Group Fixture of FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa

Bafana's final training camp squad

Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira announced a 29-man squad on Friday for South Africa's final training camp before the 2010 Fifa World Cup™. It's the clearest indication yet of what the final 23-man selection will look like.

The training camp, which starts on 5 May, is the fourth in a series of World Cup camps and it will culminate in the naming of the World Cup line-up only 10 days before the tournament gets under way.

Parreira says he has chosen 29 players because he is uncertain when players based overseas will arrive for the camp. "We have already scheduled two matches for the 16th and 24th of May, so we need at least 18 players for those matches," he explained to Safa.net.

Having featured two very different groups of players in the last two camps, Parreira admits it will be a challenge to get the players to work together.

I will be fit for the World Cup, insists France defender William Gallas

Arsenal's France defender William Gallas has insisted he will recover from a calf injury in time for next month's World Cup.

Gallas picked up the injury in the Champions League quarter-final first leg game against Barcelona in March, with coach Arsène Wenger saying at the time that Gallas's season with the club was over.

"I will be ready for France," Gallas told French daily Le Parisien. "Had it not been possible to recover I would have pulled out. Right now, I feel good and ready for France."

France were drawn with hosts South Africa, Mexico and Uruguay in Group A. Coach Raymond Domenech will unveil his 23-man squad next week.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa In Stores Now

Avid football fans can pick up EA Sports’ 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa of store shelves from today, as excitement for the real event increases daily.

Fans can unlock up to eight new celebrations through EA Sports and Coca Cola channels; these sport dynamic camera angles that apparently “deliver the emotion of each goal scored”. EA have also assembled a Classic 11 team that includes star striker Roger Milla of Cameroon, who scored four goals in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and in 1994, at the age of 42, became the oldest player to play in the tournament.

New players to FIFA, or those who tend to kick the ball in the wrong direction (such as myself), can utilise the new Two-Button control scheme, which allows gamers to pass and shoot with relative ease. I’m more of a rugby person myself; my full-contact FIFA strategy will win me a match someday…

Gareth Bale and Tottenham slice through Chelsea's title pretensions

Before kick-off, it was easy to poke fun at the eternally optimistic Tottenham supporter who laid a heavy sum on his team to beat Arsenal, and Manchester United at odds of 40-1. Well, well, well. One thing is sure, Carlo Ancelotti will be desperate for Spurs to put in such a sparkling performance next weekend at Old Trafford.Harry Redknapp's team are suddenly surfing atop a wave of adrenalin and excitement, and two outstanding results have bounced them back into a Champions League position. Chelsea departed White Hart Lane with their momentum battered and their egos bruised. Their lead at theb summit has been trimmed to a point, and a goal difference only three better than the scrapping, lurking, defending champions.

Manchester City 0-1 Manchester United - Match Report

Manchester United kept their Premier League title hopes alive as Paul Scholes headed home a dramatic last-gasp winner to secure a 1-0 derby victory over City at Eastlands.

Patrice Evra's left-wing cross was headed past Shay Given by veteran Scholes with less than a minute of the allotted three minutes of added time to play.

Referee Martin Atkinson, who had taken charge of the reverse fixture at Old Trafford last September and controversially played over six minutes of added time when only four were indicated by fourth official Alan Wiley, was a late replacement for Steve Bennett after Bennett found himself marooned in Romania at a referee's conference after the Icelandic volcanic eruption disrupted European air traffic.

English Premier League: Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur Live Score

Watch Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea Live:English Premier League Saturday, April 17, 18:30 CET – Information of the match between Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea kickoff and schedule TV on Saturday, April 17, 18:30 CET live at White Hart Lane in the English Premier League.

Tottenham will come into this game high on confidence after winning their first North London derby against Arsenal on Wednesday.

Wilson Palacios is out, serving the last of his two-match suspension while Croatian midfielder Nico Kranjcar has been ruled out for the season with an ankle injury. Winger Aaron Lennon picked up a groin injury in training last week and is also sidelined. The England winger came out and said and declared himself “fit” for the tie, but manager Harry Redknapp has confirmed that he will not play on Saturday.

Ledley King is mostly out with a knee injury, while Jermaine Jenas has been ruled out due to an illness.

Right-back Vedran Corluka is a major doubt while midweek wonderboy Danny Rose will also miss the game and is likely to be replaced by David Bentley.

World Cup 2010: 100,000 Tickets Sold Within 24 Hours In Over-The-Counter Sales

Tickets continue to go like hot cakes in South African general sale phase.The demand for tickets around the 2010 FIFA World Cup host country of South Africa continues to grow as the fifth and last sales phase enters its second day.

