The end of Diego Maradona’s tenure at the helm of Argentina’s national team has dealt a hard blow to his fans, even though his performance as coach was a far cry from his genius as a player. According to a report on the IoL site, Maradona accused Argentine soccer chiefs of conspiring to oust him and many fans think he deserved a more dignified exit despite Argentina’s disappointing showing at the World Cup. ’He is an iconic figure and deserved a more graceful farewell,’ said fan Federico Garcia. ’Here in Argentina, we love Maradona. I think the heads of the AFA (Argentine Football Association) kicked him out in a dodgy way.’
Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane has slammed Gavin Hunt, his successor at SuperSport United, with the cutting comment ’we decide who is fit enough to play for the country and not SuperSport’. Mosimane was reacting to a statement credited to Hunt in which the United coach said blossoming Bafana central defender Bongani Khumalo had been ruled out of the friendly match against Ghana at Soccer City on August 11 due to injury. Hunt reportedly added that Khumalo has damaged his ankle ligament and would be out of action for at least two weeks.
Africa is unlikely to host the Olympics for at least 20 years despite the success of the Soccer World Cup in South Africa, which gave rise to hopes the continent might bid to host the Games soon, an IOC official has said. ’There is a huge amount of work to be done besides political desire, hence the experts’ view that any realistic chance for (hosting the) Olympics in Africa is between 2030 and 2040,’ said Nawal El Moutawakel, who chaired the IOC’s co-ordinating committee for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. SPort24 reports that the Moroccan 1984 Los Angeles Olympics 400m hurdles champion also chaired IOC’s coordinating committee for the London 2012 Summer Games.
Carlos Parreira left South Africa on Wednesday at the end of his contract with Bafana Bafana, headed for his home in Rio de Janeiro. Sport24 reports that he had been forced to stay in the country until the end of his deal with the South African Football Association, spending the time after Bafana Bafana’s World Cup elimination to watch the rest of the tournament and do some commercial work for sponsors adidas. He also completed a report that the SAFA chief executive officer Leslie Sedibe had demanded.
Diego Maradona accused Argentine soccer chiefs of betraying him, a day after they voted unanimously to end his tenure as national team coach, notes a report on the IoL site. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) decided not to renew Maradona’s contract following the team’s 4-0 drubbing by Germany in the World Cup quarterfinals. In his first public comments since the defeat, Maradona took aim at AFA President Julio Grondona and the technical director of national teams, Carlos Bilardo.
Pitso Mosimane’s vision of investing in the country’s youth has been backed by the South African Schools Football Association (SASFA). The new Bafana Bafana coach stressed the need for reform upon his appointment as the national team now looks to rebuild ahead of the upcoming African Cup of Nations as well as Brazil 2014. SAFSA general secretary Steve Pila said they wholeheartedly supporting the new Bafana boss.
Diego Maradona’s future as coach of Argentina will be decided at a meeting of football association bosses on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the organisation has said. According to a report on the IoL site, Maradona met the head of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Julio Grondona, for more than two hours to determine whether he continue as coach following Argentina’s 4-0 defeat by Germany in the World Cup quarterfinals. ’They had a long meeting and analysed the current state of the team and his future,’ said AFA spokesperson Ernesto Cherquis Bialo.
France WC exit made Richard Dunne ’laugh’ – 23/07/2010
Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne has expressed his pleasure at France’s shambolic 2010 World Cup exit, notes a BBC News report. ’I didn’t see it but I did laugh,’ said Dunne, whose side were denied a place at the finals by Thierry Henry’s handball in the play-offs. ’If you’re going to cheat to get there, you might as well try when you are out there but they didn’t even do that!’ France endured a terrible tournament in South Africa, failing to win a match and suffering from player unrest.
Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has expressed concern about the outcome of a sex affair involving their star winger Franck Ribery. According to a report on the IoL site, Rummenigge fears that the scandalous surroundings of France’s first round exit at the 2010 World Cup could have a negative impact and that Ribery could be made a scapegoat. ’I believe this is a politically motivated issue because of the bad showing of the French team at the World Cup. Ribery is to be made a scapegoat,’ said Rummenigge.
A South African banking group has offered R7-million for a 2010 World Cup painting with Nelson Mandela’s signature. The Times reports that the artwork was created by South African artist Athol Moult and 32 children from Mvezo, the remote Eastern Cape village where Madiba was born. The entire set of 32 paintings, each consisting of the flags of the countries that participated in the soccer tournament with Mandela’s signature, is expected to fetch more than R50-million.
The FIFA World Cup has earned South Africa ’a lot of respect’, said the Organisation for Co-Operation and Development (OECD). ’This will bring business opportunities and hopefully will open markets,’ the OECD’s secretary-general Angel Gurria told a media briefing. Sport24 reports that he was speaking at the release of the OECD’s first economic survey of South Africa in Pretoria. ’Minister Gordhan has recently confirmed the positive impact which comes from infrastructure construction and the visitors attending the championships,’ Gurria added.
Paul, an octopus living in Germany, successfully predicted the outcome of Germany’s seven games in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and even saw Spain winning it all by outscoring the Netherlands in the final match. He can’t speak (duh), so how he’d do it? He followed his gut. Literally. But, alas, now that the World Cup has wrapped up, Paul can enjoy retirement. Octopuses generally don’t live longer than two years, so he won’t need to worry about angry fans putting a fork in him during the next World Cup.
Spanish crooner Enrique Iglesias said he would fulfill his promise to waterski in the nude after Spain won the football World Cup, notes a report on the IoL site. ’A bet is a bet,’ said his spokesman. No details were given as to when the event was to take place. The 35-year-old singer vowed he would waterski in his birthday suit if La Roja, as the team is called, brought back the cup from South Africa. ’If Spain wins, I’m going to get drunk and ski naked in Biscayne Bay,’ he told the BBC in June after Spain lost 1-0 to Switzerland in the group stage of the World Cup in South Africa.
A Cape Town man found out the hard way that blowing a vuvuzela isn’t always ayoba. Arnold Daniels was fined a R500 for blowing his vuvuzela in Voortrekker Road during the World Cup, notes a report on the IoL site. The unemployed man from Elsies River says he was simply getting into spirit of the World Cup when cops slapped him with the hefty fine last week. ’I was standing outside a shop watching a replay of one of the soccer matches that I missed the day before and I was blowing my vuvuzela in the road,’ he said.
Almost all South Africans watched a 2010 World Cup game on television, a survey has found. Sport24 reports that 26% attended a game at a stadium and 34% went to a fan festival, according to a telephonic Ipsos Markinor poll of 400 South Africans in metropolitan areas, conducted on Monday and Tuesday. The survey found that 85% of respondents had more hope for a happy future for all South Africans after the football tournament than before the tournament.
The Argentine Football Association says it will offer Diego Maradona a new four-year contract that would keep him in charge of the national team through the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, notes a report on the IoL site. Ernesto Cherquis Bialo, said a spokesperson for the association, told reporters that AFA President Julio Grondona would meet next week with Maradona to discuss the offer. This is the strongest indication that Maradona is likely to continue as the coach.
World Cup final referee Howard Webb arrived home in England insisting he had done a tough job in difficult circumstances to the best of his ability, notes a report on the IoL site. The English official has come in for criticism from some quarters, notably from some Dutch players, over his handling of Sunday’s final, one of the dirtiest in the history of the World Cup. He handed out a record 14 yellow cards and sent off Holland’s Everton defender John Heitinga during Spain’s fractious 1-0 win.
Diego Maradona’s doctor said that the Argentina coach was doing well and had not slipped back into using drugs and alcohol since his team was eliminated from the World Cup with a 4-0 loss to Germany in the quarterfinals. Sport24 reports that Dr. Alfredo Cahe said that Maradona was mulling over his choices. Cahe was critical of rumours that the 49-year-old coach, who recently said he has been clean for six years, was severely depressed and using drugs and alcohol again.
Netherlands legend Johan Cruyff has slammed the Dutch team for playing ’anti-football’ in the 2010 World Cup final. Spain emerged victorious in Soccer City on Sunday following a 1-0 win after extra time as Andres Iniesta scored the crucial goal to earn their first ever world title. Sport24 reports that Cruyff was part of the Holland team that was famed for playing ’Total Football’ in the 1970s, but the 63-year-old was highly critical of the ’vulgar’ display at the weekend. The Oranje had a gameplan to unsettle Spain with tough tackles but Bert van Marwijk’s men were lucky not to have more than one player sent off during the 120 minutes.
Tens of thousands of cheering fans turned Madrid’s main streets into a sea of red and waited for hours in blistering heat to see Spain’s World Cup heroes pass by with the trophy on an open-topped bus. The triumphant team who beat The Netherlands in the final in in South Africa flew home on Monday and set off on a tour around the Spanish capital after visiting King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
’You are an example for new generations for your effort and the spirit you showed in overcoming the odds,’ the King said in the Royal Palace.
An email of a story CBS News supposedly published on its website in anticipation of the Netherlands winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup has gone viral. Here is how it goes... The Netherlands defeated Spain by a score of SCORE to SCORE to win its first World Cup title. Even with Spain dominating possession, it was the Netherlands that had the best chance to score after 75 minutes of Sunday’s foul-filled World Cup final.
South Africa has done it. Foreign newspapers, overseas fans, international leaders and even pessimistic locals are now raving about Africa’s first World Cup. Speaking at the 2010 soccer World Cup education summit in Pretoria this weekend, President Jacob Zuma said: ’What an experience it has been for us as a country. Africa will never be the same again after this. We should now be judged on merit. We have proved once and for all that we can organise events of any kind,’ he said.
Spain collected a record $30-million for winning the 2010 World Cup in South Africa: Winners ($30-million - R227m): Spain, Runners-up ($24-million - R181m): Holland, Semi-finalists ($20-million each - R151m each): Germany, Uruguay, Quarter-finalists ($18-million each - R136m each): Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, Paraguay
The World Cup unveiled a new South Africa to the rest of the planet, upending stereotypes and nightmare scenarios about a country that proudly showed off its modern accomplishments. Images of the world’s best footballers, ecstatic fans and top stadiums ruled headlines usually clouded by South Africa’s painful apartheid divisions and staggering crime and poverty that still afflict millions.
The first World Cup on African soil has also rubbed off on the rest of the continent, often written off in shades of despair, as 17 states mark 50 years of independence from European colonial powers.
Former president Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel put in a brief appearance at Soccer City stadium for the closing ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Sunday night. Mandela, warmly dressed in a black overcoat, gloves and fur hat, waved and smiled as he was greeted with a standing ovation from the 95 000-strong crowd. The frail anti-apartheid icon who turns 92 this week and was wheeled into the stadium in a golf cart, left after a few minutes to watch the final from home.
Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk criticised English referee Howard Webb after his side were beaten 1-0 by Spain in the World Cup final.
The match was marred by constant foul play which led Webb to book 13 players including the dismissal of Dutchman Johnny Heitinga for two yellow cards.
’I don’t think the referee controlled the match well,’ said Van Marwijk.
’Both sides committed fouls. That may be regrettable for a final. But the best team won the match.’
After the accurate prediction of the semi finals now Paul The Psychic Oracle Octopus gets ready to predict the World Cup 2010 final match which is on Sunday between Spain Vs Holland, notes a report in The Globe and Mail. William Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe said, ’Punters are keen to keep on the right side of Paul’s tips, so we are giving them the chance to bet that he’ll pick the winner before they even know which side he has opted for.’ But as of now Paul the octopus managed to maintain accurate predictions ’only’ with German matches.
After the accurate prediction of the semi finals now Paul The Psychic Oracle Octopus gets ready to predict the World Cup 2010 final match which is on Sunday between Spain Vs Holland, notes a report in The Globe and Mail. William Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe said, ’Punters are keen to keep on the right side of Paul’s tips, so we are giving them the chance to bet that he’ll pick the winner before they even know which side he has opted for.’ But as of now Paul the octopus managed to maintain accurate predictions ’only’ with German matches.
Vuvuzelas are entitled to a fair hearing, but not in court, a magistrate in one of Cape Town’s special World Cup courts has decided. According to a report in The Witness, as a prosecutor explained that a man charged with making a bomb threat had secured an advocate to defend his case, Regional Magistrate Deon Oosthuysen asked court orderlies to shut the windows to keep out the drone of the vuvuzelas.
After a hugely disappointing 2010 World Cup, England striker Wayne Rooney is unlikely to be cheered by his latest accolade: ugliest footballer on the planet, notes a report on the IoL site. The Manchester United goal machine, who flopped after being hyped as a potential superstar in South Africa, heads the list of unattractive players on dating website BeautifulPeople.com. Most beautiful, according to online voters subscribing to the site, are Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro, Fernando Torres and David Villa of Spain, US mainstay Landon Donavan and France’s Thierry Henry.
