Vuvuzela South Africa

World Cup Bafana Bafana 2010 – The site for football news, views and build up information on the road to the World Cup Final is a United Kingdom Based Football blog. Mike Towers writes a guest post for us.

On the surface English football is gearing up for a long competitive season punctuated by twists and turns in the race for the various league titles and the occasional surprising FA Cup result.

Who Will Partner Rooney Up Front?

Scratch beneath the thin veneer which barely covers the subject and the picture is very different. Here you can see the tell-tale signs of a nation and its media preparing for months of frenzied debate about who will partner Rooney up front, which player is better suited to midfield defensive duties (Gerrard, Lampard or Barry), and whether the WAGs (wives and girlfriends) will embarrass themselves and England next summer.

Coach Fabio Capello

I’m not talking about the team or its taciturn coach, Fabio Capello. For the most part he and his players are trying to dampen down speculation. Of course there was the usual enthusiasm after qualification was secured courtesy of a 5 – 1 drubbing for Croatia. Capello then went on record to talk about reaching the final next year. But that’s probably the last we’ll hear on the subject from him until the summer.

World Cup Song

I’m referring instead to the now widespread speculation about the obligatory World Cup song. It’s part of our national DNA that a World Cup campaign must always be accompanied by a ditty about footy. England has produced some great songs over the years (Back Home, 1970, and World in Motion, 1990) and some truly rubbish ones (Vindaloo, 1998, and There’s No One You Can’t Beat, 2006, which was hastily retitled There’s No One You Can’t Beat Except The Team Which Just Put Us Out when England lost).

(Before any UK fans reading this start kicking up a fuss, Three Lions was written for Euro 1996 and didn’t become a World Cup song until later)

Noble England – Rik Mayall

While lots of fans are posting their songs on YouTube, pop guru Simon Cowell is reportedly contemplating getting involved in an official World Cup song. This already sounds like a terrible idea, one far less interesting than the Noble England song I announced on World Cup Bafana Bafana 2010 a few weeks ago.

Noble England will feature UK comedy legend Rik Mayall and lots of allusions to Shakespeare and beating the French. Sounds perfect to me and I’m already looking forward to hearing the song when it comes out next year.

By that time the UK media will be frothing at the mouth as the tournament in South Africa approaches. They do this every two (or four) years when England qualify for the World Cup or European Championships finals. They can’t help themselves. And here are some of the players who will be subjected to the traditionally intense scrutiny from ageing men in slippers who couldn’t trap a ball if you burst it for them.

The England World Cup Squad

Definites

Barring injury, the big names certain to make the 23-man squad are Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, and the Chelsea trio of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole. These six players are the spine of the team.

Possible England Strikers

Rooney needs a partner up front. Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe started the season in blistering form for club and country. If he continues to score goals Defoe will probably become an automatic choice, relegating Emile Heskey (Aston Villa) and Peter Crouch (Tottenham) to the substitute’s bench. Carlton Cole (West Ham) and Michael Owen (Manchester United) could also be chosen, but the latter needs an injury-free goal-strewn season to stake his place.

Possible England Midfielders

Gareth Barry (Manchester City) and Michael Carrick (Manchester United) are definite midfield options. Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), Sean Wright-Phillips (Manchester City) and Theo Walcott (Arsenal) offer additional attacking/midfield alternatives. It remains to be seen whether Fabio Capello will extend David Beckham’s (LA Galaxy) international career beyond 2009. A rejuvenated Joe Cole (Chelsea) may be the more sensible option. Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United) may also make a welcome recovery from injury.

Possible England Defenders

Matthew Upson (West Ham), Glen Johnson (Liverpool) and Joleon Lescott (Everton) are certain to join Terry, Ferdinand and Cole as defending options. Johnson may have grabbed the right back spot for himself after a promising start to his Liverpool career. Wes Brown (Manchester United) and Micah Richards (Manchester City) will be considered for inclusion in the squad.

Possible England Goalkeeper

This is a problem position for England. Three from Rob Green (West Ham), Paul Robinson (Blackburn), David James (Portsmouth), Ben Foster (Manchester United) and Scott Carson (Aston Villa) will go to South Africa. On current form I‘d choose an armchair over any of these.

Take away the goalkeeper issue and I think England should be genuinely confident. Of course a lot may depend on where they play and at what time. Heat and exhaustion have a nasty habit of cutting England campaigns short. Colder nights may help the players. I think this means they will want to be based somewhere in the north east and away from the coast. Capello is rumoured to be considering altitude training to ensure the players can cope with this mountainous terrain.