The first 24 hours saw a total of just over 100,000 tickets sold as thousands upon thousands of football fans queued at the 11 ticketing centres in host cities and the 600 FNB branches nationwide.

“We are very pleased with the interest and with the latest figures,” emphasised Horst R. Schmidt, chairman of the FIFA Ticketing Sub-Committee in a statement.

As of noon today, tickets for a number of knockout stage matches, including three Round of 16 games, one quarter-final and the third and fourth place play-off, as well as 28 group games, were still available.

Due to the high demand, seats for a total of 29 matches are no longer available (including the final, the two semi-finals and the opening game as well as all games in Durban and Cape Town).

Tickets for these games might still come back - but only in small quantities - to the public sales in the future, according to the press release.

More local artists for World Cup concert

Football authority Fifa and the South African music industry seem to have ironed out their differences over the inclusion of local artists in a pre-World Cup concert to be held in Soweto on 10 June.

Several local artists were up in arms over what they call an overseas dominated line-up in the concert organised by Fifa.

The concert, a day ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup™ opening ceremony, will feature international stars such as Alicia Keys, Angélique Kidjo, Black Eyed Peas, BLK JKS, John Legend, Juanes and Shakira.

SA Music Promoters Association

But, after a meeting on Tuesday between Arts and Culture Minister Lulu Xingwana and the organising committee board headed by Danny Jordaan, the parties agreed on the inclusion of additional South African artists in the line-up for the concert.

Arts and Culture spokesperson Lisa Combrinck confirmed to BuaNews on Wednesday that Fifa was part of the agreement to include more local artists in the list of performers.

She said a representative of Fifa was flown in from Zurich to sit in the meeting, also attended by the South African Music Promoters Association (SAMPA) and the Communication Workers Union of SA (CWUSA).

Part of the agreement is that SAMPA would work together with the Los Angeles-based Control Room, a company that is staging the concert, to satisfy local concerns. SAMPA would have a line of communication with Control Room.

45 days to go

45days to go
There are 55 associations in the Confederation of African Football but this summer is the first time one of those associations has staged the world's top tournament.

South Africa will be the first African country to stage a FIFA World Cup™ when they kick off the tournament against Mexico in Johannesburg on 11 June. The hosts face a tough test on home ground with previous FIFA World Cup winners' France and Uruguay rounding off their group. This will be Bafana Bafanas third FIFA World Cup appearance.

'Lionel Messi makes fool of Cristiano Ronaldo' – Spain press verdict

"Leo makes a fool of Cristiano in the clash of the stars" was the headline in the Catalan daily Sport after the Argentinian had followed up his four-goal demolition of Arsenal in midweek with the crucial opening goal for Barça against their biggest rivals.

By contrast Real's Ronaldo, Messi's predecessor as world player of the year, could only manage a couple of shots and a small array of stepovers and flicks.

Angry Madrid supporters also whistled the Portuguese late in the match, suggesting they have yet to be convinced he is worth the record €94m (£82m) Real paid Manchester United for him last summer. "Too much Messi for CR9," was the headline in today's Madrid-based Marca sports daily.

Barça's 2-0 victory put the champions three points clear at the top of La leage with seven games to go.

"All the fans have the same feeling right now: the sceptre for the best player in the world is Messi's – and it could be for a long time to come," the Marca columnist Roberto Palomar wrote, reflecting on the fact that Real could now finish the season without a trophy.

The 22-year-old Messi is La Liga's top scorer with 27 goals to Ronaldo's 18.

Sport trumpeted Messi's superiority. "Lionel Messi showed yesterday in the Bernabéu that the second-best player in the world is light years from his level," the paper said. "As Leo was attempting to add to his goal tally, Cristiano was lost on the pitch, making pointless runs and expressing his rage with angry, excessive gestures.

"Ronaldo had to resign himself to the fact that his reign in the football world has ended and that's that."

However, writing in As today, JJ Santos noted that Ronaldo's runs on Saturday had been generally ineffective and had left the 25-year-old exhausted.

"Cristiano turned into a roadrunner chasing shadows," Santos said. "By the time he found space and had the ball he was already exhausted and had to watch in despair as a genius like Messi destroyed Pellegrini's defensive network.

"And even harder to take than the defeat must have been the fact that the fans whistled him for the first time."

Palomar noted in Marca: "He ran, he used up all his fuel, but he was isolated and erratic. He tried from all directions but scarcely had chances to test Valdes, at whom he fired off only a couple of shots that didn't even warm the goalkeeper's hands."

FIFA world cup Africa 2010 Tickets

550,000 tickets are now on sale over the counter at 600 branches of First National Bank and at the eleven ticketing centres in the nine host cities in South Africa. If you haven't yet got your ticket, you better hurry and get in line as they are expected to sell fast.

