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Sven-Goran Eriksson to coach Ivory Coast in World Cup

Sunday, 28 March 2010 22:45

Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has been appointed to coach Ivory Coast at the World Cup in South Africa.

An announcement was made on Sunday, with Mark Hughes and former Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster also coming under consideration for the role.

A statement from the country's football federation said: "He's an experienced coach who has proved himself.

"His objective is to ensure an honourable participation at the upcoming World Cup."

Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic was sacked last month after the Elephants failed to reach the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals.

Ivory Coast, led by Chelsea's Didier Drogba, are drawn with Brazil, Portugal and North Korea in Group G at the World Cup in South Africa in June and July.

Swede Eriksson joined England in 2001 after a successful club management career in Europe, including an Italian championship with Lazio in 2000.

He led England to two World Cup quarter-finals but the high point of his reign was the 5-1 win over Germany in the qualifiers for Japan and South Korea only months after he had taken over.

Since leaving England after the 2006 World Cup, he managed Manchester City, Mexico and was director of football at Notts County.

No details were given about the length of Eriksson's contract.

Source; http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 587871.stm

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Not always such a good idea turning up at a major tournament with a new coach it takes time for good working relationships to be built and he probably knows little about half the team

He should be careful...I read somewhere that the Disease carrying "Tsetse fly" has a penchant for fair skinned people simply because theyre not normally as thick skinned as the local delicacy is..

Extract from a guardian.co.uk article entitled;

Eugene Terre'Blanche killing – white supremacists vow revenge

Eugene Terre'Blanche, leader of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) movement, was found bludgeoned and hacked to death on Saturday at his farm in Ventersdrop. Two black farm workers involved in an apparent wage dispute were arrested at the scene.

The AWB has since ramped up the language of a race war. Its spokesman, Andre Visagie, said: "The death of Mr Terre'Blanche is a declaration of war by the black community of South Africa to the white community that has been killed for 10 years on end."

Visagie warned other countries to avoid sending their football teams to the World Cup in June as they would be travelling "to a land of murder". He added: "We will decide upon the action we are going to take to avenge Mr Terre'Blanche's death."

Even before this high profile murder the situation was quite unsafe for football supporters attending the World Cup & I just wonder how safe supporters from all countries will be in ZA after this & how volatile the situation could become.

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Brummie Cabbie.

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This can only make a volatile situation worse ABE

My partner has just gone back to Cape Town to see her folks she has told me the tension is palpable, there is very little traffic after dark.

To make matters worse the Blacks are getting fed up with the ANC not producing on the promises they made to get into power

Where have we heard that before?

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Zimbabwe??

I follow ZA news closely, because my brother lived there for about eight years, but resettled to R o I in November. He still has property to sell there; let's hope he's lucky.

But the guy who is really stirring it over in ZA is the ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema (REMEMBER THE NAME); he's only 29 years old. He was banned recently from singing an apartheid-era song with the lyrics "Kill the Boer". He has just spent Easter in Zimbabwe singing the song at rallies & praising Mugabe & is on record as saying that the land & mines in ZA should be taken over by blacks.

They already have laws in place that are called Affirmative Action / Preferencial Policy laws which allow jobs to be filled by blacks first in prefernce to whites.

If I won tickets to the World Cup would I go to ZA??

No f*cking chance!!!

Watch it go boom over there during the World Cup with football supporters being robbed, mugged & murdered. And my guess is that as soon as Mandela passes away ZA will very rapidly go the way of Zimbabwe.

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Brummie Cabbie.

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Thats the feeling of a lot of whites that live there too

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I've never been to ZA, but apparently it's a very beautiful country.

Sad, sad shame!!

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Brummie Cabbie.

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Tribalism seems more important than politics out in africa....Guess we'll never knock the savage form 90% percent of these groups.

The whites being just as tribalistic in their own way..

Oh dear . . . . tickets sales are not going well!!

Fifa urges South Africa fans to buy World Cup tickets

Friday, 9 April 2010

Football's world governing body has launched a new drive to encourage local fans to buy the 500,000 unsold tickets for this summer's World Cup.

With two months until the start of the tournament, tickets are still available for every match except the final.

Organisers have admitted the initial reliance on internet sales was not the most "friendly" system for local fans.

"We want to ensure the picture we give to the world is full stadiums," said Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke.

Demand from visiting fans has been lower than originally anticipated, with a "significant number" of tickets being returned, including those from corporate sponsors.

