Few North Koreans will be able to cheer their team at the World Cup in
The
The Chinese fans will attend
The Chinese fans who will support
Coach Kim Jong Hun promised "a great success."
Chinese support for North Korean sports teams is not new. A China-based sports apparel maker, Erke, sponsored all of
Source: AP
African fans will be fewer in the stadiums to support their teams during the soccer World Cup in
In Africa, "the highest ticket buyer is
However, he did not give any indication on the number of tickets purchased by the three qualified African countries;
The problems of Internet bookings, which a small part of the African population has access to, combined with too high ticket prices and expensive and impractical air transport is responsible for this low number, he said.
"To get to South Africa from Kinshasa or Lomé, one must pass through Paris," said Jerome Valcke, indicating that charter flights will be established to enable soccer fans from qualified African countries to directly fly to South Africa , where the competition will kick off within a month.
"The Algerian government will finance charter flights to take fans directly to
According to FIFA statistics, the highest ticket buyers are the Americans with 110,000 tickets reserved, followed by the British with 97,000 tickets, Australians and Germans 43,000 and 40,000 tickets respectively. The French have only reserved 4,000 tickets.
Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung and
The star of the 2002 team, Ahn Jung-hwan, was also chosen Monday and will be vying for a third World Cup appearance. Goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae could make his fourth appearance, but former Fulham and
Huh says his "team is as strong as any other team" at the World Cup "because each player has confidence and a fighting spirit."
Kim Young-Kwang (Ulsan), Lee Woon-Jae (Suwon), Jung Sung-Ryong (Seongnam); Kang Min-Soo (Suwon), Kwak Tae-Hwi (Kyoto), Kim Dong-Jin (Ulsan), Kim Hyung-Il (Pohang), Oh Beom-Seok (Ulsan), Lee Young-Pyo (Al Hilal), Lee Jung-Soo (Kashima Antlers), Hwang Jae-Won (Pohang), Cho Won-Hee (Wigan), Cha Du-Ri (SC Freiburg), Cho Yong-Hyung (Jeju); Koo Ja-Cheol (Jeju), Ki Sung-Yong (Celtic), Kim Bo-Kyung (Oita), Kim Nam-Il (Tom Tomsk), Shin Hung-Min (Pohang), Kim Jae-Sung (Pohang), Kim Jung-Woo (Gwangju), Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton) Kim Chi-Woo (Seoul), Park Ji-Sung (Manchester United); Park Ju-Young (AS Monaco), Ahn Jung-Hwan (Dalian Shide), Lee Seung-Ryul (Seoul), Yeom Ki-Hun (Suwon), Lee Keun-Ho (Jubilo Iwata), Lee Dong-Guk (Jeonbuk).
Borussia Dortmund's prolific Argentine-born goalscorer Lucas Barrios, who obtained Paraguayan nationality last month, was included on Tuesday in
Barrios, born in Buenos Aires to a Paraguayan mother, was picked to reinforce a forward section deprived of key striker Salvador Cabanas, recovering from being shot in the head in a Mexico City bar argument in January.
The 25-year-old Barrios, with 18 goals in the Bundesliga this season, is not the only Argentine-born player on the list named by coach Gerardo Martino, also an Argentine.
Midfielders Jonathan Santana of VfL Wolfsburg and Néstor Ortigoza, who plays for Argentinos Juniors in the country of his birth, are also naturalised Paraguayans.
"It's clear there's no discussion about his (Barrios's) footballing qualities. The days we're going to spend together will be good for him to get to know the rest of the lads and get into the group," Martino said.
"On the basis of what we see we'll take a final decision," he told a news conference regarding Barrios's chances of making it into
They meet holders
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Justo Villar (Real Valladolid), Aldo Bobadilla (Independiente Medellin), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteño)
Defenders: Denis Caniza (Leon), Paulo Da Silva (Sunderland), Claudio Morel (Boca Juniors), Julio Cesar Caceres (Atletico Mineiro), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Julio Manzur (Olimpia), Dario Veron (Pumas UNAM), Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo), Antolin Alcaraz (Club Bruges), Marcos Caceres (Racing Club)
Midfielders: Edgar Barreto (Atalanta), Cristian Riveros (Cruz Azul), Osvaldo Martinez (Monterrey), Jonathan Santana (VfL Wolfsburg), Victor Caceres (Libertad), Enrique Vera (LDU Quito), Sergio Aquino (Libertad), Eduardo Ledesma (Lanus), Nestor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors)
Forwards: Marcelo Estigarribia (Newell's Old Boys), Jorge Achucarro (Newell's Old Boys), Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City), Nelson Haedo Valdez, Lucas Barrios (both Borussia Dortmund), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica), Edgar Benitez (Pachuca), Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad)
Source: Reuters
David Beckham will miss the World Cup and most if not all the Los Angeles Galaxy season after tearing his left Achilles' tendon Sunday while playing for AC Milan.
