I'm back. Again. Hopefully for good this time.

Anyways, South Africa. Host country of the 2010 World Cup. Enigmatic country going through some difficult change at the moment.

According to new South African president Kgalema Motlanthe (pictured, above) and ruling party leader Jacob Zuma, South Africa will meet all the deadlines set by FIFA and are on course to host the "best World Cup ever" in 2010. Click to continue reading...

Fergie was in particularly non-cooperative mood with the press, basically telling the English media to fuck off. He cites the misquote (that Chelsea were too old for the title) in South Africa as a reason why they won't hear from him again. Of course he had to attend the pre-match conference according to UEFA rules, [. Click to continue reading...

FIFA present their mobile media rights strategy at Soccerex 2008 FIFA, football's world governing body, will present their media rights strategy for South Africa at Soccerex 2008, the business convention for world football. Click to continue reading...

One of our South African readers today has commented on the story of the buyout of a South African consortium, and they believe they know who the consortium is. Johann Rupert - Anton's son now runs Richemont One of our readers, based in South Africa - Boktoon - has commented: "I have lived in Johannesburg for last 15 [. Click to continue reading...

When a Brazilian girl on the streets of New York starts to chant the carnival song Viva Colonia... ..and when a bunch of kids in South Africa join in... ...and when 50000 fans in Cologne's Rhein Energie Stadion do the same... ...then this global Cologne lovefest can only be explained with this: A rare big win against a big [. Click to continue reading...

Fears have dogged South Africa's hosting of the 2010 World Cup ever since it was announced in 2004. Questions persist about the country's crime rate – only Colombia has more murders per head of population, and whether the stadia and infrastructure will be ready in two years' time. But surely the most worrying thing yet is the official mascot Zakumi, unveiled yesterday, which looked like it had Click to continue reading...

No its not an inflatable model of Sepp Blatter but a green haired leopard called " Zakumi".The organisers correctly figured that Blatter was inflated enough already and hence went for the leopard.
Zakumi - the ZA stands for South Africa while kumi means ten in assorted African languages.

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Zakumi, a dreadlocked leopard has been unveiled as the official World Cup mascot for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Zakumi, born on June 16, 1994, when new South Africa emerged after the apartheid regime, is a party-loving animal we are told.

The name is supposedly a composition of "Za", the common abbreviation for South Africa and "kumi" meaning "friend" in various African languages. Click to continue reading...

He's the new World Cup mascot, and clearly way more awesome than those Trix and Flix Euro losers.

Zakumi. I kinda like it. And it's clever too.

The first two letters of Zakumi are the country's initials in Afrikaans - one of South Africa's 11 official languages. "Kumi'' means 10 - for the year of the tournament - in many African languages, World Cup organizers said.

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Sepp Blatter doesn't feel South Africa are being as enthusiastic as they should be considering they are hosts to next years Confederations cup and the World Cup in 2010. "What I'm missing a little bit here is the identification that next year is already the Confederations Cup," said the head of ... Click to continue reading...

Apparently he was pretty excited when he saw the progress in South Africa.

When I left the plane and arrived on African soil, I started dancing.

That's an image I hate to leave you with, but just try to imagine what that might've looked like.

Keep in mind -- or try not to -- that's he's over 70. Click to continue reading...

I was kinna hoping that Canada had a chance to at least play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches in South Africa, however, those dreams might be far off. Canada lost to Mexico 2-1 at the qualifying match in the Victor Manuel Reyna stadium, Mexico - September 13, 2008. In this action photo Andres Guardado [. Click to continue reading...

Now that South Africa have been eliminated from playing in the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola ahead of hosting the 2010 World Cup, many in the nation are blaming the South African Football Association (Safa) for their football development programs.

Safa chief Raymond Hack doesn't respond kindly to these critics, calling them "idiots who do not know what development is. Click to continue reading...

Well the first rounds of games of qualifying for South Africa in 2010 are over (Thank God for that) and normal regular football returns for at least four weeks.


How did your country do?


England! Click to continue reading...

We don't want Setanta So I've got to moan about something now. Fabio Capello...got it right. The defence...nah, they were OK. Midfield was solid and had the right width. Wayne Rooney? Yeah, he'll do, he dropped too deep again. Doesn't that boy listen? And Emile Heskey...well, you can moan about anything with Emile Heskey. Click to continue reading...

According to MLSR sources in South Africa, Pittsburgh based South African striker has signed with DC United.

Here is an excerpt:

The 28-year-old midfielder, who starred for Second Division Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the just-ended season, has secured a three-month loan deal with the Washington-based topflight side.

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Some of the World Cup games for the 2010World Cup in South Africa will take place in Pretoria and with the games already under way to see which countries are going to get to the finals it may be time to begin thinking about booking your World Cup Hotel in ... Click to continue reading...

