Criticism of South Africa 2010 Valid?

So, this is going to be a great, fantastic event.

No, actually, this event will be a mess.

Pick your narrative.

Here is a story on England returning 6,000 unsold tickets to Fifa, which certainly doesn't sound like good news.

And here is a story on Fifa and South African officials complaining about negative media coverage and suggesting that some -- many of them in England and Germany -- have already decided 2010 will be a failure.

Well, let's consider some concepts.

Africa as a continent doesn't have much of a track record for international events. A rugby World Cup, and what else? No Olympics. No World Cups. Those are facts. Until now, neither the IOC nor Fifa felt confident enough in African bids to accept them -- and there haven't been many, actually.

Factor in South Africa's crime rate (particularly its daily average of 50 murders, second-highest rate in the world), and the terror attack on the Togo team while it was in Angola this month, resulting in three deaths ... and a reasonable person might be expected to wonder if it is a safe destination.

And certainly, it seems hard to discount the reality that getting to South Africa will be quite expensive for people from Europe, which constitute the hard core of international fans, or from the United States, which has more money than the rest of the world.

On the other hand ... the European media does have a reputation for trashing any events set outside its borders. Even events in the U.S., Canada and Japan -- First World countries all -- get attacked by European media, particularly from England and France. That's what they do. If it's not Euro, it sucks. That's the point of departure.

In 1994, the World Cup in the U.S. was widely predicted to be a failure, and it set an attendance record (with fewer matches than currently are scheduled) that still stands. Japan and South Korea put on a fine World Cup in 2002.

But, and this is a big but ... Africa has no track record of successful global sports events. There is no history. South Africa can change that. But for now, it probably needs to show a little tougher hide when it comes to criticism. The country will have a month to show what it can do. Read more!

England Fans: Known Hooligans Must Stay Home

England fans ... all the rage on this blog.

England is working on plans to seize the passports of some 3,200 soccer fans considered hooligans. Doesn't seem quite democratic, but England has been embarrassed by yobs too many times in the past.

Certainly, the heyday of English hooligans is long past. The infamous book, "Among the Thugs," published in 1991, now is much more about English history than it is current events.

No doubt, however, that hooliganism was a significant problem for a decade or four. England fans raised havoc on the other side of the channel (getting their club teams banned from Europe for nearly five years following the Heysel Stadium Disaster of 1985, when 39 Italian fans died) and were a menace at the 1990 World Cup, when they gave Sardinia a fairly thorough rubbishing.

There was undisguised glee among organizers in the United States, in 1993, when England failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, which was played in the States. The thinking was quite simple: We won't have to spend a lot of time and energy heading off England's drunk-and-disorderly yahoos.

Perhaps the last gasp of England's yobs was after the Three Lions' first match in the 1998 World Cup in France, after England defeated Tunisia, 2-0 ... prompting some of their sociopathic followers to battle local French residents of North African origin in what was later remembered as The Battle of Marseille.

In the past decade, England's fans seem to have grown much more sedate. Is it about authorities tracking down ringleaders? A change in stadium security precautions? Or some more subtle change in the English populace?

Perhaps someone can research it and give us a guess why.

Anyway, England is collecting 3,200 passports to keep thugs from going to South Africa. Twenty years ago, they probably would have to pick up 32,000 passports, to be safe. Read more!

2010 World Cup Too Expensive for England Fans?

Last week it was Franz Beckenbauer who suggested that the apparent disinterest among Germany fans for buying World Cup tickets was a matter of economics, and we wrote about it on this blog ...

And now we have someone at the Times of London reporting the sobering numbers that a firm has crunched, about how much it would cost to follow the English team all the way to the final. (As if, but let's just go with the idea ...)

So, how much to see the Three Lions through to the imaginary final?

A whopping 6,400 pounds sterling. Or $10,300 at current exchange rates. That includes airfare, tickets and housing -- and it appears as if housing is the backbreaking part of this deal.

England, also, has tickets left over from its allocation. Something like 6,000. Which seems almost unimaginable, considering the madness of English fans -- until you begin to check the cost.

Note that the story mentions that SA2010 is going to announce a new ticket system tomorrow ... and that there may be excess tickets floating around during the tournament.

Which strikes me that ... if you are brave (or foolhardy, perhaps) ... buy nothing ahead of time ... and just show up.

Buy a plane ticket in early June, turn up in Johannesburg a day or two before the June 12 match against the U.S.. Get tickets from touts at the last minute. Just show up at hotels that, a month before the event, realize they outpriced the market and stay for far less than they are charging all these worry-wart months-ahead itinerary freaks ...

And it might be only horribly expensive. Not ruinously expensive.

The story also notes the obvious: If fans from First World countries can't afford SA2010, how are the African and Latin fans going to be able to pay?

(And thanks to David Lassen for pointing out to me the Times story.) Read more!

Add to Missing Players: Paraguay Striker Shot

Knee injuries. Ankle injuries. Those happen to soccer players, and we are trying to keep track of them for you as they relate to the World Cup.