His international career for
"He will miss the World Cup for sure," a person familiar with the injury told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made. The person said it was likely the 34-year-old midfielder will play again.
Beckham was injured without getting hit during AC Milan's 1-0 Italian League win over visiting Chievo Verona.
Visibly in pain and in tears, Beckham went to the sideline for medical attention, leaving
Sky reported that Beckham said, 'It's broken, it's broken," when he came off. Club physician Jean Pierre Meersseman told
"He'll go to
And for many, he was the most-known soccer player in the world, a fashion icon with a celebrity wife, former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham. A 2002 movie was even named after him, "Bend it Like Beckham." The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star was on his second loan stint to AC Milan from Los Angeles Galaxy as he looked to boost his chances of making
Beckham was
It was yet another blow for Major League Soccer, already facing the threat of a players' strike ahead of the season opener on March 25. Beckham is the league's highest-paid player with a $32.5 million, five-year contract and its biggest draw. "We just received the information about David's unfortunate injury," MLS commissioner Don Garber said. "We wish him a speedy recovery."
Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said it was too early to tell exactly how long Beckham will be out. He didn't want to discuss the impact the injury would have on
"Players get hurt whether they're on loan or not," he said. "Injuries are unfortunately part of the game."
Capello and his
In April 2002, Beckham broke a bone in his left foot during a European Champions League game against
With the game scoreless, Beckham nearly scored in the 84th, but Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino stopped his close-range effort. "Beckham came here because he wanted to help
Soccer World Cup organizers have warned that close to 40,000 prostitutes may enter
The authorities, at a meeting of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, feared local children would also be targeted by drug and prostitution underworld. The threat is even more serious as World Cup takes place during a four-week national school holiday.
"It's horrific and very concerning. Money talks, and if you're a sex worker then there is going to be money in South Africa in 2010," the New York Daily News quoted Davis Bayever, South Africa's deputy chair of the country's Central Drug Authority, as saying.
He added: "There is no doubt that they will be targeted to become prostitutes. Children from poor rural families will be given a carrot by criminals who tell them they will have a job if they come to the big city."
However, as a preventive measure to stop influx of prostitutes, strict passport checks, screening, and profiling will take place at the borders.
It is believed that 16 percent of the population is living with HIV in
A UN human rights expert blamed football's World Cup and the Olympic Games for forcing thousands out of their homes, as host cities sought "beautification" often at the expense of poor residents.
Raquel Rolnik, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had recently taken steps to try to protect housing during the bidding process for the 2016 Games.
In contrast, world football's governing body FIFA appeared to have done little to address housing concerns and had shunned UN queries since 2005, she added. "I urge FIFA to open up, to be more transparent," Rolnik told journalists.
According to AFP, the UN expert acknowledged that the Olympics had brought redevelopment and created subsidised housing in some instances, notably in
But sporting mega events often started off with evictions and local authorities rarely allowed the poor to return, Rolnik said in a report.
"Very rarely does the majority of the new housing stock go to those who need it the most," she told journalists.
The UN expert warned in a report that the economic benefits of staging such events are not spread evenly, as cities gave priority to "beautification over the needs of local residents".
She highlighted the removal of 20,000 people from the Joe Slovo settlement in
"All the commitments for affordable housing were left behind and were not prioritised," as 2010 World Cup stadium projects fell behind schedule, said Rolnik.
With the Vancouver Olympics, local authorities squeezed housing plans as they ran into financing problems, she added.
In
The report noted that several thousand athlete lodgings in
Rolnik also cited evictions in Barcelona prior to the 2002 Olympic Games, in Beijing before the 2008 Games, and of 35,000 families in New Delhi before this year's Commonwealth Games in October, as well as pressure on the homeless in Atlanta (1996), Seoul (1988) and Vancouver.
