World Cup Capsules: U.S. vs England in soccer's moment in America
IRENE, South Africa (AP) — The bars are stocked across America, and the pubs are getting ready in England. A 70½-foot billboard of Clint Dempsey stands near Penn Station in Manhattan, and there's even a large poster of Landon Donovan in a store along Piccadilly Circus.
American soccer has never been more popular in the United States or its players more well-known across the world. And on Saturday comes the first competitive match between the U.S. and England since the great American upset at the 1950 World Cup. For one afternoon, millions will be watching from California to New York island. Like never before in the United States, this is the sport's moment.
"I don't know what's going to be better, at the bar with my friends back home watching it, or actually playing it, because it's going to be special," goalkeeper Tim Howard said Thursday.
On the first cloudy day since the U.S. team started workouts June 1, the Americans practiced in Pretoria. Then their red-white-and-blue bus with "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Victory!" on the side made the two-hour drive to Rustenburg, where the big game will be played.
Thousands of tickets in refurbished 38,646-capacity Royal Bafokeng Stadium were purchased back in the United States for the match at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range in the North West Province. Stevan Galich, a fan from Chicago, organized transportation for 350 American fans from Sandton, a north Johannesburg suburb, to Rustenburg on Saturday. His party plans to meet outside the stadium with Sam's Army and the American Outlaws, two supporters' groups. They hope to offset the roar from English fans who usually travel with their team in large numbers.
Donald Gips, the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, said Sunday that FIFA estimated 132,000 tickets for the 64-game tournament were bought in the United States, the most in any nation outside the host.
"Certainly the water cooler talk, if I can use that expression, is greater than anything I've seen around the World Cup, around the U.S. being in it, and certainly around the U.S.-England game for sure," U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said. "The amount of time we're getting on ESPN. The cover of SI. The cover of ESPN The Magazine. The cover of Time Magazine. Anybody remember when that last happened for soccer?"
The Irish Pub, a few blocks from Carnegie Hall in Manhattan, is packed many weekend mornings for English Premier League games. Last month, it doubled in size in preparation for the World Cup.
Youth soccer teams are planning to meet to watch together, and several Major League Soccer stadiums will open for viewing parties.
Adidas, Nike and Puma have been busy selling World Cup gear. More than 55,000 fans went to Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field for the U.S. team's sendoff game on May 29.
Interest ratcheted up last June when the Americans upset Spain in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup, a World Cup warmup tournament in South Africa. The Americans ended the European champion's streaks of 15 wins and 35 unbeaten games.
The December draw boosted it even more when the United States was matched up with England to get things started.
It's far different from 1990, when the U.S. team returned to the World Cup for the first time in 40 years and few American fans made the trek to Italy. There wasn't much to root for, with the U.S. losing three straight games.
"We thought we knew what the World Cup was. And you know what? Reality slapped us right in the face," said Marcelo Balboa, a defender on that U.S. team who is covering this tournament for the radio network Futbol de Primera. "Soccer has just grown so much. Look at where we're at now, and look at where we stood in '90?"
And with growth comes responsibility. When the U.S. went 0-3 at the 1998 World Cup in France and finished last in the 32-nation field, the blowout created turmoil in the American soccer community. But it hardly got a rise out of most U.S. sports fans.
Following a run to the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup, where the U.S. opened with a 3-2 upset of Portugal and beat Mexico 2-0 in the second round, there were great expectations for the 2006 tournament. But the team had another winless flop (0-2-1).
Reaching the final eight was the best finish for the United States since it advanced to the semifinals of the first World Cup in 1930. Playing England, with Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and John Terry, is a chance for American players to measure themselves against some of the best and most celebrated players.
Nine of the 23 players on the U.S. roster were with English clubs last season, including Donovan during a three-month loan, so the teams know each other well. And the supporters have a fairly good knowledge, too. That's why this match has captured public imagination on both sides of the Atlantic.
"I think the cultures are similar, which is probably the biggest reason why," said American forward Jozy Altidore, who spent last season at Hull.
While the U.S. is 2-7 in head-to-head-matchups, eight of those were exhibitions. The only one that really counted was the meeting in the 1950 World Cup, won famously 1-0 on Joe Gaetjens' goal in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
That's considered one of the great upsets in sports history.
So from Rustenburg to Raleigh to Rotherham, eyes will be focused on the match.
