A-Z of the 2010 World Cup!

Cape Town Fan Walk

A is for Ayoba! Thanks South Africa for mak­ing it Ayoba! (Uniquely South African, Ayoba is a slang term used to express delight, excite­ment, agree­ment and approval)

B is for Brazil. We’ll see you there for the World Cup in 2014 – with our Vuvuzelas!.

C is for the Cape Town Fan Walk, a 2.6 km ped­es­trian link from the sta­tion through to Somerset Road and the Stadium Forecourt within the Green Point Urban Park. Fans and Capetonians alike took to doing the “Fan Walk” in their thou­sands … and a mem­or­able time was had by all ... Continued

World Cup News — the Final 2

Carles Puyol

Puyol powers Spain into final
Spain qual­i­fied for their first World Cup final when they defeated Germany 1–0 in a tense encounter at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban yes­ter­day even­ing. A 73^rd minute header from defender Carles Puyol (pic­tured) was enough to pro­pel ‘La Roja’ into Sunday’s final against Holland at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

Vicente del Bosque’s second ranked side dom­in­ated the match but battled to fin­ish off a German team lack­ing their usual pace until Puyol struck the decis­ive blow 17 minutes from the end. “Players from defence to attack were extraordin­ary and played a great game,” said Spain coach del Bosque. Continued

World Cup News — The final four

David Villa

Villa puts shaky Spain into last four
Second ranked Spain over­came a determ­ined chal­lenge from 31^st ranked Paraguay to pro­gress to the semi-finals of the 2010 Fifa World Cup with a nar­row 1–0 vic­tory over the South Americans at Ellis Park on Saturday. It was the first time that Spain have reached the last four of the World Cup since 1950.

In a match of high drama in which both sides squandered pen­alty kicks, Spain once agained relied on the goal-scoring prowess of striker David Villa (pic­tured) to secure vic­tory. The 28-year-old Villa scored his fifth goal of the tour­na­ment in the 83^rd minute to book his side a place in the semi-finals and give them a chance of win­ning the World Cup for the first time ever. Continued

Latest World Cup News — the last eight

David Villa

Lethal Villa puts Spain into last eight
A 63^rd minute strike by striker David Villa (pic­tured) was suf­fi­cient to earn Spain a 1–0 vic­tory over neigh­bours Portugal and a World Cup quarter-final berth after an intriguing match at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town yes­ter­day. Villa scored the win­ner when he stabbed the ball into the net after his first shot was blocked by Portugal ‘keeper Eduardo.

“We felt com­fort­able but you have to be care­ful because things can change quickly,” said Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque. “We know we’re work­ing well, we want to cre­ate a bit of his­tory,” he added. Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz remarked: “Spain were much more effect­ive mov­ing the ball around. We were look­ing for chances on the counter-attack. We had our chances – we just didn’t score. We’ll have to come back stronger.” Continued

Events in July — Plenty to keep you busy after the World Cup

2010 World Cup

It is almost July and while South Africa is pump­ing with the World Cup and all of its related activ­it­ies, fan parks and excite­ment, the rest of the coun­try hasn’t gone to sleep. South Africa will be buzz­ing with a num­ber of annual events and fest­ivals in July and once again we’re here to let you know what and where they are ...

First of all, we're sure you don't need remind­ing about the World Cup final match — but just in case, it takes place on Sunday 11 July at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg. The match kicks off at 20h30, so book your seat in front of the tele­vi­sion now if you haven't been for­tu­nate enough to secure a ticket to what should be an excit­ing finale to the 2010 World Cup in our beau­ti­ful coun­try. Continued

Latest Results from the World Cup

Carlos Tevez

Argentina cruise into quarter-finals
Carlos Tevez (pic­tured) scored two goals for Diego Maradonna’s Argentina as the South Americans defeated Mexico 3–1 in their World Cup second round match at Soccer City yes­ter­day. Argentina’s win set up a rematch of their 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals with Germany who out­classed England earlier in the day.

However, although Argentina argu­ably deserved their vic­tory, the match was not without con­tro­versy. Tevez’s 26^th minute opener should not have coun­ted as tele­vi­sion replays showed he was well off­side. Continued

My World Cup experience ...

My World Cup ...

Now I’m not sure about you, but soc­cer fever has cer­tainly hit me in a big way. I have never been a big soc­cer fan and tend to favour the rugby, how­ever, from the first moments of the 2010 World Cup open­ing cere­mony I knew I was hooked.

South Africa is united and although we haven’t gone through to the next round the vibe every­where is tan­gible, elec­tric and abso­lutely addict­ive. I had luck­ily man­aged to pur­chase tick­ets for one game in Cape Town and am extremely dis­ap­poin­ted I didn’t get my act together quicker and buy more tick­ets ... Continued

Latest World Cup news and results

Shinji Okazaki

Japan too good for sub par Denmark
Japan booked their place in the knock­out stages of the World Cup when they defeated an out of sorts Denmark 3–1 in their final Group E fix­ture at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg last night. Two well-struck goals from free kicks by Keisuke Honda, after 17 minutes, and Yasuhito Endo on 30 minutes, gave the Asians a 2–0 half­time lead.

The Danes pulled a goal back nine minutes from time when Japanese ‘keeper Eiji Kawashima blocked a Jon Dahl Tomasson pen­alty only for the Danish for­ward to score from the rebound. Shinji Okazaki (pic­tured) net­ted a third goal three minutes from time to give Japan their hand­some vic­tory. They are now the second Asian team after South Korea to qual­ify for the last 16 and will meet Paraguay in Pretoria on Tuesday. Continued

Fee-Fa-Fo-Fum at Evita se Perron in Darling

For some­thing a little dif­fer­ent and just a short drive from Cape Town why not head into Darling to catch Fee-Fa-Fo-Fum a new pro­duc­tion from Pieter-Dirk Uys at Evita se Perron. The show began its run on 16 June and will con­tinue until 8 July 2010.

