South Africa will be ready by 2010: World Cup chief
Claims that South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 World Cup were lagging behind schedule were dismissed by organising committee chief executive officer Danny Jordaan.
“We are ahead of schedule, and we will be ready,” Jordaan told AFP on Thursday.
His assurance came after a volley of recent criticism from both home and abroad about the readiness of his team to stage the first ever World Cup in Africa.
German football legend Franz Beckenbauer, Jordaan’s counterpart in this year’s finals, became the latest high-profile figure to raise question marks over the tournament, saying Tuesday it was “beset by big problems”.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter also revealed last week that he planned to visit South Africa shortly “to fire up the organising committee.”
Jordaan dismissed Beckenbauer’s comments, saying his criticism was devoid of detail and there was no need to press panic button.
“He is not telling us what the problem is… We will write him a letter so that he can explain what the problem was about,” said Jordaan who masterminded South Africa’s bid to host the 2010 finals as well as the unsuccessful campaign to host this year’s tournament.
But South African football legend Jomo Sono, who played with Beckenbauer as well as Pele at the New York Cosmos, warned that the 2010 organising team should take his former teammate’s comments seriously.
“The problem (with us Africans) is that we hate criticism,” Sono told AFP.
“I would not know why he (Beckenbauer) said that, but he should be taken seriously. They should talk to him,” added Sono, who also coached South Africa in the 2002 World Cup.
Blatter also voiced concerns that construction and renovation of the 10 stadia due to stage the matches had yet to begin in earnest, saying that he had “yet to see the pickaxes and spades needed to start the work.”
Jordaan, who said no firm date had been arranged for a meeting with Blatter, deflected suggestions that the stadia would not be ready for kick-off.
“We have the stadia, the infrastructure is in place including the transport system, and we also have the backing of FIFA and the government,” he said. “All of us will be working towards the success of the tournament.”
Jordaan’s confidence that South Africa would complete its preparations on time was echoed Thursday by Jan Coetzee, chairman of the South African institute of Civil Engineering, who told lawmakers in Cape Town that a multi-million dollar upgrade in the transport network would be completed well ahead of 2010.
Senior municipal officials in the nine host cities accused the South African government and lawmakers last month of hampering their preparations.
The officials told a parliamentary committee they were still in the dark about the amount of money they would receive for the tournament.
They also complained that legislation on tendering contracts threatened to derail their organisation efforts.
Source:Soccer News
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