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Fifa 'confident' about SA 2010
Ndaba Dlamini
Fifa is confident that South Africa's preparations for the 2010 World
Cup are adequate and there is no immediate plan to take the tournament
to another country.
This was said by the secretary-general of the world football governing
body, Jerome Valcke, after a 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) board
meeting in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Valcke's comments come after reports that Fifa president Sepp Blatter
had said there was, after all, a "plan B" in place in the event
of South Africa failing to host the world's most popular sports tournament.
As the international football governing body, Valcke said, Fifa had a
mandate to have measures in place in case a natural catastrophe occurred
in a country which was due to host an event of this size. It was only
in the event of a natural disaster that Fifa would put in place a plan
B, he stressed.
"I can give an example of China, which was supposed to host the women's
soccer World Cup in 2003. That event had to be moved to the United States
because of the outbreak of the Sars [severe acute respiratory syndrome]
disease."
He would not say which country would take over from South Africa if there
was a natural disaster in the republic.
"As Fifa we are confident that preparations for the 2010 World Cup
in terms of transport, security, accommodation and stadium construction
are going on very well. We are getting what we need from South Africa
in terms of our agreement for the country to host the event."
Port Elizabeth ruled out for 2009
At the same event, LOC chairman Irvin Khoza said that Nelson Mandela Bay
had been removed from the schedule for the 2009 Confederations Cup following
a report from the committee's technical team.
"We acknowledge the progress that has been made on the Nelson Mandela
Bay/Port Elizabeth stadium in recent months," he said. "With
the complex nature of the construction and erection of the roof of the
stadium, however, it was decided that it would be too high a risk to keep
the stadium in the Fifa Confederations Cup schedule."
Khoza went on to say the stadium had been one of the "star performers"
of the Fifa World Cup construction phase and that it would be "a
wonderful venue" in 2010.
Valcke added that a decision would be taken in September on whether another
stadium would replace the one in Nelson Mandela Bay.
The metro was to host the Confederations Cup together with Johannesburg,
Tshwane, Rustenburg and Mangaung.
The event, seen by many around the world as a dress rehearsal for the
World Cup the following year, will pit eight nations against each other
from 14 to 28 June 2009. They are South Africa, Italy, Egypt, Spain, USA,
Brazil, Iraq and the winners of the Oceania cup.
southafrica.info,
10 July 2008
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