Soccer Training

The world keenly anticipates the start of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. South Africa has emerges as the host for the 2010 world cup after a lot of debate, bidding and voting.. South Africa and Mexico are the first in line on the 2010 soccer calender being the first teams to compete.Many forecast that it would become possible for the final world cup winners football game to have an African nation involved yet this is yet to be seen. Many may not have time to follow the whole tournament, so if you’re wondering what sort of world-class stadiums our favorite teams will be doing their soccer tricks. Actually South Africa took the opportunity to host the Cup very seriously and for the past four years  have been busy constructing the fantastic stadiums. The following are a few for all ‘soccerholics’:

*Moses Mabhida Stadium- constructed on the site of the former Kings Park Soccer Stadium, this teflon-coated, glass-fibre roofed stadium was officially opened on November 2009.

o Capacity: 70,000 o Location: Durban o Design: looks like the South African flag from an ariel view.The legs of the arch join which signifies the uniting of the formally devided country.This arch has a staggering height of 347 ft at the  highest point. The roof glows when under light.
* Green Point Stadium- reconstructed for the World Cup. Scheduled to hold the first six round matches, one second-round, one quarter and one semifinal match.

o Capacity:70,000 o Location: Cape Town o Design:has sound proof material and is situated very near the ocean and has beautiful mountains in the background. Has a retractable glass roof weighing 4,500-tons.

* Mbombela Stadium- a  Siwala world meaning “many people together in a small space.” o Capacity: 40,000 o Location:Nelspruit o Design:  has giraffe looking roof designs and seats that resemble the stripes of a giraffe. * Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium-scheduled to host five first round matches, one second round, one quarter final and the third place playoff. Name taken from the municipality name not the x-president Nelson Mandela.

o Capacity: 50 000 o Location:Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth o Design:a very beautiful looking stadium. Also named ‘the sunflower’ because of it’s unique structures.

* Soccer City Stadium- The largest stadium in Africa. Will hold the first and last matches of the Cup.

o Capacity:94,500 o Location: Johannesburg o Design:very lit during the night and resembles an African pot.

The 2010 Football World Cup is surely one to go in the history books with all these cool stadiums. Wouldn’t you want to just book the next flight to Africa to witness this event?

June 11, Friday is definitely a momentous date in all soccer fans calenders especially  Africaans as being the date when Africa has the chance to host the famous FIFA World Cup. The Americas and Europe have had the priveledge of hosting the FIFA World Cup for the past 801 years. How does the venue for the FIFA World Cup get chosen? According to the revised selection policy, as long as the country’s continental confederaton hasn’t hosted the Cup in the past two years, the country would become eligable, this would make any African country a strong candidate. South Africa had a narrow loss against Germany in the 2006 bidding with 12 votes to 11 as the final tally. All countries that bid for the 2010 World Cup were African including South Africa, Morocco and Egypt. South Africa beat Morocco by 4 votes leading to this memorable event.Those are the ‘technical’ reasons why this years World Cup is being held in South Africa but is the country itself capable of holding such an event? If you’d ask me, I’d say they surely are, here are my  reasons:

* They’ve got a great team- that simple fact makes them deserving to have the great privilege of hosting the cup.If you’d ask me, having a World Cup in a country whose team isn’t even above average would be a disgrace. Look back at the countries that held the Cup-1950 (Brazil), 1978 (Argentina), and 1990 (Italy), some of the best teams in the world. Adding South Africa to the list would make sense.

* Perfect stadiums- South Africa’s preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup included the construction of four new stadiums. Their designs include : a detractable glass roof, beautiful lighting, zebra like seats, and the South African flag. Who could want more?

* Great Weather- wildlife aside, South Africa is renowned for it’s weather. The World Football Tournament will be held during South Africa’s winter season. South Africa’s winter temperature at midday is warmer than most countries daily summer temperature so no need to worry that your favorite players will get frozen. Lower temperatures have been proved to be better for athlete’s bodies so the average expected temperature of 20 degrees Celsius at 12pm noon will be great. With good weather, we can expect better performance..

* The continent alone- soccer is no doubt in every African’s heart and Africa is known to be the place where civilization begun. So what better place to have countries from the four corners of the earth meet? More so since South Africa has used soccer as a means of unity and force against apartheid in  the Mandela era. Having Soweto be the venue for the finals will add meaning and make the even even more memorable for the reason that Soweto has been the heart of South African soccer.

The whole world should be happy that an event of this magnitude is being held in Africa for the first time and no matter how many issues regarding safety have popped up in the past four years, I think the 2010 FIFA World Cup deserve to be held in South Africa.