2010: home away from home

An Italy fan supports her team in South Africa during the 2009
Fifa Confederati Fifa ons Cup

A number of prominent European communities within South Africa – in particular the Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, English and Greek communities – plan to give their teams a welcome that will make them feel right at home during the 2010 Fifa World Cup™.

Since the announcement of the base camps for the 32 teams taking part in the competition, fans of Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands are pleased that their national teams will be based in Gauteng province, which includes the host cities of Tshwane/Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Italy

Members of local Italian community – whose team will be practicing at Southdowns College in the Tshwane/Pretoria area – are ecstatic at the fact that their heroes will be based in the area.

"This is great news for Azzurri supporters, as we will be able to follow the team training sessions, and they will feel our support," said Andrea Lazzari, a student at the University of Johannesburg. "The training ground is only half an hour's drive from my house, so it will be my second home during the tournament. We are the current champions, and we can win it again in South Africa."

Secretary Jessica Santorello is preparing to welcome her heroes by gathering friends and family to watch the Azzurri train. "I am planning to start a Facebook group to get all my supporter friends ready and update them on all the news," Santorello said.

"I am so glad Cannavaro and the team will be at Southdowns again, it is a great place for them to train, and because of the Confederations Cup I know the place and I can show my friends how to get there."

Final / Last-minute sales phase

The Soweto township in Johannesburg gained international notoriety during South Africa’s struggle against apartheid. However today, Soweto was the perfect backdrop for the launch of the 2010 FIFA World South Africa™ Ticket.

The recently-launched Ticket will be available in a week’s time when the fifth and the last ticketing sales phase kicks-off on 15 April. About 500,000 tickets will be available for a total of 63 out of the 64 FIFA World Cup matches. The ticket has unique features and a barcode. It also contains information about the venue, the match number, match date, seat category, kick-off time, price, fixture, name of the applicant, colour sector and seat location.

Thami Segrotho, who hails from Soweto, was among the first to see the new ticket at the launch at Maponya Mall. Clearly impressed, he has now vowed to be among the first ones to get their hands on the ticket when it is made available to the general public next week.

He plans to use the over-the-counter sales initiative that will commence in South Africa next week. This will take place in all the nine host cities around the host country. South African residents can also purchase the tickets at the FNB branches and selected Shoprite/Checkers stores.

For the global audience, however, the system will remain the same. Fans will have to log on to FIFA.com to purchase a ticket. Segrotho did not buy a ticket in any of the last four phase and is therefore enthusiastic about being afforded yet another opportunity to purchase a ticket.

Hat-trick hero Messi stars again

Lionel Messi hit a second successive La Liga hat-trick, and his eighth goal in a week, as the magical Argentine inspired Barcelona to a 4-2 win at Real Zaragoza on Sunday.

Messi has now scored eleven of Barcelona's last 14 goals, virtually single-handedly keeping the champions neck-and-neck with Real Madrid at the top of the table. It was his fifth career hat-trick for Barcelona, and followed his triple in the 3-0 win over Valencia last weekend, and double strike in the 4-0 midweek win over Stuttgart which ensured a spot in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

Barcelona, needing a victory to stay level with Real Madrid, who beat Sporting Gijon 3-1 on Saturday, got off to the perfect start with Messi heading them in front after four minutes. Barcelona had to wait until midway through the second half for a second goal when Messi went on mazy run, beating two players before finishing clinically.

He added a third before substitute Adrian Colunga brought Zaragoza briefly back into the match with a brace. Messi though was proving unstoppable and he forced a penalty which Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted in injury time.

"Messi did well, I'll leave it for others to find the adjectives to describe him," said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola. Guardiola gave his backing to Ibrahimovic, who has been struggling in front of goal.

Obama would attend USA final

USA President Barack Obama would head to South Africa to cheer for the US football team if they reach the FIFA World Cup™ final later this year, the South African foreign minister said Wednesday.

"I remember him saying that he would maybe consider coming if the American team goes to the quarter-finals, might come if they reach the semi-finals, and will come to the finals," said Maite Nkoana-Mashabane after a meeting with her US counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Obama made his promise at a bilateral meeting with South African President Jacob Zuma on Sunday on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in Washington. "I'm a witness," Clinton confirmed with a laugh.

Nkoana-Mashabane said she hoped for a final between the US team and the South African national team, Bafana Bafana.

The US is in Group C with England, Slovenia and Algeria. The 2010 tournament will mark the country's ninth run at the FIFA World Cup. It's best showing was third place at the inaugural finals in 1930.

Will Messi be the greatest ever?