"I know the people back home are just, they're going to be kicking every ball. I've heard so many stories from family members and friends," Howard said. "I think our country is going to stop, man. I really do. I think everyone is going to stop and be watching, have one eye on the result. And it's a lot of pressure, but it's also pretty cool to see how far we've come."
Altidore says sprained ankle is getting better
IRENE, South Africa (AP) — Jozy Altidore says his sprained ankle has improved, but he left the impression it hasn't 100 percent healed ahead of the United States' World Cup opener against England on Saturday.
The 20-year-old forward hurt his right ankle in training June 2 and missed last Saturday's exhibition win over Australia. He resumed full training Tuesday.
"It's getting better for sure," he said after practice Thursday in his first availability following the injury. "I didn't think I had anything that serious to the point where I'd have to be relieved from the tournament, so I'm happy about that."
With Altidore out, Edson Buddle and Robbie Findley started at forward against Australia, and Herculez Gomez entered in the second half. Buddle scored his first two international goals and Gomez got the final score in a 3-1 victory.
"They are all great guys. So I think it's so easy, you know, in terms of clicking immediately because we all get along very well off the field," Altidore said. "On the field, everybody has their own different style of playing, which is also unique and very different. And you can kind of throw different things at different teams, and I think that's important for us."
U.S. coach Bob Bradley has downplayed Altidore's injury.
"Cost him a couple days, but from the start we knew that this was very minor," he said Wednesday.
Altidore has been running at full speed in training, but seemed to be cutting a little gingerly in the short portions of practice open to reporters. He's been spending time with trainers and done fitness work.
"Just a lot of treatments, probably two to three times a day," he said. "There's not much you do, so, you know, I'm hopeful."
Altidore scored his ninth goal in 25 international appearances against Turkey in the U.S. sendoff game last month. He had two goals for Hull last season in the English Premier League while on loan from Spain's Villarreal.
On Feb. 2, he got to play against Chelsea and John Terry, a starting central defender for England.
"It wasn't easy, I'll tell you that much," Altidore said. "He's a good player and he reads the game well. He's a competitor, so whoever's up front again him, it's going to be a battle for sure."
Altidore has been working on playing as a target forward, with his back to the goal. But he says that role may come more naturally to Buddle, Major League Soccer's scoring leader with nine goals for the Los Angeles Galaxy this season.
"He's a big, tall strong guy and gets on the end of things and he holds the ball up well, so I think we do have options there," Altidore said. "As for myself, there's only so much you do at the end of the day, just try to make sure you're prepared for anything that's thrown at you."
-- Ronald Blum
Bradley singles out Capello & Ferguson for praise
IRENE, South Africa (AP) — Bob Bradley couldn't keep his admiration for Fabio Capello bottled up.
Long before he was U.S. national team coach, before he even ran his first professional team, Bradley was the head soccer coach at Princeton University, his alma matter. And in the 1990s, he took the Tigers to Italy to watch Capello coach AC Milan.
They've spoken a number of times over the years about soccer, and their teams will meet Saturday when the Americans play England in their World Cup opener.
"His quote to me, his coaching advice is always something along the lines of: 'When you make wine, the grapes aren't always the same,'" Bradley said Wednesday. "And the first few times he said that to me, I thought he was actually talking about wine. But since then, I thought about it and I realized that he was trying to tell me a little something about football."
Bradley remembered watching AC Milan play Inter Milan and Sampdoria on that Princeton trip. He also followed Capello's career during stints with Juventus and Real Madrid.
"What you is expect is that the teams will be well-prepared. Tactically they will be right. The mentality will be right," Bradley said. "He certainly sets a good tone with his team in terms of how they need to play, how they go about their business."
He was especially impressed at how AC Milan did after Capello replaced Arrigo Sacchi as coach. Coming off consecutive European titles in 1989 and 1990, the Rossoneri went unbeaten in 58 straight Serie A matches under Capello from May 1991 to March 1993 and won four league titles in five seasons.
"The demands that Sacchi put on the teams were great physically," Bradley said. "I think Capello knew how to keep a lot of the good things there, but how to tweak it a little bit, how to make sure that physically with the number of games that Milan was playing, that that part could be managed."
