, lungs running out of puff? – as the makarapa-helmeted heads bobbed back down the stairs and ramps, out on to the streets, and into the night.
For the second World Cup in a row, an opening game has proved a refreshing and entertaining sight – though even that bubbly Allianz Arena crammed with even bubblier Bavarians never felt nor sounded quite like this.
"Tell me what you see..."
Just quickly, a few pre-tournament predictions:
Winners: Brazil – dull Dunga took great pride in their jogo bonito-lite triumph in 1994, and could repeat as coach what he achieved then as captain, with a robust and ruthlessly-efficient counter-attacking team. At least Kaka, Dani Alves and Maicon have class. The two old Gilbertos, both once of North London, look less understandable
Runners-up: Italy. Such a simple group means even they might struggle to make their archetypal slow start, so maybe they’ve just been getting it out of the way earlier in dispiriting pre-tournament friendlies. Not quite so ageing as expected (the sadly-going-going-long-gone Cannavaro aside), while the midfield has bite in De Rossi and craft in Montolivo. And they’ll be intent on resuming normal service against Spain.
Semi-finalists: Argentina, Ghana.
England’s prospects: Same old, same old quarter-final. Though, just to be original, having knocked out Germany in the second round.
Surprise packages: Well-organised but feisty Ghana, Marcelo Bielsa’s tactically-daring and flair-filled Chile.
Golden Boot winner: After the 2006 World Cup, for the first time, featured not a single hat-trick, how about Spain’s David Villa to hit two en route to the Golden Boot?
Non-superstar stars: Argentina’s Angel di Maria. Mexico’s Giovani dos Santos. Chile’s Matias Fernandez. New Zealand’s Chris James, also of Barnet. One of these, maybe not.
Miscellaneous: John Terry and/or Ashley Cole sent off. More English red cards, albeit a fair (or unfair) few flourished by Howard Webb. And unlike in 1966, North Korea to actually hold on for a draw against Portugal this time.
Winners: Brazil – dull Dunga took great pride in their jogo bonito-lite triumph in 1994, and could repeat as coach what he achieved then as captain, with a robust and ruthlessly-efficient counter-attacking team. At least Kaka, Dani Alves and Maicon have class. The two old Gilbertos, both once of North London, look less understandable
Runners-up: Italy. Such a simple group means even they might struggle to make their archetypal slow start, so maybe they’ve just been getting it out of the way earlier in dispiriting pre-tournament friendlies. Not quite so ageing as expected (the sadly-going-going-long-gone Cannavaro aside), while the midfield has bite in De Rossi and craft in Montolivo. And they’ll be intent on resuming normal service against Spain.
Semi-finalists: Argentina, Ghana.
England’s prospects: Same old, same old quarter-final. Though, just to be original, having knocked out Germany in the second round.
Surprise packages: Well-organised but feisty Ghana, Marcelo Bielsa’s tactically-daring and flair-filled Chile.
Golden Boot winner: After the 2006 World Cup, for the first time, featured not a single hat-trick, how about Spain’s David Villa to hit two en route to the Golden Boot?
Non-superstar stars: Argentina’s Angel di Maria. Mexico’s Giovani dos Santos. Chile’s Matias Fernandez. New Zealand’s Chris James, also of Barnet. One of these, maybe not.
Miscellaneous: John Terry and/or Ashley Cole sent off. More English red cards, albeit a fair (or unfair) few flourished by Howard Webb. And unlike in 1966, North Korea to actually hold on for a draw against Portugal this time.
"We all face the same way..."
In the predictably-gridlocked streets approaching Soccer City, the resentful-elephant drone of the vuvuzelas has to harmonise – of sorts – with the pounding of stationary car horns.
It may be a bit of a din, but it’s a joyous one – even if it has just taken more than four hours to crawl the 30km from Pretoria.
Apparently even the South African team are struggling to get their bus out of the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton - setting for a similar snarl-up for that premature open-top bus tour on Wednesday, though they didn't then have a rather important match just a few hours later.
Organisers may have warned people to leave their cars at home, and many exuberant ‘Bafana Bafana’ are scampering by on foot.
Yet perhaps the very first World Cup finals match ever staged on African soil was always going to cause a bit of a jam, even with the dubious pomp of the opening ceremony to come first.
In such an ebullient atmosphere, it would certainly seem a little churlish to buy a pair of earplugs – cannily offered at 15 Rand apiece, or £1.50, by a lady darting her way through the traffic in a typically-vivid sandwich board.
Occasionally, over the amateur horn concertos that have been playing since dawn, there might come a human cry of ‘Shapa, Bafana, shapa!’ – that is, ‘Beat them, boys, beat them’.