The effects of the global recession have been partly to blame, while fears of crime have also contributed to the relative lack of travelling supporters.

Officials have blamed the cost of long-haul flights to South Africa, while the government has launched inquiries into both accommodation costs and alleged domestic airline price fixing.

And with most fans in South Africa in the habit of buying tickets on match day, Valcke admitted the emphasis should have been shifted away from internet sales at an earlier stage.

Reports suggest that less than half of the population in South Africa has access to the internet.

"The approach at the beginning was not the most friendly system for South Africa and South Africans. But there is always time to learn - 62 days [before the tournament] is a long period," Valcke said.

The final phase of ticket selling will see 11 new centres in the nine host cities where fans can buy tickets "over the counter".

"We have always said that it is important that we make this World Cup more accessible to the [South African] people and with the over-the-counter sales, we believe this is a measure that is consistent with the needs of the fans," said tournament chief executive Danny Jordaan.

"If we do have empty stadiums, it will reinforce the idea that football is not supported in the country and that would be tragic.

"The reality is that this is a football-mad country."

More than 100,000 tickets will be available exclusively to South Africans for $20 (£13), the lowest World Cup price for many years.

About 2.2m tickets have been sold have already been sold, with the United States somewhat surprisingly heading the list of overseas buyers with 118,945 tickets. British fans have bought more than 67,000 tickets.

But in Germany, only 32,269 tickets have been sold and Valcke admitted that sales in Europe have been "disappointing".

"Maybe we are getting too much [football]," said Valcke.

"We are getting it whatever we want. We have football matches every day. Either the Champions League or the Europa League or the club league or the cups..."

South Africa has poured 33bn rand (£2.9bn) into preparations for the tournament. Major upgrades to airports in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Bloemfontein are complete, while Durban's new airport is set to open on 1 May.

The country is also trying to reassure fans about security in a nation with one of the highest crime rates in the world, averaging 50 murders each day. An extra 41,000 police have been recruited for the tournament.

Source; http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 612734.stm

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and so as not to be outdone now Al Quaeda has announced that they intend to attack the England USA tie mind you if they've announced it it probably means they haven't the capability to do it just trying to frighten everyone

Annnnnnnnd maybe there is a RECESSION on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.............Annnnnnnd the CRIME scare factor will no doubt deter a lot of people.

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That's better!!

South Africans queue overnight for World Cup tickets
Over-the-counter Cup tickets on sale

Thursday, 15 April 2010

Thousands of South African fans queued overnight at supermarkets and shopping malls on Thursday for a chance to buy 500,000 unsold World Cup tickets.

Fifa agreed on Wednesday to drop a ruling that sales could only be made online or through a ballot procedure.

There is still availability for all fixtures, including the final at Soccer City in Johannesburg on 11 July.

A 64-year-old man died from an apparent seizure as he waited in a queue in central Cape Town.

The tragedy in Cape Town came after fans from all over the country had queued from Wednesday afternoon as South Africans rushed to get World Cup tickets.

BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding says there were exuberant scenes in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, where people camped out on the street through the night.

"The last time I waited in a line like this was when I voted for Mandela," said one man in Soweto, who did not want to give his name because he was skipping work to stand in line.

BBC Sport's news correspondent Gordon Farquhar said that there has been a problem with the main server to Fifa's ticketing database, resulting in long waiting times for queuing fans.

Many South Africans had complained the original process, by which tickets were sold through Fifa's website or in a complicated ballot at a local bank branch, excluded people without web access, credit cards or the disposable income to pay months in advance.

"We are excited about these new initiatives, which make the process much easier for everyone," said World Cup 2010 boss Danny Jordaan.


South African fans have been snapping up the available tickets

"We have always said that it is important that we make this World Cup more accessible to the people and with over the counter sales, we believe this measure is consistent with the needs of the fans."

Ticket prices are also well above normal for top-level football in South Africa.

Those in a special category for local residents sell at 145 rand (£13), but costs escalate drastically in other categories and for games after the first-round group phase.

Prices for premier seats at the final come in at 6582 rand (£581).

Demand in South Africa had initially been sluggish but the most recent phase saw 85% of the 240,000 tickets sold between February and the beginning of April go to locals.

Fifa has since revealed that 2.2m tickets have been sold for the tournament, which kicks off on 11 June.

Source; http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 620508.stm

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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Disagree with other members' views;
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