FIFA 2010 World Cup hosts,
Ranked 81st in the world, Bafana Bafana are considered to be one of the weakest among
In a bid to achieve his difficult contractual task of taking the hosts to their first ever appearance in the second round, Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira decided to take the Bafana players to a tour of his native country, where he hopes to instil soccer basics and add some Brazilian flare into their style of play.
As most European leagues have reached their home straight, Parreira named only two foreign-based players into his provisional squad on Thursday, barely 24 hours after he had seen his charges grind to a disappointing 1-1 draw with lowly
According to The Zimbabwean, Bafana will camp in
“I do not want to be disrespectful to small sides, but we badly need to play big sides like
After play four training games against Brazilian club sides, Bafana will meet
The Brazilian, who won the 1994 World Cup and reached the 2002 quarterfinals while still coaching
“The camp in
Drawn in Group A, Bafana open the World Cup with a tough game against
North African archrivals Algeria and Egypt play for a place in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations Thursday with six-time champions Egypt going all out not just to win a place that could put them nearer to a seventh title, but also avenge their defeat at the hands of Algeria last November that deprived them of a World Cup place next summer in South Africa.
In the other semi-final
There is an intense rivalry between the two African/Arab nations, which was reignited during their controversial pair of World Cup qualifiers in November.
They were most impressive in the last eight match as they managed to show the fighting spirit that fuelled their heroic World Cup qualifying campaign, and also their brand of highly technical football.
The World Cup qualifiers between the two generated not only interest but also created problems, diplomatic as well as sporting. Hopefully, this time the two sides wont’ let their emotions get the better of them and make a concerted effort to remain concentrated on winning the game instead of focusing on who they are playing against.
In the meantime,
While Egypt have reported a clean bill of health, a lot of importance is being attached to two players in particular, Algeria’s Karim Ziani whose contribution both in the match against Ivory Coast and the World Cup preliminary round play-off against Egypt two months ago cannot be overlooked, and Egypt’s Ahmed Hassan who celebrated his 170th appearance in an international shirt in style against Cameroon.
An even more balanced tie could be the semi-final clash between
The odds may favour
They have the players who are able to raise their game and it would be a mistake for anyone to conclude that they will have another bad match.
Source: The Tripoli Post
With the 2010 FIFA World Cup field rounded out,
Fewest debutants at a FIFA World Cup
# World Cup Debutants
1 1950
1 2010
2 1962
2 1966
2 1978
3 1954
3 1958 Northern Ireland, Russia, Wales
3 1970 El Salvador, Israel, Morocco
3 1986 Canada, Denmark, Iraq
3 1990 Costa Rica, Ireland, United Arab Emirates
3 1994 Greece, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria
Group A Match Date Venue Results
1 11 June Johannesburg
2 11
17 16 June Tshwane/
18 17 June Polokwane France - Mexico
33 22 June Rustenburg Mexico - Uruguay
34 22 June Mangaung/
Group B Match Date Venue Results
3 12 June Johannesburg
4 12 June Nelson Mandela Bay/
19 17 June Mangaung/
20 17 June Johannesburg
35 22 June Durban
36 22 June Polokwane
Group C Match Date Venue Results
5 12 June Rustenburg
6 13 June Polokwane
22 18 June Johannesburg
23 18
37 23 June Nelson Mandela Bay/Port
38 23 June Tshwane/
Group D Match Date Venue Results
7 13 June Durban
8 13 June Tshwane/
21 18 June Nelson Mandela Bay/Port
24 19 June Rustenburg
39 23 June Johannesburg
40 23 June Nelspruit
Group E Match Date Venue Results
9 14 June Johannesburg
10 14 June Mangaung/
25 19 June
26 19 June Tshwane/
43 24 June Rustenburg
44 24
Group F Match Date Venue Results
11 14
12 15 June Rustenburg
27 20 June Mangaung/
28 20 June Nelspruit
41 24 June Johannesburg
42 24 June Polokwane
Group G Match Date Venue Results
13 15 June Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth Côte d'Ivoire - Portugal
14 15 June Johannesburg Brazil - Korea DPR
29 20 June Johannesburg Brazil - Côte d'Ivoire
30 21
45 25 June Durban
46 25 June Nelspruit Korea DPR - Côte
Group H Match Date Venue Results
15 16 June Nelspruit
16 16 June Durban
31 21 June Nelson Mandela Bay/Port
32 21 June Johannesburg
47 25 June Tshwane/
48 25 June Mangaung/Bloemfontein Switzerland - Honduras