The hosts look determined to make the very eye-catching, ear-splitting most of this historic event, so long in the waiting, so controversial in the making and so hopefully sweet in the staging.
The morning newspaper forecasts appear resigned to first-round heartbreak, though the fans themselves are not so sure – not a bit of it, in fact.
‘The World Cup trophy is ours. We’ve already won it. There’s no way it will leave the country,’ declares optimists’ optimist Tefo Khuse, while Oko Nkungwana insists: ‘I know the Bafana will beat the other teams.’
Not any more cocksure than you’ll no doubt find in England, of course, though it’s all easier said than done – especially with some tasty Mexicans up first this afternoon.
The Central Americans, coached once more by 2002 World Cup manager (and 1986 World Cup red card offender) Javier Aguirre, were niftily impressive at Wembley last month – even though dire defending at setpieces gifted England a stodgy win.
Stereotypically-speedy wingers such as Giovani Dos Santos, Andres Guardado and – flickeringly – Carlos Vela certainly drag defences wildly about and stretch the active playing field as wide open as, well, Group A itself.
But South African’s Brazilian World Cup-winning coach Carlos Parreira will have spent three months of intensive training not only improving fitness – as seen in the recent 12-match unbeaten run – but emphasing similar playing ideals.
Like the visitors, the hosts should be looking to hoard possession when possible and deliver the ball at speed – still patrolling and hustling in midfield, should the Mexicans prove slightly more successful at the art.
Parreira cites as one of his favourite footballing phrases: ‘A rapid pass with accuracy is one of the most devastating weapons.’
(You might say ‘If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly’, if your name were Macbeth – perhaps a certain South African midfielder, surname Sibaya, should try it.)
Okay, so South Africa will struggle to do so, quite as devastatingly nor enchantingly, as, say, Spain two years ago at Euro 2008 or in most of the months since.
But the home fervour, recent match-winning morale boosts, and a new-found physical robustness, could tilt this game if not decisively in South Africa’s favour, then at least a little against a massacre by Mexicans.
Perhaps it really will all come down to a struggle between the soundtracks – vuvuzela versus mariachis.
There’s only one way to settle this – pipe...
It may be a bit of a din, but it’s a joyous one – even if it has just taken more than four hours to crawl the 30km from Pretoria.
Apparently even the South African team are struggling to get their bus out of the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton - setting for a similar snarl-up for that premature open-top bus tour on Wednesday, though they didn't then have a rather important match just a few hours later.
Organisers may have warned people to leave their cars at home, and many exuberant ‘Bafana Bafana’ are scampering by on foot.
Yet perhaps the very first World Cup finals match ever staged on African soil was always going to cause a bit of a jam, even with the dubious pomp of the opening ceremony to come first.
In such an ebullient atmosphere, it would certainly seem a little churlish to buy a pair of earplugs – cannily offered at 15 Rand apiece, or £1.50, by a lady darting her way through the traffic in a typically-vivid sandwich board.
Occasionally, over the amateur horn concertos that have been playing since dawn, there might come a human cry of ‘Shapa, Bafana, shapa!’ – that is, ‘Beat them, boys, beat them’.
The hosts look determined to make the very eye-catching, ear-splitting most of this historic event, so long in the waiting, so controversial in the making and so hopefully sweet in the staging.
The morning newspaper forecasts appear resigned to first-round heartbreak, though the fans themselves are not so sure – not a bit of it, in fact.
‘The World Cup trophy is ours. We’ve already won it. There’s no way it will leave the country,’ declares optimists’ optimist Tefo Khuse, while Oko Nkungwana insists: ‘I know the Bafana will beat the other teams.’
Not any more cocksure than you’ll no doubt find in England, of course, though it’s all easier said than done – especially with some tasty Mexicans up first this afternoon.
The Central Americans, coached once more by 2002 World Cup manager (and 1986 World Cup red card offender) Javier Aguirre, were niftily impressive at Wembley last month – even though dire defending at setpieces gifted England a stodgy win.
Stereotypically-speedy wingers such as Giovani Dos Santos, Andres Guardado and – flickeringly – Carlos Vela certainly drag defences wildly about and stretch the active playing field as wide open as, well, Group A itself.
But South African’s Brazilian World Cup-winning coach Carlos Parreira will have spent three months of intensive training not only improving fitness – as seen in the recent 12-match unbeaten run – but emphasing similar playing ideals.
Like the visitors, the hosts should be looking to hoard possession when possible and deliver the ball at speed – still patrolling and hustling in midfield, should the Mexicans prove slightly more successful at the art.