When Capello moved on to AS Roma from 1999-04, he switched to a 3-4-1-2 formation that took advantage of Cafu's talent, teaching Bradley that a coach must adapt to the players he has.
Bradley also has learned from watching Premier League managers, a group that has helped mold many of the U.S. national team players. Alex Ferguson and Manchester United stood out from Bradley's visits there.
"I appreciate the way Sir Alex has set a tone in the whole club," Bradley said. "There's a down-to-earth way. You sit in the cafeteria and you see the players that have been there, (Ryan) Giggs, (Paul) Scholes, and then you see young players that play for the reserves, and you see the interaction and you see the way things are done. And it's a big club, but at the same time there's a down-to-earth quality. There's a realness, there's a part to it that for me I think is important. So yeah, I learn a little bit every time I have the chance to see how these people work."
-- Ronald Blum
World Cup helps ESPN's expansion plans
NEW YORK (AP) — ESPN marketers will fan out to bars in ethnic enclaves during World Cup matches to pass out schedules and posters, just one way the sports network is using the quadrennial event to build new audiences in both the U.S. and internationally.
The network's large presence of 300 staff members in South Africa for the soccer tournament could also be seen as a dry run to help a future Olympics bid.
Either ESPN, ESPN2 or corporate sister ABC is televising every one of the 64 scheduled matches in the first year the company has the American television rights to the tournament. ESPN leased rights to televise some games in 2006, covering some of the matches with announcing teams based in a Connecticut studio.
"We think it's a chance to advance the notion that we are a global entity," said John Skipper, the network's executive vice president for content.
One way to do that is to start at home. ESPN will promote itself heavily in areas where the network's emphasis on American sports makes it less interesting to residents. The Greek enclave in Queens, N.Y., San Francisco's Italian section, Boston's Portuguese neighborhoods and Los Angeles' Korean communities — all with fans keen on rooting on ancestral homelands — are among the areas that will get special attention.
Besides sending people to gathering places where the games are being watched, ESPN commissioned a South African artist to make posters honoring each of the participating countries, mixing historical and soccer themes. The U.S. poster, for example, commemorates George Washington crossing the Delaware, with soccer players standing in for his troops.
The network has equipped food trucks with a giant TV on the roof, passing out specialty foods from some of the participating countries in New York and Los Angeles, said Seth Ader, the network's sports marketing senior director.
Online and on ESPN Radio, the company will give fans the option of hearing broadcasts in different languages, including Chinese, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese.
In the U.S., Univision has the rights to Spanish-language broadcasts of the matches. Although ESPN can't offer Spanish-language broadcasts of the matches, it is moving into the territory by offering 10 hours a day of studio-based Spanish content on its ESPN Deportes network.
Getting an identification as a destination for soccer fans "is a long-term business proposition for us," Ader said. Showing the World Cup telecast can drum up interest in U.S.-based professional soccer, which ESPN has rights to televise. World Cup soccer is also expected to be a draw for ESPN's mobile business, too.
Soccer is also key to ESPN's efforts to expand in international markets. The network made a big move last year by purchasing the rights to show some games in England's Barclays Premier League.
"In order to get a foothold in a number of international markets, they need to get soccer content," said David Joyce, an analyst for Miller Tabak & Co.
Having a home team helps ESPN but isn't vital to success, the network's executives believe. ESPN's experience covering the European championship in 2008 was instructive: There was no U.S. team for which to root, but ethnic pockets of fans helped the network draw a strong audience, Ader said.
For ESPN, there's another important audience that will be watching. Following NBC's coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, rights to future games are up for grabs, and ESPN is expected to be interested. A strong performance at the World Cup could show doubting Olympics officials that ESPN would be up to covering a large, multifaceted event.
"I never think of this as a dress rehearsal," ESPN's Skipper said. "We think this entity is special enough as itself to merit this sort of attention. If there were no such thing as the Olympics, we would do the same thing. Having said that, we do believe this will demonstrate to people what we can do with a big quadrennial event. That's an ancillary benefit."
-- David Bauder
Freeman joins U.S. World Cup bid committee
IRENE, South Africa (AP) — Actor Morgan Freeman, who portrayed Nelson Mandela in the movie "Invictus" about the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, has joined the committee trying to bring soccer's World Cup back to the United States in 2018 or 2022.
Freeman won the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 2004 for "Million Dollar Baby."
