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The Bafana Bafana & Super-Eagles Prepare for Africa’s Football Party |
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Written by Aboobaker "Boebie" Williams
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The Final Draw event for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a big success and has put real pressure on the host nation’s football team, Bafana Bafana, to at least reach the knock out stage of the World Cup competition. When the group was announced the majority of South Africans sighed in disbelief and shock. The other teams in Group A are Mexico, which is ranked fifteen, Uruguay nineteen and France is seven. The Bafana Bafana’s ranked a lowly eighty-six after the unsuccessful stay of Joel Santana paved the way for the return of Carlos Alberto Parreira. They will face Javier Aguirre’s Mexico in the opening match on 11th June 2010 in Johannesburg.
Aguirre has provided Mexico with stability and guidance after the disastrous tenures of former great Hugo Sánchez and Sven Goran Eriksson as national team coaches. Aguirre’s team will not be underestimated. This will be South Africa’s third appearance at the World Cup. They have played six matches, won one and conceded eight goals. Compare this to Mexico who will make their fourteenth appearance, with forty-five matches, eleven wins and forty-six goals.
“The first match is important,” said Parreira, “so is the second match and the third match. All these matches are important and permit you to qualify for the knock out stage of the competition. In order for Bafana Bafana to qualify for the last sixteen, we need to prepare ourselves thoroughly and believe that we can do it.”
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The Final Cast for Africa’s World Cup is Decided |
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Written by Aboobaker "Boebie" Williams
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Johannesburg, 19 November 2009 – The first hosts and winners of the World Cup, Uruguay, was the last of the 32 countries to qualify for the 2010 version – completing one of the strongest line-ups in the tournament’s history, although it will be without Africa’s champions Egypt who were eliminated by Algeria in a play-off as all other things were equal between them in their group. The local Organising Committee wasted no time in welcoming the countries to Africa’s first FIFA World Cup by hosting a symbolic flag-raising ceremony at its SAFA House headquarters in Johannesburg today. The flags of all 32 participating teams were raised in celebration and to mark a major moment in African sporting history. The ceremony, which was attended by the ambassadors of those countries, took place very close to the Soccer City Stadium, where both the opening match and final will be played.
“We congratulate all the teams that have now qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup,” said Dr Danny Jordaan, the Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa (OC). “For us this is a very emotional day. After all the years of hard work that have gone into preparing for this momentous event, it is now a tangible reality. The finalisation of the 32 participating countries is a major milestone and we would like to warmly welcome all of them to Africa’s first World Cup. Our country and our continent cannot wait to receive the players and their multitudes of fans that will descend on South Africa next year for what is sure to be an unforgettable event.”
Dr Jordaan was ecstatic at the calibre of teams that have qualified for South Africa 2010, which is set to showcase the world’s best footballers in state of the art, modern stadiums. “All the major countries in world football have qualified for the tournament, as well as a number of countries that are very capable of causing major upsets. We’re particularly delighted that the giants of African football, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Algeria, join hosts South Africa in what is a formidable line-up of African participants,” he said. “Now it is no longer a case of asking whether the stadiums will be ready. They are and they will be beautiful cathedrals which will host the best footballers in the world. Now, it is about preparing to celebrate the coming together of six continents, 32 teams and billions of people around the world in a celebration of football in South Africa next year. Today marks the day where we begin that celebration.”
The countries who have qualified for Africa’s World Cup are: Nigeria, Cameroon, New Zealand, Japan, Netherlands, Korea Republic, Korea DPR, Australia, USA, Brazil, Ghana, England, Paraguay, Spain, Denmark, Cote d’Ivoire, Chile, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Serbia, Switzerland, Argentina, Honduras, Slovakia, Algeria, Portugal, France, Slovenia, Greece, Uruguay and hosts South Africa. |
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Countdown to World Cup Final Gathers Pace |
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Written by Aboobaker "Boebie" Williams
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South African Festival Welcomes Football World at Finals Draw:
The countdown to the biggest cultural and sporting event in South Africa’s history is gathering pace. The draw for the World Cup finals got underway with a spectacular draw in Cape Town on 4 December. The night sparkled with the glamour of Hollywood but was given our distinctive touch with the rhythm and soul of Africa. A hundred and fifty thousand people gathered in Cape Town city centre to celebrate.
“We promised the country and the world a spectacular and world-class event and we delivered on that promise,” the CEO of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa, Dr Danny Jordaan, said. “What we have to do now is to keep that passion and support for the World Cup alive, not just in terms of what happens on the field but also in terms of selling tickets.”