Parreira cites as one of his favourite footballing phrases: ‘A rapid pass with accuracy is one of the most devastating weapons.’
(You might say ‘If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly’, if your name were Macbeth – perhaps a certain South African midfielder, surname Sibaya, should try it.)
Okay, so South Africa will struggle to do so, quite as devastatingly nor enchantingly, as, say, Spain two years ago at Euro 2008 or in most of the months since.
But the home fervour, recent match-winning morale boosts, and a new-found physical robustness, could tilt this game if not decisively in South Africa’s favour, then at least a little against a massacre by Mexicans.
Perhaps it really will all come down to a struggle between the soundtracks – vuvuzela versus mariachis.
There’s only one way to settle this – pipe...
"Begin the begin..."
‘SOUTH Africa 2010 – it’s possible.’
The old slogan could have done with a little extra oomph, when planners made a courtesy call on Euro 2008 – perhaps cowed by the power of Euro-scepticism. Or, simply, cynicism.
Doom’n’gloomy headline revenge may well be wreaked on Olympic London in two years’ time.
But for now, those behind Africa’s first World Cup could be forgiven for feeling a little battered by scare stories, from reasonable alarms about crime and travel safety to fatuous warnings about Egyptian cobras that could each devour two 23-man squads.
Instead, as organisers and volunteers launch one final heave, they look exhilarated – not because the effort’s almost over, but vindication could be theirs.
To risk stating the bleedin’ obvious, Sepp Blatter’s Fifa cannot always be relied upon to get things right.
Putting electronic voting pads to the test at Fifa Congress yesterday, seven blazers still somehow answered ‘No’ to the simple sample question: ‘Are Italy the reigning world champions?’
But giving South Africa a World Cup of its own – even at the second time of asking – was a leap of faith that could prove its own reward.
Many toiling in squalid slums or refugee camps might well wonder still what they get from a tournament costing £4billion while pumping hefty profits into Fifa coffers.
True, the World Cup spotlight has helped stimulate some healthcare and education aid, from Fifa’s ‘Football For Hope’ scheme to many smaller-scale, grass-roots initiatives.
Yet today might provide a more persuasive answer – albeit one richer in emotion than redistributive hard cash.
Nelson Mandela and fellow Robben Island prisoners used to bolster morale with competitive kickabouts, or tuning into scratchy snatches of World Cup radio commentary.
Now football, always favoured by the black majority, can invade and upgrade venues once the preserve of the rugby-loving Afrikaaner minority – with access to soccer stadia happily traded in return.
Today’s message is ‘Africa United’, convincing even if prominent poster boys Michael Essien and Jon Obi Mikel have become injured absent friends.
A traditional sangoma forecasts a valiant South African defeat in the final, having ‘thrown and read the bones’ – a grislier twist on the remains of the Earl Grey.
Speak to many ‘Bafana Bafana’ fans and they’ll suggest no such thing – seeing a semi-final place as rather more realistic. For now.
Yes, it’s that clichéd – yet irresistible – ‘feelgood factor’, sweeping a country, a continent – and from a few hours’ time, a whole small world too.
And well, if the South Africans can’t blow their own trumpet…
Speaking of which, Wednesday was official National Vuvuzela Day, with the instruction to honk hard on those horns for 15 minutes solid at midday.
(Don’t worry – there are only another 31 unofficial national vuvuzela days ahead.)
And when it all comes to an end on July 11, so what if these stunningly unique – and expensive – stadia, their vivid paint still damp, get used for nothing so significant ever again?
Because, ah, look at what they’re being used for now.
That is, showcasing the Rooneys, Messis, Pienaars and surprise heroes still to stake a claim – enthralling
3million fanatics in the stands and 3billion pairs of eyes goggling at the box.
South Africa 2010 – it’s here. Anything’s possible.
The old slogan could have done with a little extra oomph, when planners made a courtesy call on Euro 2008 – perhaps cowed by the power of Euro-scepticism. Or, simply, cynicism.
Doom’n’gloomy headline revenge may well be wreaked on Olympic London in two years’ time.
But for now, those behind Africa’s first World Cup could be forgiven for feeling a little battered by scare stories, from reasonable alarms about crime and travel safety to fatuous warnings about Egyptian cobras that could each devour two 23-man squads.
Instead, as organisers and volunteers launch one final heave, they look exhilarated – not because the effort’s almost over, but vindication could be theirs.
To risk stating the bleedin’ obvious, Sepp Blatter’s Fifa cannot always be relied upon to get things right.
Putting electronic voting pads to the test at Fifa Congress yesterday, seven blazers still somehow answered ‘No’ to the simple sample question: ‘Are Italy the reigning world champions?’
