Craig Urquhart

Anyone doubting the enormity of the World Cup should have been swayed by the events of the past few days. The deciding 2010 World Cup qualifier between Algeria and Egypt resulted in riots outside the Algerian embassy in Cairo with President Hosni Mubarak vowing in a televised speech that attacks on Egyptians abroad will not […]

This week marked the 20th anniversary of the unification of Germany, an event that symbolises some extraordinary parallels between the hosts of the 2006 and 2010 editions of the World Cup. When Germany and South Africa slugged it out for the rights to host the tournament in 2006, they both used two of the most […]

Describing the East Rand as the heart and soul of South Africa, “crammed with spectacular natural beauty and cultural sophistication”, the Sunday Times notes that the first sign that greets foreign visitors at OR Tambo International Airport is a warm welcome to — wait for it — the Ekurhuleni municipality. “No mention of South Africa, […]

Despite the recent hysteria, there was much to admire about Joel Santana who took the plunge by taking the reins of a national team (for the first time) which had the added responsibility of hosting the 2010 World Cup. Despite a shaky start to his tenure 18 months ago, Bafana Bafana found their feet under […]

For several years now, the relationship between Irvin Khoza and Danny Jordaan has been fraught with tension. They are, after all, the most formidable soccer administrators in the country and they have played a crucial role in securing South Africa the rights to host the 2010 World Cup and overseeing the mammoth task of hosting […]

National coach Joel Santana found himself on the ropes this week when he was reportedly summoned to Safa headquarters to account for his team’s poor run of results. For the record, Bafana Bafana have now recorded six losses in a row — their worst run ever. Earlier this month, the team was beaten 2-0 by […]

The key ingredients to ensure the successful hosting of a mega sporting event are security, state-of-the-art stadia, sufficient accommodation, the buy-in of the public and, of course, an efficient transport system. In terms of South Africa’s 2010 World Cup preparations, the country is on target to meet four of these five requirements. Sweeping measures are […]

The appointment of a new chief justice, the ongoing Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe saga and a number of high-profile court cases may have dominated the legal headlines in recent weeks, but a dispute over a key-ring has served notice of things to come in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup. Fifa is […]

South Africa is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Just two weeks after the National Union of Mineworkers ended a national strike, which threatened to seriously disrupt several key 2010 construction projects, workers are at it again. Tens of thousands of SA Municipal Workers’ Union workers have taken to the streets to […]

We can all be forgiven for being apprehensive about the situation in Zimbabwe. For many years, Africa and the rest of the world has witnessed its political and economic meltdown which spilled over into neighbouring states, casting a pall over much of the subcontinent’s progress and, of course, South Africa’s 2010 World Cup preparations. Nevertheless, […]

There were so many magnificent moments during the 2009 Confederations Cup — Mohamed Homos’s 40th minute header which handed Egypt a famous victory over Italy, the injury-time heroics from Kiwi keeper Glen Moss against Iraq that secured Bafana a semi-final spot and, of course, Katlego Mphela’s breathtaking equaliser against Spain at the death in Sunday’s […]

Five years have passed since that extraordinary moment in Zurich when Fifa President Sepp Blatter declared that South Africa had earned the rights to host the biggest party on the planet. And with exactly one year remaining before the kick-off of the quadrennial showpiece of international soccer, South Africa can rightfully stake its claim as […]