English Soccer Fans

Wherever England are based and wherever they play, you can bet there will be thousands of fans cheering them on. Some sections of our media are genuinely concerned about crime and security; this may put some potential travellers off. Price rises for travel and accommodation may also have a negative impact on numbers. I don’t think we can even begin to estimate how many fans will go until after the December draw.

An England Victory in 2010?

Whether they will see an England victory is the big question. I can’t answer that right now. Ask me again in May and if the leading players are still fit I will have an answer for you!

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As Bafana Bafana skipper, Aaron Mokoena runs on to the pitch in Limerick for his 50th cap tonight, against Ireland, the South African National team will be hoping for a better result than their 2 –0 loss to Germany at Leverkusen on the weekend.

The Portsmouth defender-cum-midfielder, who has 92 caps in all for South Africa, moved past Lucas Radebe’s record of 43 matches as captain of the side earlier in the year, and should now stretch his record past the 50 mark.
The South African team is going to have to up their game significantly in spite of Coach Joel Santana’s up-talking a rather poor and lackluster display from Bafana Bafana on Saturday bight against an energised and slick German team.

Coach Joel Santana and captain Aaron Mokoena insist these friendlies are a learning process and the skipper is expecting to gain more international insight against Giovanni Trapattoni’s men.

Bafana Bafana Team Preview

According to football365, Bafana, who employed three defensive midfielders against the Germans, is set to drop a destroyer – most likely Bevan Fransman in favour of Siphiwe Tshabalala. But goalkeeper Shu-Aib Walters will play no part in the encounter after breaking his finger in training and Steven Pienaar is a fitness doubt for the visitors.
Meanwhile, the hosts will be without senior players Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne, Shay Given and Kevin Kilbane, who have been rewarded for their hard-fought win in Cyprus with additional time off.

First National Cap for Clifford Ngobeni

Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana will hand midfielder Clifford Ngobeni a first international cap when South Africa take on the Republic of Ireland in Limerick on Tuesday night.

According to Kickoff, Ngobeni, who has only ever featured in training matches for the national side before, is likely to be joined in the starting line-up by Siyabonga Nkosi and Mabhuti Khenyeza, although Richard Henyekane emerged as a possible starter, probably at the expense of Nkosi at training on Monday afternoon.

The Ajax Cape Town youngster will be part of an experimental, more attacking line-up against the under-strength Irish, who have sent the majority of their big-name players back to their respective clubs.

Photo: New Bafana Cap, Clifford Ngobeni. Kickoff.com

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The second edition of the MTN8 competition kicked off on 4 August 2009.  The eight teams that have finished in the top eight of the Absa Premiership will slug it out to see who will be the last man standing. The winners take home an R8 million first prize.

2009 MTN8 Wafa Wafa -  Results 4 August

Kaizer Chiefs 3 Bidvest Wits 1

Amakhosi’s goals were scored by Nkosinathi Nhleko, David Mathebula, Knowledge Masona, and Mark Haskins scored Wits’ goal.

AmaZulu 2 Supersport United 2

(Match ended 33 after extra time and AmaZulu won the lottery of penalties to advance to the next round)

On Saturday Chiefs will welcome Engen Santos in an Absa Premiership opener at Orlando Stadium. Kick off for the game is at 20h15.

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Manchester City is now my favorite team in the whole wide world after City manager Mark Hughes and his England midfield star, Gareth Barry, have come out in support of South African soccer fans blowing their vuvuzelas.

Well I still think they spent too much money and I don’t quite know if I buy that whole story about an investment in the future. My grandfather always said one should never invest in anything that eats or needs to be painted!

Endorsement of the Vuvuzela

Steven Ireland

But the ringing endorsement of the Vuvuzela was nice, even if it came hot on the heels of City’s  1-0 defeat of Kaizer Chief last night , when captain Stevie Ireland sent the Blues into Saturday’s Vodacom Challenge Final.

Hughes did not think the vuvuzela interfered at all with the game, in fact he felt that it added to the passion in both venues they had played.

According to IOL the City boss said:

“The spirit here in the crowd has been brilliant and the local fans are really a tremendous part of the South African game.”

Mark Hughes continued:

“I enjoyed the experience of hearing the vuvuzelas we heard about in the Confederations Cup, and as far as I am concerned they add to the excitement of the crowd.”

Gareth Barry, who was signed by Hughes from Aston Villa for about R225-million recently, agreed with his manager.

“What I and the other players really enjoyed was the noise and passion created by the fans.

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