But giving South Africa a World Cup of its own – even at the second time of asking – was a leap of faith that could prove its own reward.
Many toiling in squalid slums or refugee camps might well wonder still what they get from a tournament costing £4billion while pumping hefty profits into Fifa coffers.
True, the World Cup spotlight has helped stimulate some healthcare and education aid, from Fifa’s ‘Football For Hope’ scheme to many smaller-scale, grass-roots initiatives.
Yet today might provide a more persuasive answer – albeit one richer in emotion than redistributive hard cash.
Nelson Mandela and fellow Robben Island prisoners used to bolster morale with competitive kickabouts, or tuning into scratchy snatches of World Cup radio commentary.
Now football, always favoured by the black majority, can invade and upgrade venues once the preserve of the rugby-loving Afrikaaner minority – with access to soccer stadia happily traded in return.
Today’s message is ‘Africa United’, convincing even if prominent poster boys Michael Essien and Jon Obi Mikel have become injured absent friends.
A traditional sangoma forecasts a valiant South African defeat in the final, having ‘thrown and read the bones’ – a grislier twist on the remains of the Earl Grey.
Speak to many ‘Bafana Bafana’ fans and they’ll suggest no such thing – seeing a semi-final place as rather more realistic. For now.
Yes, it’s that clichéd – yet irresistible – ‘feelgood factor’, sweeping a country, a continent – and from a few hours’ time, a whole small world too.
And well, if the South Africans can’t blow their own trumpet…
Speaking of which, Wednesday was official National Vuvuzela Day, with the instruction to honk hard on those horns for 15 minutes solid at midday.
(Don’t worry – there are only another 31 unofficial national vuvuzela days ahead.)
And when it all comes to an end on July 11, so what if these stunningly unique – and expensive – stadia, their vivid paint still damp, get used for nothing so significant ever again?
Because, ah, look at what they’re being used for now.
That is, showcasing the Rooneys, Messis, Pienaars and surprise heroes still to stake a claim – enthralling
3million fanatics in the stands and 3billion pairs of eyes goggling at the box.
South Africa 2010 – it’s here. Anything’s possible.
"Waiting for the wait to stop..."
TODAY’S dawning of Africa’s inaugural World Cup ranks in history alongside Nelson Mandela’s release and South Africa’s first free elections, the man in charge has declared.
World Cup boss Danny Jordaan also gave the strongest signal yet that 91-year-old former president ‘Madiba’ will be well enough to appear at today’s long-awaited grand opening – though he spoke before the tragic death of Mr Mandela’s great-granddaughter.
Dr Jordaan, who has strived for 16 years to bring football’s showpiece event to Africa, promised this would be the finest World Cup in history.
And he revealed how South Africa was fired up by international scepticism about the their abilities to stage the event – especially cynical taunts from England.
Former sports minister Tony Banks once told him anyone rating South Africa a better World Cup host than England ‘must believe Elvis is still alive and living on the moon’.
A 1,500-strong cast will perform in a two-hour opening ceremony at Johannesburg’s revamped Soccer City stadium this lunchtime, before the hosts kick off against Mexico.
Dr Jordaan, a veteran anti-apartheid campaigner and former MP, yesterday repeatedly ranked the World Cup ‘struggle’ alongside those for freedom and equality.
He expects June 11 2010 to go down in history alongside February 11 1990, when Mr Mandela walked free, and the first post-apartheid elections on April 27 1994.
Dr Jordaan said: ‘Madiba’s release was celebrated as one of the world’s greatest icons.
‘The election was dubbed a miracle of the “Rainbow Nation”.
‘Now this will be another spectacular moment.’
On whether Mr Mandela would make it to Soccer City today, he conceded: ‘It’s a very difficult question.
‘Nelson Mandela himself wants to be there.
‘Whether he stays five minutes or the whole match is not our decision, but as things stand there’s a very very great chance he will be there.
‘We’ll just be happy if he shows his face.’
But that was before the ex-president’s 13-year-old great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela was killed in a car accident in central Johannesburg last night.
The organising committee today expressed their sadness and paid tribute to Zenani, who brought the Confederations Cup trophy on to the Ellis Park podium for the final of last year’s tournament.
Just a few hours earlier before Zenani was killed, three British students died when their tour bus overturned near Nelspruit
The 20-strong party from Leicestershire were not in South Africa for the football, but the accident suggested to some that the country’s roads were still unfit – despite receiving up to £310million of government funds.
The last few days before kick-off had already been marred by a stadium stampede during an international friendly on Sunday and the gunpoint robbery of three foreign journalists on Wednesday.
