US Soccer launched a bold initiative in 1998, “Project 2010,” hoping to place the men’s national soccer team in position to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup in just 12 years time. Julie Foudy examined the impetus, the components, and the reality of Project 2010. How close will the USA team get to this goal?
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JOHANNESBURG NELSPRUIT POLOKWANE PRETORIA RUSTENBURG BLOEMFONTEIN CAPE TOWN DURBAN PORT ELIZABETH
Learn about World Cup’s 9 S. African host cities
Fri Apr 16, 7:04 pm ET JOHANNESBURG – Some 130,000 World Cup tickets have been sold in the first 36 hours of the final phase, and the semifinals and final are sold out. FIFA announced Friday that 29 of the 64 matches are sold out. That includes all games in the coastal cities of Cape Town and Durban. “We are very pleased with the interest and with the latest figures,” FIFA ticketing subcommittee chairman Horst Schmidt said. The opening game is also sold out between host South Africa andMexico at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium on June 11. United-States-Soccer-National-Team/ Timothy Matthew “Tim” Howard – Goalkeeper born March 6, 1979 in North Brunswick, New Jersey Plays for Everton of England
Bradley Edwin “Brad” Guzan – Goalkeeper born September 9, 1984, in Evergreen Park, Illinois Plays for Aston Villa of the English Premier League
Jozy Altidore – Forward/Striker born November 6, 1989 in Livingston, New Jersey Plays for Hull City of the English Premier League
Robbie Findley – Forward born August 4, 1985 in Phoenix, Arizona Plays for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer
Edward “Eddie” Johnson – Forward/Striker born March 31, 1984 in Bunnell, Florida Plays for Aris Thessaloniki in the Greek Super League
Landon Timothy Donovan – Withdrawn forward born March 4, 1982 in Ontario, California Plays for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer
Fredua Koranteng “Freddy” Adu – Midfielder Born June 2, 1989 in Tema, Ghana Plays for Aris Thessaloniki in the Greek Super League
Stuart Holden – Midfielder born August 1, 1985 in Aberdeen, Scotland Plays for Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League
DaMarcus Beasley – Midfielder born 24 May 1982 in Fort Wayne, Indiana Plays for Scottish Premier League side Rangers
Alejandro Bedoya – Midfielder born April 29, 1987 in Miami, Florida plays for Örebro in the Swedish league
José Francisco Torres Mezzel – Midfielder born on October 29, 1987, in Longview, Texas Plays for Pachuca in the Mexican First Division
Michael Bradley – Midfielder born July 31, 1987 in Princeton, New Jersey Plays as a for Borussia Mönchengladbach of the German Fußball-Bundesliga
Maurice “Mo” Edu – Midfielder born April 18, 1986 in Fontana, California Plays for Rangers in the Scottish Premier League
Carlos Manuel Bocanegra – Defender born May 25, 1979, in Upland, California Plays for French Ligue 1 club Rennes and is the captain of the United States national team
Jonathan Bornstein – Defender born Nov 7, 1984 in Torrance, California Plays for Chivas USA in US Major League
Jay Michael DeMerit – Defender born December 4, 1979, in Green Bay, Wisconsin Plays / captains Watford in the English Football League
Clarence Goodson – Defender born May 17, 1982, in Alexandria, Virginia Plays defender for IK Start in Norway.
Heath Pearce – Defender born August 13, 1984 in Modesto, California Plays for FC Dallas in Major League Soccer
Jonathan Michael Paul Spector – Defender born March 1, 1986 in Arlington Heights, Illinois plays for English Premier League club West Ham United AP is reporting that World Cup organizers say 500,000 tickets are unsold and fear “tragic” empty stadiums at soccer’s showcase event. FIFA says Friday (Apr 9) the tickets would go on sale to the general public in South Africa on April 15. Organizers have less than two months to sell nearly a quarter of the tournament’s total match tickets to avoid empty seats. This may be generally true for a number of matches, but there are some matches that are either close to selling out or will sell out before the start of the match. If the FIFA top tier (Suite Hospitality & Business seats) match ticket’s recent price escalation is any indications of the popularity of matches during the world cup then the South Africa – Mexico match in Johannesburg (soccer city stadium), England – USA match in Rustenburg, Germany – Australia match in Durban, Brazil – Ivory Coast match in Johannesburg (soccer city stadium), the Cameroon – Netherlands match in Cape Town and the Portugal – Brazil seem to have less number of unsold tickets than other group matches. FIFA Business seat (Category 1) tickets to these popular matches are selling at least 50% higher than other matches. I am seeing enough demand for the Travel packages that include Quarter finals, Semis and Finals which makes me believe that these matches, specially Semis and Finals will be sell out !
Shark diving/viewing is an unique experience to Cape Town. And fortunately June and July are the best months of the year for shark diving/viewing around Cape Town coinciding with the World Cup dates. There are several companies that operate Shark diving tours from Cape Town and one of them is the White Shark Project. White Shark Project is a research organisation founded in 1989 and dedicated to the conservation and preservation of great white sharks. They organize week long, multi-week and Full day Shark diving tours that will provides an unique diving opportunity to witness the awesome Great White Shark in their natural envirnoment.
A typical full day tour itinerary: A White Shark Project Representative will collect you from your Cape Town Hotel and take you on a scenic drive to ‘White Shark Lodge’, to enjoy a delicious continental breakfast and discuss current sightings, indemnities, wet suits and equipment before heading off to board the custom built 36 ft, 4 tonne white shark dive catamaran – ‘Shark Team’. They limit the number of travelers to 30 to 20 plus crew to ensure your comfort and viewing pleasure . You get to meet their intrepid skippers, a qualified paramedic, a Dive Master and their friendly crew and to enjoy a short talk on shark anatomy and behaviour. You get to know how the White Shark Project works with the sharks in the area and how you would spend the next 4 – 6 hours diving and viewing these wondrous predators in their natural habitat.
Full tour details at White Shark Projects & Multi-Week Volunteer trips
If the FIFA Business Seat ticket prices are any indications of the popularity of matches during the world cup then the South Africa – Mexico match in Johannesburg (soccer city stadium), England – USA match in Rustenburg, Germany – Australia match in Durban, Brazil – Ivory Coast match in Johannesburg (soccer city stadium), the Cameroon – Netherlands match in Cape Town and the Portugal – Brazil seem to be more popular than other group matches. FIFA Business seat (Category 1) tickets to these popular matches are selling at least 50% higher than other matches. With less than 100 days to go for the Soccer / Football World cup there seems to be some matches that seem to be more popular than the others. The finals and the semi final matches are in greater demand than most other matches. In addition to these matches all the Cape Town matches and Rustenburg matches seem to be greater demand than the matches at other locations. The surprise seems to be the general ‘good’ demand for all matches at Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg and that includes the New Zealand vs Slovakia match, the Ghana vs Australia match, the Mexico vs Uruguay match, the Denmark vs Japan match and the Round of 16 match(50). I wonder what the reason could be for this – perhaps it may have to do with the fact that it is among the smallest stadium among all the venues in South Africa.
Are you prepared for the World Cup, South Africa trip ? These practical details for the World Cup bound international traveler will help you get acquainted with the country you will be visiting and help simplify your packing and offer insight. Full details at Practical and General South Africa Information for the World Cup bound Soccer fan. |
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