Personal predictions and expectations for the 2014 World Cup
Are you excited for the 2014 World Cup yet? I am. The qualifying started in June 2011, a full three years before the actual event. The teams in South America and Europe will start their long qualification runs later this year and selection of the final 32 spots will be made by November 2013. I look at this as more than just a soccer event, however. What are some things that are going to happen? 1. Overall FIFA dislike We will certainly see local vendors and event sponsors get frustrated with FIFA once they learn how restrictive the rules are. Trying to make a buck without FIFA’s...
Read MoreIs South Africa ready for the World Cup?
News sources are reporting that a 50-person delegation from FIFA toured the various facilities under construction in South Africa late last month and found everything going very well and all major venue construction projects on schedule to be done by the end of 2009. That’s five stadiums: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (Port Elizabeth), Moses Mabhida Stadium (Durban), Mbombela Stadium (Nelspruit), Peter Mokaba Stadium (Polokwane), and Soccer City Stadium (Johannesburg). In addition, the FIFA team inspected team hotels and training sites and, as Ron DelMont, head of FIFA’s South Africa...
Read MoreShould FIFA ban the Vuvuzela from World Cup 2010?
If you’ve watched the terrific Confederations Cup — and especially its thrilling USA:Brazil ending! — then you can’t have helped hearing the South African fans making noise with their traditional instruments of football mayhem, the vuvuzela. They look like this: A half-dozen fans having one of these, or even a lot of fans who blow on them to celebrate a goal or terrific defensively play is one thing, but as those of us that watched the FIFA Confederations Cup learned, the practice in South Africa seems to be to keep a continuous drone of vuvuzela going throughout...
Read More500 days until the 2010 World Cup kick-off
Image by ifijay via Flickr To host or not to host – that is not the question any longer. It is less than 500 days until the 2010 World Cup starts. There were many reasons for and against the World Cup in South Africa. The FIFA acknowledged the huge soccer enthusiasm in Africa. Many of the great players in the top leagues in Europe are from Africa. The World Cup was traditionally hosted in Europe and South America. Now North America and Asia have hosted the event as well. Quite simply: It is Africa’s turn. South Africa seemed to be best able to organize the event and build the...
Read More
Recent Comments