And preparations have long been dogged by concerns about crime and security, beleaguered healthcare, and whether the ten matchday stadia would be ready in time.
Yet on the football side, total infrastructure investment worth £4billion has helped ensure all ten venues were ready - and among the most distinctive in World Cup history.
Other work delivered on time include widened highways, a new airport at Durban and another air terminal at Johannesburg – while organisers claim to have created 150,000 new jobs.
Cape Town will host a three-day economic summit mid-way through the tournament, hoping to capitalise on the World Cup’s success and attract international investors.
Dr Jordaan vowed visitors and viewers would be wowed by the stadia and other infrastructure and ‘begin to understand what we talked about wasn’t just talk’.
‘It’s a determination to present the best World Cup ever,’ he added.
‘It’s a psychological barrier that’s been crossed – it’s a historical moment that’s being changed.
‘We’ve always said the World Cup must be a celebration.
‘It must help an image makeover, in the country and the continent.’
He admitted feeling frustrated by negative headlines and speculation, but said: ‘You have to be calm and not lose sight of the ultimate aim – that everything will be fine and this World Cup will be great.’
Kirsten Nematandani, president of the South African Football Association, added: ‘Today it feels good to be an African.
‘Today I woke up in a country ablaze with the bright colours of a very special flag.
‘From taxi drivers to gleaming new sports cars, everywhere is alive with the colours of the “Rainbow Nation”, on the brink of a very special celebration.’
World Cup boss Danny Jordaan also gave the strongest signal yet that 91-year-old former president ‘Madiba’ will be well enough to appear at today’s long-awaited grand opening – though he spoke before the tragic death of Mr Mandela’s great-granddaughter.
Dr Jordaan, who has strived for 16 years to bring football’s showpiece event to Africa, promised this would be the finest World Cup in history.
And he revealed how South Africa was fired up by international scepticism about the their abilities to stage the event – especially cynical taunts from England.
Former sports minister Tony Banks once told him anyone rating South Africa a better World Cup host than England ‘must believe Elvis is still alive and living on the moon’.
A 1,500-strong cast will perform in a two-hour opening ceremony at Johannesburg’s revamped Soccer City stadium this lunchtime, before the hosts kick off against Mexico.
Dr Jordaan, a veteran anti-apartheid campaigner and former MP, yesterday repeatedly ranked the World Cup ‘struggle’ alongside those for freedom and equality.
He expects June 11 2010 to go down in history alongside February 11 1990, when Mr Mandela walked free, and the first post-apartheid elections on April 27 1994.
Dr Jordaan said: ‘Madiba’s release was celebrated as one of the world’s greatest icons.
‘The election was dubbed a miracle of the “Rainbow Nation”.
‘Now this will be another spectacular moment.’
On whether Mr Mandela would make it to Soccer City today, he conceded: ‘It’s a very difficult question.
‘Nelson Mandela himself wants to be there.
‘Whether he stays five minutes or the whole match is not our decision, but as things stand there’s a very very great chance he will be there.
‘We’ll just be happy if he shows his face.’
But that was before the ex-president’s 13-year-old great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela was killed in a car accident in central Johannesburg last night.
The organising committee today expressed their sadness and paid tribute to Zenani, who brought the Confederations Cup trophy on to the Ellis Park podium for the final of last year’s tournament.
Just a few hours earlier before Zenani was killed, three British students died when their tour bus overturned near Nelspruit
The 20-strong party from Leicestershire were not in South Africa for the football, but the accident suggested to some that the country’s roads were still unfit – despite receiving up to £310million of government funds.
The last few days before kick-off had already been marred by a stadium stampede during an international friendly on Sunday and the gunpoint robbery of three foreign journalists on Wednesday.
And preparations have long been dogged by concerns about crime and security, beleaguered healthcare, and whether the ten matchday stadia would be ready in time.
Yet on the football side, total infrastructure investment worth £4billion has helped ensure all ten venues were ready - and among the most distinctive in World Cup history.
Other work delivered on time include widened highways, a new airport at Durban and another air terminal at Johannesburg – while organisers claim to have created 150,000 new jobs.
Cape Town will host a three-day economic summit mid-way through the tournament, hoping to capitalise on the World Cup’s success and attract international investors.
Dr Jordaan vowed visitors and viewers would be wowed by the stadia and other infrastructure and ‘begin to understand what we talked about wasn’t just talk’.
‘It’s a determination to present the best World Cup ever,’ he added.
‘It’s a psychological barrier that’s been crossed – it’s a historical moment that’s being changed.
‘We’ve always said the World Cup must be a celebration.
‘It must help an image makeover, in the country and the continent.’