"I have seen the power that sport, and in particular soccer, can have on individuals around the world," Freeman said Thursday.
FIFA's executive committee will select the 2018 and 2022 hosts on Dec. 2.
The U.S., which staged the tournament in 1994, is competing with Australia, England, Russia, Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium for both tournaments. Japan, Qatar and South Korea are bidding for 2022 only.
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger also are on the committee.
England
Commentary: Let Roo be! Rooney unfairly targeted for swearing
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Cursing is not clever but many footballers do it, which is why the pre-World Cup fuss about Wayne Rooney's foul mouth has gone too far.
The striker who carries England's World Cup hopes on his pasty-white shoulders harangued a South African referee in a training match this week. His use of ugly language, as common as trouble on the tough streets of Liverpool where Rooney grew up, was, of course, naughty and disrespectful. It earned the 24-year-old the wrong type of headlines about his hot temper and whether he could be a liability for England's campaign to rule the football world again for the first time since 1966.
Perhaps he could. But it seems unlikely. Rooney is almost a Zen master of cool compared to the raging bull he used to be. He has matured, if not mellowed, under manager Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, learning that it is better to sweat out some of his natural aggression on the training pitch than in the heat of a match. Becoming a dad seems to have taken a bit of the boxer's edge off him, too.
Needle him as they might, U.S. players who will try, perhaps in vain, on Saturday to stop him from scoring should not expect Rooney to make the petulant mistake of being sent off for stomping on a player's groin — which is what happened in his last World Cup match in 2006. Rooney has not been booked in his last 17 games for England; his last yellow card came in a 2-0 win in May 2008 against the United States — which was the last time the two sides met.
Really, however, Rooney's temperament shouldn't be the issue going into Saturday's game. Nor would it have been were it not for Jeff Selogilwe, the South African who seems to have an unusually thin skin for a referee and to have been far too eager to tell the world that Rooney verbally abused him.
Selogilwe says Rooney directed the F-word at him during England's 3-0 win in a training match Monday against club side Platinum Stars.
"I said, 'No, Rooney, you don't use that word again ... He was so aggressive,'" Selogilwe told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "I was very much disappointed because Wayne Rooney is my role-model player."
Not to excuse him, but cursing just makes Rooney a child of our times. Footballers, their fans and pretty much all of us do it these days. Words that a couple of decades ago were regarded as very bad are now common on TV. Plus Rooney curses in English, which makes him more liable to upset referees who are expected to speak the language to officiate at the very top of the game. Players who swear in other languages might slip under the radar.
"At the end of the day, you don't understand half of it," former Premier League and FIFA referee Graham Barber says of non-English-language cursing. "So what do you do about it? Say: 'I think he swore he at me, so I sent him off?' You don't, do you?"
Also, if Selogilwe was as insulted as he says he was, then he should have sent Rooney off. That's what the laws of the game call for against "offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures."
Then, Selogilwe might have kept quiet, because what happens on the pitch should stay on the pitch. Otherwise, referees are going to get into the losing game of having to constantly defend and justify their decisions.
But Selogilwee instead cautioned Rooney and then basked in the international fame that his yellow card generated.
"The minute you leave the player to insult you, then he's going to insult you again," he told the BBC. "The last thing, he's going to punch you."
Selogilwe, 48, says he usually officiates lower division South African matches and that the England game was his first involving a national side in 12 years as a referee. He was clearly a little star-struck: Selogilwe says that before the player's outburst, he asked Rooney to gift him his shirt after the match. After cautioning him, however, he told Rooney: "You can keep your shirt."
Selogilwe is not a FIFA-designated referee and will not officiate at the World Cup. That is a good thing, because this mini-affair could have been better handled or, at least, with more discretion.
There is a risk, however small, now that because Selogilwe went public about Rooney's cursing, the player whom England is relying on for World Cup goals will carry an even bigger label marked 'potential troublemaker' into the tournament. It is proof of their diligence that Carlos Simon, the Brazilian referee for Saturday's England-USA match, and his assistants have been studying English-language obscenities beforehand. But it also suggests that the issue of cursing is, in the wake of Selogilwe's comments, now being taken more seriously than necessary and raises the question of whether Rooney might be made an example of should he be stupid enough to mouth off again.
