World Cup 2010: France vs South Africa

France 1:2 South Africa

Bongani KHUMALO (20')
Katlego MPHELA (37')
Florent MALOUDA (70')

Mangaung/Bloemfontein - Free State Stadium

Florent Malouda of France helps up team mate Franck Ribery during the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Group A match between France and Mexico at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on June 17, 2010 in Polokwane, South Africa.
('June 16, 2010 16:00'' -Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images Europe)

Katlego Mphela of South Africa clashes with Gael Clichy of France during the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Group A match between France and South Africa at the Free State Stadium on June 22, 2010 in Mangaung/Bloemfontein, South Africa.
('June 21, 2010 16:00'' - Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images Europe)

Bongani KHUMALO

France Squad World Cup 2010

South Africa Squad World Cup 2010

Group A			MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	+/-	Pts
	Uruguay		3	2	1	0	4	0	+4	7
	Mexico		3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
	South Africa		3	1	1	1	3	5	-2	4
	France		3	0	1	2	1	4	-3	1

Afsel: 1-Moeneeb Josephs, 20-Bongani Khumalo, 4-Aaron Mokoena, 3-Tsepo Masilela, 5-Anele Ngcongca (2-Siboniso Gaxa 55'), 23-Thanduyise Khuboni, 6-MacBeth Sibaya, 8-Siphiwe Tshabalala, 10-Steven Pienaar, 9-Katlego Mphela, 17-Bernard Parker (18-Siyabongan Nomvethe 68')

Prancis: 1-Hugo Lloris, 17-Sebastian Squillaci, 5-William Gallas, 22-Gael Clichy, 2-Bacary Sagna, 19-Abou Diaby, 18-Alou Diarra (10-Sidney Govou 82'), 9-Djibril Cisse (12-Thierry Henry 52'), 8-Yoann Gourcuff, 7-Frank Ribery, 11-Andre-Pierre Gignac (15-Florent Malouda 45')

FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa

FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa

The 2010 World Cup comes from South Africa.The entire world has been waiting for the world cup to get underway and to experience the thrills. With the likes of legends like Ronaldinho and Beckham playing in their last event, it is surely going to be a great one month in 2010!

Here are all the latest news and information...

Soccer World Cup 2010

All set to rock the sports world

Soccer has been the most famous sport in the world for over a century. It is also the most viewed and followed sport in the world. There are many football competitions that are followed by millions of people all over the globe. Most notable are the leagues that are played in many European, American and African countries among others. However, one event that steals the leading attention and comes over on top of every viewer's list is the FIFA World Cup.

The event, which takes place once in four years, shatters all audience records in every time it is held. There is a huge expectation for every football world cup even a year before its commencement. The next world cup, which is to be held in 2010, is not an exception. Millions of football fans are just impatient for the event to start and are eager to grab as much tickets as possible.

Host

South Africa is all set to host the 2010 World Cup after having won a strong bid to host the event, warding off a stiff challenge from fellow African country, Morocco.

The preparations for the event, which is to be held between June 11 and July 11, had started in full swing in 2006. Being a third world country and a developing economy, South Africa looks to rake in a bulk of profit through the event by means of ticket sales, transport, lodging and tourism. The country is very careful in making full and best arrangements to accommodate the teams and the visiting audience.

2010 Soccer World Cup Mascot

The World Cup 2010 Mascot "Zakumi" is a green haired leopard has been announced as the official mascot for the event.
The word "Zakumi" derives from "Za", which is South Africa's abbreviation and "Kumi", which is a representation of ten in a majority of the African languages, denoting 2010.

Official World Cup 2010 Mascot

Official World Cup 2010 Mascot - ZAKUMI

Official launch of Mascott - 22 September 2008

curated content from YouTube

Venues and Stadiums

All the matches of the 2010 World Cup are scheduled to be conducted in 10 venues in nine different cities. Two stadiums in Johannesburg are set to host matches for the event. The other cities that will host matches are Pretoria, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Nelspruit, Polokwane and Rustenburg. The "Soccer City" stadium in Johannesburg is the largest of all the ten stadiums and is set to accommodate about 100,000 people. This is also the stadium, which is expected to host the finals of the world cup.

The budget allotted by the government of South Africa for the infrastructural development for the event is reported to be $8 billion. The South African Football Association has been utilizing the money efficiently to raise exceptional stadiums and to develop the facilities in the existing stadiums.

City

Stadium

Capacity

Info

Johannesburg

Soccer City

94700

being upgraded

Durban

Moses Mabhida S.

70000

being constructed

Cape Town

Greenpoint Stadium

70000

being constructed

Johannesburg

Ellis Park Stadium

62567

being upgraded

Pretoria

Loftus Versfeld S.

50000

being upgraded

Port Elizabeth

Nelson Mandela S.

48000

under construction

Bloemfontein

Free State Stadium

48000

being upgraded

Nelspruit

Mbombela Stadium

46000

under construction

Polokwane

Peter Mokaba Stadium

46000

being constructed

Rustenburg

Royal Bafokeng S.