He admitted feeling frustrated by negative headlines and speculation, but said: ‘You have to be calm and not lose sight of the ultimate aim – that everything will be fine and this World Cup will be great.’
Kirsten Nematandani, president of the South African Football Association, added: ‘Today it feels good to be an African.
‘Today I woke up in a country ablaze with the bright colours of a very special flag.
‘From taxi drivers to gleaming new sports cars, everywhere is alive with the colours of the “Rainbow Nation”, on the brink of a very special celebration.’
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Know which side your bread's Blattered...
"I'm a happy man, I have a happy Congress", declared generous Sepp Blatter 12 months ahead of his FIFA presidential re-election attempt...
... and moments after an announcement of £134million in profits and £723m in assets helped him produce surprise £170,000 bonuses for each member FA, and £10millions apiece for the confederations such as Uefa.
Never mind hat-tricks - is it trebles all-round?
... and moments after an announcement of £134million in profits and £723m in assets helped him produce surprise £170,000 bonuses for each member FA, and £10millions apiece for the confederations such as Uefa.
Never mind hat-tricks - is it trebles all-round?
"If you didn't come to party, then why did you come here?"
THOUSANDS of fans streamed the streets, cheering on the football heroes basking in glory on an open-top bus.
Hang on – isn’t this how World Cups are supposed to finish, not begin?
Then again, when your team fears becoming the first host nation to fall at the first hurdle, it might be best to celebrate when you still can.
Roads jammed, offices emptied and those pesky vuvuzela horns honked hard as the South Africa squad took a not-quite-earned-yet lap of honour around the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton.
The South Africans could yet surprise, of course – suddenly looking like they might just be the best-performing African team after all.
They go into tomorrow’s big kick-off on the back of a 12-match unbeaten run, under the leadership of Brazilian World Cup-winner Carlos Parreira.
And their continental rivals have been hit by injuries to Jon Obi Mikel’s ankle, Michael Essien’s knee, Didier Drogba’s elbow and Samuel Eto’o’s ego.
The hosts have at least shown already they can party hard – and fast. Win or – yes, much more probably – lose, yesterday’s gala won’t be the last.
"Keep on knockin' but you can't come in..."
THE TEN host venues have all finally been topped out and now look in tip-top condition.
World governing body Fifa at last felt confident enough yesterday to announce precisely how many seats would be available in each one.
Yet more than 40,000 could be going to waste, so to speak.
The ten stadia offer a total of 514,599 seats, ranging from the 84,490-capacity Soccer City in Johannesburg to the 38,646-seat Royal Bafokeng in Rustenburg.
Tot up the venues’ gross capacities when not taken over for World Cup purposes, however, and you could squeeze as many as 556,000 bums on to seats.
Blame those usual suspects – VIPs and their hospitality suites. And, admittedly, the media – though mainly those wielding cameras.
The last 35,000 tickets are now up for grabs, being peddled yesterday at about £140 apiece for best seats – or for one-tenth as much, close to the touchline but with restricted views.
Sat behind Peter Crouch on the subs’ bench perhaps, – or the smoke from one of Diego Maradona’s fat cigars. Or just Maradona’s own fat.
World governing body Fifa at last felt confident enough yesterday to announce precisely how many seats would be available in each one.
Yet more than 40,000 could be going to waste, so to speak.
The ten stadia offer a total of 514,599 seats, ranging from the 84,490-capacity Soccer City in Johannesburg to the 38,646-seat Royal Bafokeng in Rustenburg.
Tot up the venues’ gross capacities when not taken over for World Cup purposes, however, and you could squeeze as many as 556,000 bums on to seats.
Blame those usual suspects – VIPs and their hospitality suites. And, admittedly, the media – though mainly those wielding cameras.
The last 35,000 tickets are now up for grabs, being peddled yesterday at about £140 apiece for best seats – or for one-tenth as much, close to the touchline but with restricted views.
Sat behind Peter Crouch on the subs’ bench perhaps, – or the smoke from one of Diego Maradona’s fat cigars. Or just Maradona’s own fat.
Home, home on the range...
FABIO Capello has been giving football tips to his US counterpart – though it took a while for Michael Bradley to even realise.
Praising Capello yesterday for his tactical flexibility, the US coach said: ‘The quote’s he always used with me was, “When you make wine, the grapes aren’t always the same.”
‘The first few times he said it, I thought he was actually talking about wine.
‘I only eventually realised he was trying to tell me a few things about football.’
Bradley could in fact turn his hand to milk-churning instead of grape-crushing, as the good ol’ boys of the USA spend this summer down on the range.
The squad is based around the Irene dairy farm, near Pretoria, where players can find themselves picking a path through cows and chickens en route to public appearances.
"But I want to know for sure...?"
ENGLAND’S figure-conscious Wags have been promised a slap-up meal by their highest-profile South African equivalent.
Matthew Booth’s wife Sonia wants to take the likes of Victoria Beckham, Coleen Rooney and Christine Bleakley to her mum’s home in Soweto and force-feed them an authentic local feast.
‘Pap, boerewors, chakalaka – nothing fancy, just traditional South African food,’ she promised.
(Pap is a kind of porridge, boerewors a sausage and chakalaka a spicy relish.)
And if Posh finds such pap hard to swallow, she should try forcing down the ‘Wild Thing’ offered to many visitors almost as soon as they arrive.
This Wild Thing that might indeed make your heart sing – though with pain, not pleasure – comprises hefty chunks of springbok, ostrich and warthog on a spit.
Your non-daredevil, meat-dodging Metro reporter made his excuses … and ordered the salad.
Matthew Booth’s wife Sonia wants to take the likes of Victoria Beckham, Coleen Rooney and Christine Bleakley to her mum’s home in Soweto and force-feed them an authentic local feast.
‘Pap, boerewors, chakalaka – nothing fancy, just traditional South African food,’ she promised.
(Pap is a kind of porridge, boerewors a sausage and chakalaka a spicy relish.)
And if Posh finds such pap hard to swallow, she should try forcing down the ‘Wild Thing’ offered to many visitors almost as soon as they arrive.
This Wild Thing that might indeed make your heart sing – though with pain, not pleasure – comprises hefty chunks of springbok, ostrich and warthog on a spit.
Your non-daredevil, meat-dodging Metro reporter made his excuses … and ordered the salad.
"I'm so bored with the USA..."
AMERICA’S tough tacklers have warned England to expect a ‘good hard game’ – but insisted they will not try to deliberately wind up Wayne Rooney.
US coach Bob Bradley promised a robust approach in what American soccer chiefs yesterday described as the most exciting football match in the country’s history.
But he also expressed respect for temperamental Rooney – as well as England coach Fabio Capello, who once faced a US college team coached by Bradley.
The man now leading the USA’s sixth consecutive World Cup finals campaign once took a Princeton University team to AC Milan’s Milanello base, in the mid-Nineties.
They took on a team of Milan reserves, in a coaching session overseen by the Serie A giants’ then-boss Capello.
Bradley expects Saturday’s match to be a little less friendly, but vowed no dirty tricks – despite renewed questions about Rooney’s volatile temper.
When asked whether his players would deliberately target Rooney, he said: ‘No, we won’t enter all that.’
Bradley spoke of ‘a tremendous respect for Rooney as a player’, praising ‘his effort, his competitiveness, his movement’.
USA captain Landon Donovan predicted: ‘I think Rooney’ll going to be just fine on Saturday.’
But Bradley pledged: ‘It’ll be a good, hard game.’
Brazilian referee Carlos Simon has been accused of card-happiness, while also serving a brief domestic suspension following complaints about his officiating.
Bradley will advise his men to be careful, saying: ‘It’s important that there’s discipline.
‘We’ve seen in a number of World Cups, especially in the first round, that players must respect their opponents or else there’ll be cards given.’
The US have won a reputation for being among the most athletic, and physically robust of international sides.
Even US Soccer chief executive Sunil Gulati yesterday admitted American players tended to lack flair.
Bradley was assistant coach when the US were involved in one of the last World Cup’s most X-rated matches, reduced to nine men in a group game against Italy.
Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope were both dismissed in Kaiserslautern for wince-inducing challenges.
The violence was not all one-way – striker Brian McBride took an elbow-smash to the face from Daniele De Rossi, who was also sent off.
But while neither Mastroeni nor Pope are here this time, cards can be expected by the likes of the coach’s own son Michael Bradley.
The combative Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder’s tendency to collect bookings saw him suspended from the final of both the 2009 Confederations Cup and the same year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Premier League fans may still vividly recall US striker Jozy Altidore’s headbutt assault on Sunderland’s Alan Hutton, when playing for Hull City last season.
Donovan himself was involved in the incident which left Chelsea and England left-back Ashley Cole’s World Cup place in doubt last season.
While yesterday insisting he was glad to see Cole recovered in time from his ankle injury, Donovan said there had been no contact between the two players – nor with his LA Galaxy team-mate David Beckham.
But Donovan, who spent the second half of the season on loan at Everton, said he expected the club’s Scottish manager David Moyes to be cheering on the US.
The forward, who said any talk of an Everton return would be delayed until after the World Cup, said: ‘I’ve had no message from David Moyes.
