Soccer Lessons

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is awaited by the entire world. South Africa has emerges as the host for the 2010 world cup after a lot of debate, bidding and voting.. A lot is in stall on the soccer wall calendar 2010 with the first teams to compete being the host city-South Africa and Mexico.Many speculate that it would certainly end up being probable 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. Well South Africa really took to heart their being the 2010 hosts and over the years constructed five totally new stunning stadiums.Here’s a peek for all you ‘soccerholics’:

*Moses Mabhida Stadium- formally the Kings Park Soccer Stadium that is now a beautiful teflon-coated stadium with a glass fiber roof.Opened on November 2009.

o Capacity: 70,000 o Location: Durban o Design: constructed to resemble the South African Flag.Has an arche with a highest point being 347 ft signifies the unity that now exists from a once devided country. Has a translucent glow if lit.
* Green Point Stadium- was demolished in 2007 and reconstructed for the FIFA World Cup in 2009.Scheduled to host six first-round matches, one second-round, one quarter-final and one semifinal match.

o Capacity:70,000 o Location: Cape Town o Design: has a noise-reducing exterior cladding and is situated very near the ocean and has the mountains as a the backdrop. Has an amazing retractable glass roof weighing about 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-Will be hosting 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: resembles a ‘sunflower’ with the roof made up a series of white petals.Is overlooking the North End Lake making it a one in a million stadium.

* 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: resembles and African pot or “calabash” and has spectacular lighting in the night.

With all these stadiums, this year is surely to be a Cup to remember. Doesn’t it just makes you want to book the next flight straight to the heart of Africa?

On Friday the 11th of June 2010 the whole of africa will join the many soccer fans worldwide as the day Africa comes to be the venue for the FIFA World Cup. For the past 80 years, the FIFA World Cup host countries have revolved around Europe and the Americas. Exactly how is the venue for the cup decided upon?Currently, the policy for selection is that any country can bid to be the venue for the World Cup guaranteed that their continent hasn’t hosted it in the past two years making Africa a good candidate. In the 2006 bidding, South Africa against Germany, the final count being 12 votes to 11. For this years World Cup though, all  bidding countries were African the top three-South Africa, Morocco and Egypt. Morocco lost to South Africa by four events making this a momentous event. Technically, this is why South Africa is hosting this years World Cup but is the counntry able to hold such a big 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. It would make sense to have South Africa join the list.

* You should see the stadiums- as part of their preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa has constructed four brand new mind-blowing stadiums.One has a detractable glass roof, another with spectacular lighting, then there’s the ‘zebra’ inspired stadium located nearby the many game parks, and finally one that resembles the South African flag. What more could you ask for?

* Good weather- South Africa is well known for it’s good weather-aside from the wildlife. It will be winter time when the World Football Tournament will take place. Not to worry though, your favorite players won’t end up freezing to death since the winter temperature in South Africa is warmer than most countries summer temperature! 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. The finals being held in Soweto which has been the center of South African soccer really adds meaning to the whole event making it not simply a sports event but a historical one.

Despite any controversies in the past four years regarding safety, in my opinion,South Africa is the perfect place for the 2010  FIFA World Cup and  the whole world should be very proud that  this is the first time that a sporting event of this magnitude is being held in the continent.