42000

being upgraded

Soccer World Cup Official Sponsors

The event has garnered support and sponsors like never before. This time, there will be six official partners for the whole event namely Coca-Cola, Adidas, Emirates, Hyundai, Sony Corporation and Visa Corporation.
There will be a string of official sponsors supporting the event financially. Notable of the sponsors are Budweiser, McDonalds, Castrol, MTN and Continental corporation.

Official World Cup Ball

Adidas will be the official makers of the footballs to be used in the tournament just as it has been the case in the previous editions too. The official ball is expected to be released for public view in December 2009.
Resources have quoted that it is going to be the debut of the "smart ball", which would contain a microchip that would help the referees to make perfect decisions.

Qualification

Teams

The event fields 32 countries vying for football glory. South Africa, being the host of the World cup, gets an automatic qualification for participation in the event. The remaining 31 slots are divided into individual slots for each FIFA confederations and the qualifications for those places are decided through qualification play-offs.

A record 204 countries registered for the qualification event. The qualification rounds started in late 2007 and 34 teams were eliminated after the first round of preliminary play-offs. The remaining teams will go through a string of rounds and the final 31 will be selected in mid 2009.

Brazil, Argentina, France, Italy, Spain, England, Germany, Russia, Netherlands, Portugal, Australia and Korea are some of the teams that are expected to qualify with ease. Italy is the defending champion after having won the last world cup against France.

Players

The 2010 World Cup is expected to be the last event for many football greats like Ronaldinho and Beckham.

Apart from them, many greats and legends like Kaka, Thiery Henry, Michael Ballack, Steven Gerrard, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney among others are set to take part in the event. It will be the first world cup for a few young guns Robinho, Park and others.

2010 World Cup Tickets

World Cup tickets

It has been reported that there has been 1.6 million advance bookings for the tickets at all the world cup matches. This is a record by a long way for a single event.


There is a heavy competition among the locals and the worldwide fans to grab tickets for the world cup. Apart from the official ticket providers FIFA, many other online ticket providers sell tickets for the FIFA world cup. Bidding for tickets have been in progress for months together in online booking centers. Some notable ticket sellers online like Worldticketshop.com have started their sales and bidding process of the world cup tickets. The bidding prices have rocketed up in the site and are all set to reach record heights.

Hotels and Accommodations

The pre-world cup analysis by the South African Football Association reports that approximately eight hundred thousand visitors will visit the stadiums to watch the matches live. Among these, 400,000 are expected to be foreign visitors. Owing to this high expectation, the developments of new hotels in the South African cities have been on the rise since 2007.

The developments have not only been concentrated in the cities that host the matches but also in the cities surrounding the venues. This includes places like Kwa-Zulu Natal, Franschhoek, Knysna, Stellenbosch, Mpumalanga among others. More hotels are being built in tourists locations like Kruger National Park, Plettenberg Bay, Mossel Bay etc.

SEARCH FOR WORLD CUP 2010 HOTELS!

Being one of the most famous sports events after the Olympics, the world cup is set to bring huge revenues for South Africa. The government has been pouring in a lot of money for the internal development along with the development of infrastructure. A lot of importance has been given to the development of security within the country.

Wallpapers

World Cup Wallpapers

Download here!

TV Channel launched football, SA Direct, South Africa, World Cup 2010

Last night I was scanning the Sky channel list looking for something interesting to watch. The listings were bulging with docu-programmes featuring strangers telling each other how to live their lives. Not my cup of tea.

Then I spotted SA Direct (SKY 270). "This is unusual," I thought. "An entire channel devoted to the street thugs instrumental in Hitler's rise to power. Apart from the sheer inappropriateness of the idea, surely this should be on The History Channel alongside Hitler's Bodyguards and Hitler's Sock Darners?"

But the handy information box told a different story. SA Direct is short for Southern Africa Direct, a channel which quickly got to the heart of the matter by promising lots of news and views about next year's World Cup. There is other stuff but I know what I like.

Have a look when you get the chance.

The countdown begins Bafana Bafana, England, football, South Africa, World Cup 2010

The countdown to next year’s World Cup in South Africa starts now. Thanks for joining me on the journey to Soccer City Johannesburg, venue for the final on July 11th 2010.

Incidentally, you’re joining a blogger who compares football-free summers with the scene in Misery where Kathy Bates breaks James Caan’s legs.

I experience similar gut-wrenching pain every two years as the rest of the nation hoorahs its way through the lawn tennis championships and cricket games.

And yes I know we’ve had the Confederations Cup, but it’s just not the same, is it?

Thankfully the football starts again in August, promising much before the international squads muster in May for what is officially known as 2010 FIFA World Cup South AfricaTM.

Here it will be known as World Cup Bafana Bafana 2010. I have decided to do this for two reasons. One, Bafana Bafana or ‘The Boys’ is the nickname of the South African team. Two, I just like it.

That’s enough background. Keep coming back for more on the teams who qualify throughout the summer and autumn. Eventually this blog will include reports, analysis, the World Cup final draw, and lots of other stuff.

World Cup Bafana Bafana 2010 here we come!