I hope the doubts and the fears of the world have subsided and South Africa actually hosts a fantastic and successful World Cup. The doom and gloom spread by the international media should be ignored and football fans that are considering making the trip to the rainbow nation will be made more than welcome. The name ‘rainbow nation’ says it all. This is a happy place – a land where people greet strangers while walking in the streets with broad smiles on their faces and a country where children feel safe and a helping hand is never far from reach. We have crime, but so do other countries.
Blatter Champions South Africa:
Sepp Blatter, we salute you for allowing us to host the World Cup on African soil. Blatter stood up for the country when certain segments of the media put pressure on him to switch the World Cup to Australia or Germany. He has been a soldier for the cause, but it is disappointing that the country at the southern tip of Africa needed and still needs to do so much convincing, when clearly we deserve to host next year’s event.
The stadiums are amazing – the cable car arch at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, the ring of fire lighting at the Cape Town Stadium, or the Calabash and Giraffe designs at Soccer City and Mbombela Stadiums respectively. There is something about this country that simply cannot be explained, and living here or visiting for a while is an experience that few can deny steals a part of your heart. We are proud of the strides that it has made in the last few years, and of how far we have come as a nation.
The World Cup in 2010 gives every South African an opportunity to show the world what a beautiful, memorable and exciting country we live in, with such welcoming and friendly people going about their daily lives with a smile on their faces and a spring in their step. Maybe it’s the weather, or the fact that there is so much potential in this place, and life is good, but I have no doubt that in June and July next year, the watching world will be smiling with us, and South Africa will have changed many minds during the greatest show on earth, in Africa.
The Draw:
The Draw for the finals gave a small taste of a beautiful country with a lot to offer including the greatest spectacle in the sporting calendar, but amid the glamour and glitz of the occasion there was the matter of deciding the groups for the World Cup finals. It threw up some interesting clashes. Local interest was quickly satisfied. The Bafana Bafana is in Group A along with Mexico, Uruguay and France. Despite our lowly international ranking Carlos Alberto Parreira is confident that he can steer the team to the knockout stages at least.
La Côte d’Ivoire must wonder what they have done to offend the football gods. They qualified for Germany four years ago and landed in the Group of Death with Argentina, the Netherlands and Serbia and performed well, but failed to reach the knockout phase. This time they have drawn Brazil, Portugal and North Korea. Ghana has a difficult group too. Germany will be favourites to top the group, but Australia and Serbia are no slouches either.
England will expect to win their group, but Algeria will be underestimated only by the foolhardy. They knocked out the twice consecutive and reigning African Champions Egypt in a play off and that requires a good team to achieve that. The Pharaohs will be a big miss and FIFA really has to sort out the limited number of places and chances for Africa at future World Cups. We are the only federation that does not have a chance to qualify through play-offs (Algeria and Egypt only ad a play-off because they couldn’t be separated in their group). [1]
However, the most romantic clash in this group is the repeat of one of the greatest upsets in World Cup History when the USA upset the mighty England, competing in the World Cup for the first time 1-0 in Brazil. The late Joseph Gaetjens [2] scored the most famous goal in the history of football in the USA. We should honour his memory at the beginning of the match between the USA and England with a minute’s applause and the players should wear black armbands too.
Meanwhile, European Champions Spain should be happy that they will win their group that includes Switzerland, Honduras and Chile. Defending champions Italy cannot complain about their group either. They will face New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia. The groups are as follows:
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, la Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
1. My review of the groups that involve African teams will be published in the magazine soon.
2. Gaetjens’ story is a tragic one that the world of football must remember and belatedly acknowledge in Africa’s fiesta of football. See http://empower-sport.com/index.php?categoryid=17&p2_articleid=70 for further information.
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Overage Saga at the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria |
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Written by Aboobaker "Boebie" Williams
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The over age player saga has raised its head once more at the FIFA U-17 World CUP competition, this time right on their doorstep on African soil, Nigeria. Two months down the line after a number of Nigerian U-20 players failed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) age verification test prior to the FIFA U-20 Youth World Cup in Egypt. Nigeria sent in replacements but failed in their quest to reach the final of the Youth World Championship.
Fifteen players from Nigeria’s U-17 team were dropped in the run-up to the tournament after they failed to pass the age-verification test. Fortune Chukwudi passed but his age has since been called into question by ex-international: Adokie Amiesimaka, who says the player turned out for him as an 18-year-old seven years ago. This is what Amiesimaka had to say:
“I recall clearly that during 2002/2003 season when I was chairman of Sharks Football Club in Port Harcourt, we played a friendly match against the Flying Eagles, who were camping in Port Harcourt at the time in preparation for a qualifier, and Fortune was one of my prominent defenders then. He told me he was eighteen then. In fairness to him, he looks as young now as he did then.”
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