‘But my guess is, learning a little bit about how the English and the Scots are, is that he’s rooting for us.’
While the England camp remains plagued by injury doubts, Bradley declared: ‘Every player in my 23 is ready to play 90 minutes if asked.’
That includes, he insisted, the ex-Newcastle Uniited centre-back Oguchi Onyewu, who missed most of his first season at AC Milan with knee ligament damage.
Saturday’s clash with England is the talk of the watercooler across the US, according to football federation chief Dr Gulati.
He added: ‘There’s more interest back home in this game than any the US has played for a long time – probably ever.
‘The national team has even featured on the front cover of Time magazine – anyone remember when that’s ever happened for soccer?
‘Certainly the watercooler talk is greater for this Saturday than I’ve ever seen for a World Cup.’
US coach Bob Bradley promised a robust approach in what American soccer chiefs yesterday described as the most exciting football match in the country’s history.
But he also expressed respect for temperamental Rooney – as well as England coach Fabio Capello, who once faced a US college team coached by Bradley.
The man now leading the USA’s sixth consecutive World Cup finals campaign once took a Princeton University team to AC Milan’s Milanello base, in the mid-Nineties.
They took on a team of Milan reserves, in a coaching session overseen by the Serie A giants’ then-boss Capello.
Bradley expects Saturday’s match to be a little less friendly, but vowed no dirty tricks – despite renewed questions about Rooney’s volatile temper.
When asked whether his players would deliberately target Rooney, he said: ‘No, we won’t enter all that.’
Bradley spoke of ‘a tremendous respect for Rooney as a player’, praising ‘his effort, his competitiveness, his movement’.
USA captain Landon Donovan predicted: ‘I think Rooney’ll going to be just fine on Saturday.’
But Bradley pledged: ‘It’ll be a good, hard game.’
Brazilian referee Carlos Simon has been accused of card-happiness, while also serving a brief domestic suspension following complaints about his officiating.
Bradley will advise his men to be careful, saying: ‘It’s important that there’s discipline.
‘We’ve seen in a number of World Cups, especially in the first round, that players must respect their opponents or else there’ll be cards given.’
The US have won a reputation for being among the most athletic, and physically robust of international sides.
Even US Soccer chief executive Sunil Gulati yesterday admitted American players tended to lack flair.
Bradley was assistant coach when the US were involved in one of the last World Cup’s most X-rated matches, reduced to nine men in a group game against Italy.
Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope were both dismissed in Kaiserslautern for wince-inducing challenges.
The violence was not all one-way – striker Brian McBride took an elbow-smash to the face from Daniele De Rossi, who was also sent off.
But while neither Mastroeni nor Pope are here this time, cards can be expected by the likes of the coach’s own son Michael Bradley.
The combative Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder’s tendency to collect bookings saw him suspended from the final of both the 2009 Confederations Cup and the same year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Premier League fans may still vividly recall US striker Jozy Altidore’s headbutt assault on Sunderland’s Alan Hutton, when playing for Hull City last season.
Donovan himself was involved in the incident which left Chelsea and England left-back Ashley Cole’s World Cup place in doubt last season.
While yesterday insisting he was glad to see Cole recovered in time from his ankle injury, Donovan said there had been no contact between the two players – nor with his LA Galaxy team-mate David Beckham.
But Donovan, who spent the second half of the season on loan at Everton, said he expected the club’s Scottish manager David Moyes to be cheering on the US.
The forward, who said any talk of an Everton return would be delayed until after the World Cup, said: ‘I’ve had no message from David Moyes.
‘But my guess is, learning a little bit about how the English and the Scots are, is that he’s rooting for us.’
While the England camp remains plagued by injury doubts, Bradley declared: ‘Every player in my 23 is ready to play 90 minutes if asked.’
That includes, he insisted, the ex-Newcastle Uniited centre-back Oguchi Onyewu, who missed most of his first season at AC Milan with knee ligament damage.
Saturday’s clash with England is the talk of the watercooler across the US, according to football federation chief Dr Gulati.
He added: ‘There’s more interest back home in this game than any the US has played for a long time – probably ever.
‘The national team has even featured on the front cover of Time magazine – anyone remember when that’s ever happened for soccer?
‘Certainly the watercooler talk is greater for this Saturday than I’ve ever seen for a World Cup.’
More of my back pages...
Because, well well, just because...:
http://metro.typepad.com/euro_2008_blog/
Now, what's next? Ah yes... that's enough playing (pointless) catch-up.
http://metro.typepad.com/euro_2008_blog/
Now, what's next? Ah yes... that's enough playing (pointless) catch-up.
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