Port Elizabeth are hosting some of the games for 2010 World Cup in South Africa and f you are considering travelling to Port Elizabeth for the World Cup it could be time to start looking for World Cup hotels in Port Elizabeth. With Qualification under way many participating countries will be ... Click to continue reading...

Bloemfontein is one of the 8 cities in South Africa where the 2010 World Cup will be played and with the qualification under way to see who reaches the finals it may be time to book your World Cup hotel in Bloemfontein. Hotels in Bloemfontein will be in extremely high demand ... Click to continue reading...

Rustenburg will be hosting some of the games for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and if you are looking to travel to Rustenburg then it may be time to consider looking at World Cup hotels in Rustenburg. Rustenburg will be full of football fans from all over the world ... Click to continue reading...

www.hotelscombined.com The qualifications for the 2010 World Cup finals are under way and if you are confident of your team's progression then it may be time to start looking at World Cup hotels in South Africa. The World Cup hotels in South Africa like many other parts of South Africa have undergone . Click to continue reading...

Cape Town is one of the venues in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup and with qualification well under way it may be time to start looking at World Cup hotels in Cape Town. You are sure to find the type of World Cup hotel in Cape Town that you ... Click to continue reading...

The United States National Soccer Team has begun its journey towards the World Cup. They started the qualifying rounds against Guatemala and have just played Cuba at Estadio Nacional de Futbol Pedro Marrero in Havana. If they continue to do well maybe... just maybe, we'll get to see them play in South Africa in 2010. Click to continue reading...

Now that South Africa has been eliminated from the 2010 African Cup of Nations, will South Africa coach Joel Santana get the boot?

A South African newspaper editorial from the Cape Times doesn't seem to think so.

The South African Football Association must stay calm and resist the urge to fire coach Joel Santana after Bafana Bafana failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup in Angola in 2010.

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Do or die only counts when you have been mathematically eliminated. And we haven't been yet. But it's hard to find a whole lot of confidence that we are going to move onto South Africa after tonight's performance. The long desperate ball. Is this really what we have come to? This is not the Canada I [. Click to continue reading...

Australia and Asian Football. Since our acceptance as a Member of the Asian Football Conference and of course our successful sojourn to Germany in 2006, Australian Football both Internationally and Nationally has grown. We now find ourselves in the 4th and final round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Click to continue reading...

Japan won away 3-2 in Bahrain, and in the big news Aussie opponents on Thursday our time Uzbekistan got flogged 3-0 by Qatar!

Fantastic result for Australia. Given we comfortably disposed of Qatar, if we can get a decent result in Tashkent on Thursday we could be off to a flyer.

Putting ourselves and Japan firmly in the driving seat for South Africa, even at this early stage. Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Qualification for the 2010 World Cup goes into full swing today as national teams from South America to Europe face off for one of the precious places in the South Africa World Cup.

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England face Andorra today in Fabio Capello's first competitive game in charge as England manager as England look to qualify for the South Africa World Cup. Rio Ferdinand appears to be the only absence from the squad, but there will be more-than-capable replacements with Terry, Lescott, Brown and Upson all looking to be given a chance [. Click to continue reading...

And they're off... in Europe at least. Most of the globe have started World Cup qualifying, but this weekend sees the teams from Europe start their campaigns to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa. As well as asking three fans what they think of their team's chances we also: Review the news in the Good, [. Click to continue reading...

The 2nd game in the qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa takes place on Wednesday the 10th of September.England face an extremely tough game away to Croatia, Scotland are travelling to Iceland, Northern Ireland face a talented Czech side at home and Wales travel to Russia. All ... Click to continue reading...

While most of the world is in qualification mode for the 2010 World Cup, the host country South Africa is also in 'qualification mode.'

FIFA president Sepp Blatter visits South Africa next week and organizers of the 2010 World Cup are confident the head of football's organizing body will like what he sees. Click to continue reading...

The 2nd game in the qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa takes place on Wednesday the 10th of September. England face an extremely tough game away to Croatia, Scotland are travelling to Iceland, Northern Ireland face a talented Czech side at home and Wales travel to Russia. All ... Click to continue reading...

This weekend sees teams all over Europe start their journey towards South Africa. In Asia however, we have been at it for almost a year and over 30 nations have seen dreams of 2010 already extinguished. Ten remain and they are about to start fighting it out for the four and a half places available at the global footy fest. Click to continue reading...

Interesting article from the Bangkok Post about how confusing the 2010 African World Cup qualifiers are. As they put it, 'FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are on course to score an own goal' with their qualifier rules.

Basically, there's a situation where South Africa may have to lose or draw to make it to the next round (weird, I know. Click to continue reading...