Africa Gets Rave Reviews in First World Cup Test

Kudos to the South African Organizing Committee and FIFA for putting on a brilliant preliminary draw show.

The hosts put on a smooth-running show, with just one little glitch in Sunday's draw, sending visiting delegations from more than 150 nations away on Monday in various degrees of hope, expectation and, in a few cases, dismay.

Only 31 will return to join South Africa in the 2010 finals at the end of the two-year qualification trail of twists and turns.

The hosts stuttered a little when the build-up to an announcement of the tournament's slogan ended in embarrassment. South African organizing committee chairman Irvin Khoza was just about to reveal that "Celebrating Africa's humanity" was the choice when he was cut short. Television producers switched over to open the international feed to more than 170 countries, leaving the audience in Durban's International Convention Centre bemused and bewildered. But that's about all that happened.

The draw produced some controversy, particularly for England whose delegates looked shocked when the fates conspired to land them in the same European qualifying group again as Croatia.
Only four days earlier, Croatia crashed England's expected progress to the Euro 2008 finals with a shock 3-2 victory at England's Wembley Stadium.

Other teams came away happy. World champions Italy look sure to dominate a group in which only Bulgaria and Ireland should provide meaningful opposition and European champions Greece were beside themselves at getting nothing harder in their group than Israel and Switzerland.

South Africa will be thankful they do not have to qualify as hosts. The African section of the draw doubles as the qualifying competition for the 2010 African Cup of Nations and South Africa were drawn in the same group as traditional continental heavyweights Nigeria.

The organizers will no doubt congratulate themselves on switching the Soweto derby between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs to Durban for the occasion.

Saturday's thrilling 2-2 draw, and particularly the uninhibited and passionate support of more than 50,000 fans, left a deep impression on international soccer visitors and whetted their appetite for what should be the biggest sporting party in history in 2010.

Honestly, I'm buzzing with excitement!! I can't wait!!

South African Name Changes and a Charity Cup Update

South Africa has a rich history cloaked by the oppressive practices of Apartheid.

On Tuesday, the World Cup organizing committee announced that three World Cup host cities will be allowed to use proposed name changes on official tournament documents and tickets for the 2010 finals.

The tickets and documents will bear both the apartheid-era names of cities and the new ones, reflecting the nation's evolution while avoiding confusing visitors.

Pretoria will now be known as Tshwane, the name of the municipal district containing South Africa's capital, Bloemfontein becomes Manguang and Port Elizabeth will be called Nelson Mandela Bay. The organizers said they had agreed with the world governing body FIFA that the new names would be used within South Africa. Outside the country, a combination of both the old and new names will be used to avoid confusion.

Name changing is highly sensitive in South Africa. The black-led government has championed efforts to rename towns or street names to get rid of apartheid-era names and better reflect the country's African character, but that has angered some whites, who fear their history is being eroded.

Apartheid's tentacles reach from the past to affect us in the present. Oppression can not be easily diluted, not even through the folds of time.
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An update on the Charity Cup from South Africa, which we talked about a few days ago.

Bloemfontein Celtic won the Charity Cup, an exhausting four-team event that traditionally attracts crowds above 70,000 spectators.

Celtic beat Orlando Pirates 4-3 in the final after the game had gone to penalties. The two teams were locked in a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.

Orlando Pirates progressed to the final after beating arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs in a penalty shoot out in the semi final after the teams were level 1-1 after normal time.

Bloemfontein Celtic had no trouble securing their final berth, beating last year's league runners-up Silver Stars 3-1 in their semi.

The four clubs who took part were voted for in a month-long telephone poll.

South African Football

We all know the World Cup is coming to South Africa in 2010.
What we don't talk much about is the South African domestic game.

The South African season opens on August 4th with the Charity Cup, an exhausting four-team event that traditionally attracts crowds over 70,000.

Four clubs, voted for in a month-long telephone poll, will compete in two morning semi-finals with the winners given just a short break before returning for the final, later the same day. Talk about a double dip.

The country's two most popular teams, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, have been drawn against each other a week after they clashed in a pre-season tournament won by English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.

Saturday's opening match pits Bloemfontein Celtic against Silver Stars, last year's league runners-up.

Usually 75,000 fans pack into Johannesburg's Soccer City for the tournament but that stadium is undergoing a major overhaul ahead of the 2010 World Cup finals. The tourney has been moved to Mmabatho, a town near the Botswana border whose stadium has a capacity of 59,000.

Pretoria-based Mamelodi Sundowns were one of the original four teams picked for the tournament.

The reigning South African champions were voted in second place but due to a clash with their commitments in the Confederation Cup were unable to compete in the tie.