FIFA president Sepp Blatter claims he danced for joy after arriving in South Africa to check on preparations for the 2010 World Cup.
Yet, beneath the public posturing lie very real concerns about stadium construction delays, rising costs, rampant crime and lack of transportation.
Blatter was visiting Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium yesterday on the first full day of his four-day visit, which will also include tours of Soccer City in Johannesburg, the site of the opening game and the final.
“South Africa is on track,” FIFA general-secretary Jerome Valcke told a local radio station yesterday.
FIFA’s decision to stage the World Cup in Africa for the first time was always guaranteed to be a gamble. And the speculation refuses to die that FIFA has a secret plan to move the tournament if organizational problems become insurmountable.
Both FIFA and South Africa have repeatedly denied there is any risk of this happening, bar a natural catastrophe.
“Plan B is South Africa. Plan C is South Africa,” Blatter said for the umpteenth time after meeting South African President Thabo Mbeki late on Sunday.
For Blatter, the success of the 2010 tournament has become a personal crusade. He says he hopes that it will create an enduring legacy to benefit millions of people on the continent.
“When I left the plane and arrived on African soil, I started dancing,” the 72-year-old Swiss told reporters.
He may need to muster his nimblest footwork to avoid the many obstacles that loom.
Valcke also made soothing noises about the government’s ability to rein in violent crime in a country where more than 50 people are killed each day, often for as little as a mobile phone.
“I am not so much concerned by security today. I think we are going the right way,” he said in the Radio 702 talk program, adding that it was impossible to be 100 percent safe, even in cities like Paris and Zurich.
Valcke said local organizers were working closely with Interpol and foreign police and security forces to keep out hooligans.
Listeners were unconvinced.
“Football hooligans are angels compared to the type of criminals we have in South Africa,” said a caller who identified himself as Peter from Port Elizabeth. “I really don’t believe FIFA realizes what they have got themselves into. They have bitten off more than they can chew.”
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures