Soccer By Ives

2010 World Cup jeopardized as stadium workers strike in South Africa

 

Stadium construction workers in South Africa have gone on strike, thus jeopardizing the completion of venues for the 2010 World Cup.

What does this mean? Should we be worried? Is Sepp Blatter ringing Sunil Gulati on speed-dial and praying for USA 2010? Okay, so maybe that's a pipe dream, but this news certainly doesn't bode well for South Africa's World Cup.

What do you think of this news? Think the strike will be resolved quickly? Are you hoping the World Cup is moved out of South Africa, or are you looking forward to the tournament being there and having the chance to go to Africa?

Share your thoughts below.

World Cup 2010 update

BY DYLAN BUTLER

Dr. Danny Jordaan, the CEO of the Local Organizing Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, held a press briefing at the South African Consulate General in Manhattan Friday afternoon to give an update on South Africa's preparation for next year's competition.

Here are a few tidbits from Jordaan's presentation.

* The United States leads all countries (outside of the host nation) in ticket sales, thus far, with 93,300.

* There have been 1.8 million ticket requests from 205 countries.

* Some 415,000 jobs will be created in South Africa, including 20,000 on stadium construction.

* 65 percent of the tickets (400,000 in total) for next month's Confederations Cup has been sold.

Busy qualifying weekend for MLS players

                                                    Photo by ISIphotos.com

Open tryouts won't be necessary at BMO Field this week with Toronto FC only missing two players to World Cup qualifiers this time around. But it will indeed be a busy weekend for several of the league's players who will represent their countries at World Cup qualifiers.

Here is a quick look around the league at who will be on international duty. This information will be helpful if you are, like me, an MLS fantasy league player.

Mexico vs. Costa Rica, the bizarro qualifier

                                                                      Photo by ISIphotos.com

BY DYLAN BUTLER

Estadio Azteca has been a fortress for the Mexican National Team, but El Tricolor is the side heading into Saturday's World Cup qualifier desperate for a win, while visiting Costa Rica has scored 22 goals in seven straight wins and is confident it can pull off another upset in Mexico City. No doubt manager Rodrigo Kenton will be showing the squad a DVD of the Ticos monumental 2-1 win there on June 17, 2001.

Is this the bizarro qualifier? Mexico heads home winless in four straight qualifiers and will be without captain Rafael Marquez, who is serving a two-game ban following a red card against the U.S. in a 2-0 loss at Crew Stadium last month in the first game of the final Hexagonal stage.

While a 5-1 win against Bolivia two weeks ago provided a brief respite, or some would even say a stay of execution for manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, it seems Mexico's problems go even deeper than a string of bad results.

Afternoon Ticker: Simek set to return, Toni to miss Bayern match and 2010 World Cup tickets go on sale

 

                                              Photo by ISIphotos.com

As far as U.S. national team players go, few have had a rougher go of things over the past year than Frank Simek.

After multiple ankle surgeries cost him most of 2008, and a hamstring injury cut short his initial return from that ordeal, Simek is healthy and ready to return to the field for Sheffield Wednesday.

Simek played 70 minutes in a Sheffield Wednesday reserve team match and is expected to be in the lineup when Wednesday takes on Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Here are some other soccer stories from Friday:

Donovan could get call with Toni out

Italian striker Luca Toni will miss Bayern Munich's match against FC Cologneon Saturday, paving the way for the possibility of Landon Donovan earning the start for Bayern.

Bayern could also start out-of-favor striker Lukasz Podolski, with the team's other starting forward, Miroslave Klose, nursing a knee injury.

There are just five matches remaining in Donovan's loan move with Bayern, including two Champions League matches against Sporting Lisbon.

2010 World Cup tickets go on sale

The 2010 World Cup is still 16 months away but the process to buy tickets has already begun.

FIFA has announced the start of the ticket application process. Here are some notes to consider:

Tickets are limited to four per person, per match, for a maximum of seven matches.

The application deadline for tickets is March 31st, with the random draw for tickets being held on April 15th.

The most expensive tickets for the opening match are $450. For the final: $900. At least before Jack Warner gets to them (Kidding Jack, just kidding).

For more information on applying for tickets, go here.

News and Notes

Liverpool will be without Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso for its match vs. Manchester City on Sunday. ... Inter Milan has joined the race to sign Carlos Tevez away from Manchester United (OrJose Mourinho is trying to play mind games for their Champions League clash).

What do you think of these stories? Happy to hear that Simek is back? Think Donovan will make the most of his opportunity this weekend? Have you already applied for World Cup tickets?

Share your thoughts below.

World Cup 2010 Update

World Cup chief organizer Danny Jordaan met with media in New York City on Thursday afternoon to discuss the progress of the 2010 World Cup. I was at the event (which explains the lack of posts this afternoon) and have these nuggets to pass along.

• The 2010 World Cup will be in South Africa and any suggestions or notions that it will be moved at this point are way off.
• US Soccer president Sunil Gulati stated today that U.S. soccer is in the process of preparing to bid on A World Cup. He stated it could be 2018 or 2022, depending on how FIFA is ultimately going to handle the rotation and bidding process.
• Jordaan revealed that the South African government has begun preliminary work with the American government on a project to try and bring 10,000 U.S. soccer fans to the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. It's an ambitious project aimed at trying to expose American fans to South Africa ahead of the 2010 World Cup. I will try to flush out more details on what exactly this project would entail.
• Participating World Cup nations will now receive 12 percent of ticket allocations for matches it participates in. That is a significant increase from the eight percent allocated to participating teams in the 2006 World Cup. In short. U.S. Soccer will have control of more match tickets the U.S. national team plays in (yes, assuming the United States qualifies).

These are just some of the tidbits that stood out from today's meeting. Some of this info has probably already been out there, but I wanted to pass it along for those of you who may not have been aware.

What do you think of these developments? Share your thoughts below.