Mrs Evita Bezuidenhout has declared Evita se Perron a SoccerfreeZone and although the s-word will not be men­tioned there is guar­an­teed laughter to be had. The show will be a selec­tion of com­edy sketches as only Pieter-Dirk Uys knows how. If you remem­ber the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk you may recall the words “Fee-fie-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman”, now this is what inspired the show.

It all begins with the story of Bafana and Sepp the Giant as well as an assort­ment of char­ac­ters which include General Montgomery who is try­ing to cre­ate a plan to cap­ture the Stadium on the Green Point Common… did I men­tion that this is a SoccerfreeZone? Continued

International Fans having a Blast in South Africa

Fans have a blast

International vis­it­ors to South Africa, here to sup­port their teams in the 2010 Fifa World Cup, say they are hav­ing a blast. By the end of week one many for­eign vis­it­ors had hailed Africa’s first World Cup as one of the most vibrant. “The German World Cup was very excit­ing for us but South Africa has a dif­fer­ent vibe alto­gether,” said Philip Friedrich from Germany.

“South Africans are very friendly people and they know how to have fun. I’ve never danced and sang so much before, dur­ing, and after a game. When those vuvuzelas start blow­ing you can’t help but feel the spirit of Africa mov­ing you.” With his friends, Friedrich is fol­low­ing their team around the coun­try. They are cur­rently stay­ing at a bread and break­fast in Durban and atten­ded the Germany-Australia game at the city’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on 13 June, where the Germans beat Australia 4–0. Continued

Bafana Bafana are out of World Cup but win the hearts and minds of all South Africans ...

Bafana Bafana are out of the World Cup but they won the hearts and minds of all South Africans and the whole world tonight, says 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee boss Danny Jordaan. Jordaan said the boys in green and yel­low played with pride, pas­sion, skill and com­mit­ment, when they took on former world cham­pi­ons France in their final group stage match which ended 2–1 in their favour at the Mangaung Stadium in Bloemfontein.

Although South Africa won the match, it was not enough for the host nation to pro­gress past the group stage of the tour­na­ment. "Yes, they did not make it past the group stage but they did what the coun­try asked of them. They did the national team jer­sey and every single South African proud and we want to thank them for what they've done for this coun­try," he said. Continued

Monday Morning 2010 World Cup News

Vincenzo Iaquinta

Draw leaves Italy in danger of early exit
New Zealand pro­duced a spir­ited and determ­ined per­form­ance when they held defend­ing cham­pi­ons Italy to a 1–1 draw in an enthralling World Cup Group F encounter at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Sunday. The res­ult leaves the fifth ranked Azzurri with a lot to do to make it through to the knock­out stages after they drew their open­ing match (also 1–1) with Paraguay a week ago.

Shane Smeltz stunned Italy early on when he found the back of the net in the sev­enth minute. His goal ori­gin­ated from New Zealand’s first attack of the match after Simon Elliot lof­ted a long free kick in from the left towards the back post. The ball floated over the heads of the Azzurri defend­ers and bounced off Fabio Cannavaro’s knee, leav­ing Smeltz free to stab the ball home from inside the six-yard box. Continued

Lastest World Cup Results and News ...

Javier Hernandez

France face early exit after loss to Mexico
France suffered an embarasss­ing 2–0 World Cup defeat to Mexico at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane last night and now face an early exit from the tour­na­ment after draw­ing with Uruguay in their open­ing Group A match last Friday.

Substitute for­ward Javier Hernandez (pic­tured) put Mexico ahead after 64 minutes when he made his way into the box unchal­lenged and out­foxed France goal­keeper Hugo Lloris to put Mexico ahead on 64 minutes. Worse was to fol­low for the Europeans 15 minutes later, when vet­eran for­ward Cuauhtemoc Blanco made no mis­take with a pen­alty after Pablo Barrera was brought down by Eric Abidal ... Continued

Fabulous Forlan floors Bafana

Diego Forlan

Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan (pic­tured) was in scin­til­lat­ing form for Uruguay at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria last night when he scored twice to help his coun­try to a com­fort­able 3–0 win over hosts South Africa. Bafana Bafana simply had no answer to the attack­ing prowess of the blonde haired, blue eyed Forlan who had a per­fect match with vir­tu­ally everything he touched turn­ing to gold.

The defeat means South Africa have to win their remain­ing Group A match against France on Tuesday to have any chance of mak­ing it through to the second round of the com­pet­i­tion. A 24^th minute strike and then a con­tro­ver­sial 80^th minute pen­alty from Forlan, which saw Bafana goal­keeper Itumeleng Khune sent off after he was adjudged to have brought down Luis Suarez, sealed the win for the two time World Cup cham­pi­ons. Continued

Maicon saves the day for Brazil and other World Cup News

Maicon

Maicon saves the day for Brazil
Brazil full­back Maicon (pic­tured) scored a superb goal from a seem­ingly impossible angle to guide the World Cup favour­ites to a 2–1 win over a gritty North Korea in their Group G encounter at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Tuesday evening.

Maicon some­how man­aged to fire a shot into the net from the most acute of angles in the 55^th minute, before Elano added a second goal 17 minutes later to put the South American giants in com­mand. Ji Yun-nam pulled one back for North Korea on 89 minutes, speed­ing past two play­ers and smash­ing home a left-foot drive, but it was a case of too little, too late as the ‘Golden Squad’ held on for the win. Continued