But getting shot in the head while sitting in a bar with your wife? Not remotely as common. Thank goodness.

Paraguayan standout forward Salvador Cabanas was shot in a Mexico City bar early Monday morning and is in serious condition -- with a bullet still in his skill.

It brings to mind that playing soccer can be a dangerous life, in Latin America.

One of Colombia's starting defenders, Andres Escobar, was shot to death outside a bar in Medellin in 1994. Some believe he was killed because he allowed an own goal in the 1994 World Cup, just a few days before, leading to a 2-1 defeat vs. the United States and to Colombia leaving the tournament after group play -- when no less an authority than Pele had suggested Colombia could win the tournament.

But others suggest Escobar's slaying was just a shootout outside a bar (not an uncommon event in Colombia, then or now), and Escobar was hit.

What Cabanas shares with Escobar, besides coming from South America, is that he was in a dangerous place when he was shot -- a bar in a Latin city known for drug trade/wars.

(Cabanas is in Mexico City because he plays for Club America, based in the Mexican capital.)

It now seems as if Cabanas will do well to survive the attack. Thinking that he will be able to play for Paraguay in South Africa 2010 is getting ahead of a sad story. Read more!

Another Top Player Goes Down

If you are keeping score at home, here is another first-tier player who apparently will be out of South Africa 2010:

Filipe, the winger from Brazil.

Filipe suffered a broken ankle while playing for Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday, and looks unlikely to be back at full speed in time to play for Brazil this summer.

The difference between Brazil losing Filipe and the United States possibly losing Clint Dempsey (as noted on this blog last week) is fairly stark, however.

Dempsey is one of the handful of U.S. attacking players who has a significant amount of skill.

Filipe is one of dozens of Brazilians who can play at the world level.

So while this is a personal disaster for Filipe, who stood a good chance of making Dunga's squad, it absolutely is not some sort of World Cup death knell for Brazil.

Dempsey, by the way, did not suffer an injury as serious as first thought. His club team, Fulham, hopes he will play again for them this season. Which means he stands a good chance of being ready for the World Cup.

Good luck to Filipe on his comeback, as well. Read more!

Getting Another Dose of Becks

What has it been, a week or two without any David Beckham items on this blog?

Time to fix that!

Here is a link to an espn.com item in which Becks unburdens himself. Well, as much as a person who is more a commodity than a person can unburden himself.

Becks says he is OK with the prospect of falling short of Peter Shilton's record for appearances with the English national team. Shilton racked up 125, and Becks is at 115, and even if he somehow manages to insinuate himself into the England lineup for its run-up matches to South Africa 2010, as well as for however long it lasts in the World Cup ... it seems unlikely he will get 10 matches.

And then it is beyond difficult to believe he ever will be called back into the England side, considering he is 35. Though I suppose fantasists could imagine him being part of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. If he somehow produces something resembling his old form this summer.

Becks says he expects Wayne Rooney to be the key player for England at South Africa 2010.

And he said his role for England is to do anything that Fabio Capello asks him to do. Which is exactly what the man ought to say, considering his age and diminishing physical skills.

I'm sure it won't be the last we will hear from Becks between now and June 11. We wouldn't have it any other way. Read more!

Weird Story: Threats of Murder, Theft at SA2010

This is a strange one. It involves two shadowy crime figures appearing on a South Africa television network and vowing to attack World Cup tourists, robbing them, perhaps killing them ...

And it comes just as concerns about the safety of visitors to the 2010 World Cup seems to be heating up, in the wake of the Togo national team being shot up in Angola.

It involves the apparent suicide of a man who put the TV network in touch with the criminals, and the arrest of one of them, with some "freedom of the press" issues thrown in, as well, because the police subpoenaed the TV news station reporter who interviewed the criminals.

Basically, it's a mess.

Here is the simplest version of the story, from Reuters.

Here is a more detailed one, out of the Johannesburg Sunday Times.

The gist of it is ... the TV news station found two guys. Apparently actual thugs. With thug credentials. Who said they planned to attack visitors, presumably mostly Europeans and Americans, for the abuses of colonialism over the centuries. Well, and because tourists from Europe and the United States might actually be lucrative targets for robbery.

And this sent the South African establishment into a tizzy, because it confirms/reinforces the concerns percolating out there in the First World of South Africa as an crazy-unsafe destination.

Certainly, South Africa has problems. We've been over this. It has 50 murders a day, and is No. 2 in the world in murders -- both on a per-capita basis and in total numbers, trailing only Colombia.

So, South Africa cops, etc., went nuts over this, and strong-armed the TV station perhaps a bit more brazenly than it needed to, and now the bullying by the cops is turning into a cause celebre for other South African media who don't like the show of force one bit.

The cops allege to have arrested one of the guys and "know the other." And then there is the dead middleman.

It's all murky and a bit disturbing. But don't let it worry you. Nope.
Read more!