There is no question that Lionel Messi has been sending seismic waves through Planet Football with his stellar performances of late and many have begun the discussion of where he belongs in the game’s pantheon of greats and whether the Argentina and Barcelona maestro has what it takes to someday be considered the best ever.

Messi is still just 22 years old - he will turn 23 two days after Argentina open Group B at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ against Nigeria - but such have been the manner of his goals and performances with Barça over the last two years that he is now seen as the heir of Pele, Diego, Johan, et al.

FIFA.com wants to know what you think. Will the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup champion and 2008 Olympic Football Tournament Gold Medal-winner be the greatest ever? Impossible to say? Or no way, he’s not that good yet?

Simply click ‘Add your comment’ to join the discussion, remembering to keep your comments clean, respectful, on-topic and in English.

FIFA World Cup: 2.2m tickets sold, 500 000 still available

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is slowly but surely edging closer to a full stadium syndrome, with 2.2 million tickets sold so far. The remaining 500 000 tickets will go on sale on 15 April 2010 during the last ticket sale phase, which includes over-the-counter sales at designated FIFA ticketing centres nationwide, the organisers announced today, Friday, 9 April.

Two million tickets sold for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™

After three of five ticketing sales phases for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa, two-thirds of the available tickets have been sold.

The third ticketing sales phase, which will conclude with a random draw for oversubscribed matches on 1 February, saw a total of 1,206,865 applications received from 192 countries. Six matches are currently oversubscribed (in all categories), among them the semi-finals and the final. In total, 55 matches are oversubscribed in at least one category.

There was huge interest from South African residents, who accounted for 79 per cent of the total applications received (958,381) in this phase. This represents an increase of 24.9 per cent in applications from South African residents in the third sales phase when compared to the earlier ticketing stages.

Apart from the host country, the USA led the ticketing standings for the third phase with 50,217 applications, followed by the UK (41,529), Australia (15,523), Mexico (14,804), Germany (14,647) and Brazil (10,767). Increased interest was also noted in the neighbouring countries of South Africa – Botswana leading with 2,519 ticket applications, followed by Mozambique (1,795) and Namibia (1,191).

The next ticketing sales phase will start on 9 February 2010 and end on 7 April 2010. During these 58 days, more than 400,000 tickets will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis via www.fifa.com/2010 or in FNB branches (in South Africa only).

From 15 April 2010 onwards, ticketing centres will be open in each host city (with two in Johannesburg) where fans will be able to buy tickets over the counter and also collect their confirmed tickets.

To further enhance the service, ticketing call centres will be open during the fourth sales phase – both internationally and in the host country. The call centres will assist fans with enquiries and applications. The hotline number for international customers is 0041445832010, and for domestic customers 0831232010.

Mbombela Stadium finally boasts a green, world-class pitch

It’s been a rocky, dusty road, but the Mbombela Stadium finally boasts a lush, green world-class pitch that’s sure to do the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ justice.Having twice needed to dig up inadequate pitches at the stadium in the last year, it was a case of third time lucky as the new pitch laid a week ago – using only rye grass - germinated well, to the relief and delight of the city’s World Cup organisers.When local and international journalists visited the Mbombela Stadium two weeks ago as part of the ‘100 Days to the 2010 FIFA World Cup’ countdown,

they were stunned to see a patch of dry sand - instead of a pitch - at the stadium that will host four first round FIFA World Cup™ matches in three months time.But this week it was a different story, with the stadium sporting lush green turf that would be the envy of any stadium around the world.

“We laid the new pitch last Friday, using rye grass completely, and by Wednesday it was germinating well. We’ve had our challenges, but we’re delighted that we now have a great pitch, which come the tournament will be amongst the best in the world,” said the Mbombela Municipality’s 2010 co-ordinator Differ Mogale today.

He said the municipality and stadium authorities were very appreciative of the efforts of FIFA pitch consultant Richard Hayden, who personally oversaw the most recent efforts to iron out the stadium’s pitch problems.

“In the past we relied on pitch consultants, but rather than simply making recommendations Richard Hayden and his team have been personally on-site with us every day over the last few weeks, getting onto tractors and showing our team just what needed to be done,” said Mogale.

“We’re very happy with the results, with the province’s Premier (David Mabuza) even popping into the stadium this week to see the progress for himself. We’ll now give the pitch a few weeks to strengthen and while it should be fine to play on in the next six weeks, we will wait until after the first week of May to stage our first high-level test event at the stadium,” Mogale added.

Hayden had said "great pitches", not merely good pitches, were needed for the World Cup and the decision was therefore taken to lay the new Mbombela pitch last week – a decision which has now borne fruit.

Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa, Dr Danny Jordaan, said he was very happy that the Mbombela Municipality had been able to solve its pitch problems.