B
Black_Ned
Guest
Africa v Europe after Brazil pulls out
- AAP
Then it became Europe versus Africa for World Cup 2006.
Brazil's late decision today to withdraw from bidding for the 2006 championship and throw its weight behind South Africa has put even more pressure on Germany and the ailing bids of England and Morocco.
The South Africans appeared ahead anyway before the Brazilian football federation announced its decision to leave the race just two days before the 24 FIFA members sit down in Zurich for two days to decide the venue.
With FIFA president Sepp Blatter openly backing an African venue for the first time in 2006, the South Africans are now the clear favourites. Part of their campaign is that Europe has had nine of the 16 World Cups already.
Although the withdrawal of one of the five contenders should theoretically strengthen each of the cases of the other four, it doesn't work that way.
If Brazil had stayed in the hunt, it may have pulled some voters away from South Africa.
But there's a strong chance now that the three South American votes (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay) could swing to South Africa and the Germans, confident they will get seven of the eight European votes, will have to to look elsewhere for support.
It's likely that the four African votes (Cameroon, Tunisia, Botswana and Mali) will decide to put their weight behind one candidate rather than splitting and risking a loss to Europe altogether.
That means backing South Africa which already has the stadiums and massive support of the fans to make a strong case ahead of Morocco.
The four Asian votes (South Korea, Thailand, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) three from CONCACAF (United States, Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica) and one from Oceania (New Zealand) remain targets when the four remaining candidates present their campaigns on Wednesday.
The Asian confederation has said it would leave its four executive committee members to vote as they wish rather than hand down a mandate while the CONCACAF trio have been strongly targeted by the English campaign team.
England's bid has been badly hit by the violence of its fans at Euro 2000, which prompted soccer's European governing body UEFA to theaten expulsion from the competition, and also a FIFA inspection report which says its facilities are technically inferior to those of South Africa and Germany.
Nevertheless, bid committee member Bobby Charlton, who was on the England team that won the World Cup in 1966 and is one of the most respected figures in the game, was upbeat when he arrived in Zurich today.
"I feel excited about it," the former Manchester United great said.
"I am not afraid of anyone. We can compete with the best out there even though we have had our problems.
"Some people are saying we should throw the towel in. It's not our way to do that. That's not what will happen, believe me.
"We're not finished yet," Charlton said.
"We know we have a fantastic bid and that won't change whatever happens and we will continue right up until the last minute."
The voting process is that, if one of the four contenders gets more than half the votes, it wins straight away. If that doesn't happen, the last place bidder goes out and the voting starts again until there is a clear winner.
While it looks like a South Africa v Germany final, Danny Jordaan, South Africa's bid leader, isn't celebrating early and, like Charlton, will fight his case up until the last minute.
"We have exceeded every one of the FIFA requirements," he said.
"Nobody is in any doubt that South Africa can host a very profitable and successful World Cup.
"Nine of the 16 World Cups so far have been played in Europe.
"Germany and England are asking FIFA to make that 10 and give each of them what would be their second tournament," Jordaan said.
"Africa is asking for its first in over 100 years of the game."
- AAP
Then it became Europe versus Africa for World Cup 2006.
Brazil's late decision today to withdraw from bidding for the 2006 championship and throw its weight behind South Africa has put even more pressure on Germany and the ailing bids of England and Morocco.
The South Africans appeared ahead anyway before the Brazilian football federation announced its decision to leave the race just two days before the 24 FIFA members sit down in Zurich for two days to decide the venue.
With FIFA president Sepp Blatter openly backing an African venue for the first time in 2006, the South Africans are now the clear favourites. Part of their campaign is that Europe has had nine of the 16 World Cups already.
Although the withdrawal of one of the five contenders should theoretically strengthen each of the cases of the other four, it doesn't work that way.
If Brazil had stayed in the hunt, it may have pulled some voters away from South Africa.
But there's a strong chance now that the three South American votes (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay) could swing to South Africa and the Germans, confident they will get seven of the eight European votes, will have to to look elsewhere for support.
It's likely that the four African votes (Cameroon, Tunisia, Botswana and Mali) will decide to put their weight behind one candidate rather than splitting and risking a loss to Europe altogether.
That means backing South Africa which already has the stadiums and massive support of the fans to make a strong case ahead of Morocco.
The four Asian votes (South Korea, Thailand, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) three from CONCACAF (United States, Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica) and one from Oceania (New Zealand) remain targets when the four remaining candidates present their campaigns on Wednesday.
The Asian confederation has said it would leave its four executive committee members to vote as they wish rather than hand down a mandate while the CONCACAF trio have been strongly targeted by the English campaign team.
England's bid has been badly hit by the violence of its fans at Euro 2000, which prompted soccer's European governing body UEFA to theaten expulsion from the competition, and also a FIFA inspection report which says its facilities are technically inferior to those of South Africa and Germany.
Nevertheless, bid committee member Bobby Charlton, who was on the England team that won the World Cup in 1966 and is one of the most respected figures in the game, was upbeat when he arrived in Zurich today.
"I feel excited about it," the former Manchester United great said.
"I am not afraid of anyone. We can compete with the best out there even though we have had our problems.
"Some people are saying we should throw the towel in. It's not our way to do that. That's not what will happen, believe me.
"We're not finished yet," Charlton said.
"We know we have a fantastic bid and that won't change whatever happens and we will continue right up until the last minute."
The voting process is that, if one of the four contenders gets more than half the votes, it wins straight away. If that doesn't happen, the last place bidder goes out and the voting starts again until there is a clear winner.
While it looks like a South Africa v Germany final, Danny Jordaan, South Africa's bid leader, isn't celebrating early and, like Charlton, will fight his case up until the last minute.
"We have exceeded every one of the FIFA requirements," he said.
"Nobody is in any doubt that South Africa can host a very profitable and successful World Cup.
"Nine of the 16 World Cups so far have been played in Europe.
"Germany and England are asking FIFA to make that 10 and give each of them what would be their second tournament," Jordaan said.
"Africa is asking for its first in over 100 years of the game."