"What is very unfair about singling Rooney out is that you are almost putting a problem in the referee's mind before anything happened," says Barber, who has hands-on officiating experience of dealing with the player.
For the sake of fairness, let's hope that is not the case.
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester@ap.org.
Gerrard: Players warned by coach about discipline
RUSTENBURG, South Africa (AP) — Control yourself.
That's the warning England's players received from coach Fabio Capello heading into the World Cup, captain Steven Gerrard said Thursday.
The need for discipline in Saturday's opening match against the United States was highlighted Monday when striker Wayne Rooney got a yellow card in a training game after swearing at the referee.
The Brazilian referee and his assistants who will take charge of the high-profile Group C opener also told Brazilian media they have been studying English-language obscenities the players might hurl at them.
"In this day and age I think it's important to show the referees some respect," Gerrard said. "You don't use any language because then you'll be booked and the whole team suffers. You don't want to fall into that trap ...
"We've had experience of losing big players at important times."
Such has four years ago on soccer's biggest state. Rooney was ejected for stamping on a Portugal player in the World Cup quarterfinals, which Portugal won in a shootout.
"Wayne's experienced enough now to deal with it," Gerrard said. "Wayne understands we need him on the pitch, he's a very important player, and every player has been warned by the manager and coaching staff to channel their frustration in the right way and not get involved with the referees or with any silly challenges."
At the same time, though, Gerrard said England's chances would suffer if the 24-year-old Rooney's passion on the pitch was curbed.
"He is a fantastic player and we don't want to take Wayne's fire away from him because that's the type of player he is, always on the edge," Gerrard said. "That is the reason he is one of the best players in the world. Wayne himself just has to make sure he controls his frustrations in the right manner — and takes it out on the opposition and not the referees."
U.S goalie Tim Howard, who stars for Everton in the English Premier League, appreciates the job officials do. He also knows how intense it might get on the field Saturday.
"Refereeing is an impossible job, it's a difficult job, and emotions run high on both teams," Howard said. "So we've been warned to keep our emotions in check and watch our mouths, and I'm sure we're going to try to the best of our ability to do that. I don't think it will go 100 percent as planned. But we have a lot of respect for the referees, so there won't be any problem from our end."
The English hope that is true for them as well.
-- Rob Harris
Hurst says Capello echoes 1966 supremo Ramsey
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The man who scored a hat trick in England's sole World Cup final win 44 years ago believes that current coach Fabio Capello is a similar sort of leader to Alf Ramsey, his 1966 counterpart.
Geoff Hurst, who scored three times in England's 4-2 extra-time win over West Germany, said Thursday that Capello shares Ramsey's ability to instill discipline in a team.
"One player told me privately (that) when they show a video after the game, he picks up on some of the mistakes the players are making and they hate being pointed out, picked out," Hurst said. "There's a sort of nervousness."
Capello, who is renowned as a tough and demanding coach, has been credited with turning a squad which failed to reach the 2008 European Championship into one of several hoping to challenge favorites Spain and Brazil for the title in South Africa.
Hurst said in an interview with The Associated Press that Ramsey had a similar impact on his squad in the buildup to the 1966 World Cup, which was played in England.
But despite being strict, Hurst said Ramsey knew when to allow the players to relax.
After England's dour and disappointing 0-0 draw with Uruguay in its 1966 opener, Ramsey gave the players a day off and sent them to London's Pinewood Studios to watch the making of a James Bond movie and "The Double Man," starring Yul Brynner.
They were even allowed a glass of wine each.
"To have a glass of wine in a World Cup with Alf Ramsey is priceless because the discipline is so strict, much like they have today," Hurst said. "I have never met anybody with as much power in the game in football and in business in 40 years as Alf had in our group.
"And Fabio Capello, his record is brilliant wherever he's been."
Capello won the Italian league title seven times with three teams, the Spanish league twice with Real Madrid and also led AC Milan to the Champions League title.
England has reached just one semifinal since 1966 but Hurst said Capello has given England a platform to win again.
Hurst added that England's fortunes rest heavily on the performance of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, who Hurst said is "one of the outstanding players in the world," along with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi.
"One player does not make a team, but I must say that it's inconceivable that we can win the World Cup without Wayne Rooney playing up front," said Hurst, who is an ambassador for World Cup sponsor McDonald's.
Hurst said Spain deserves its position as favorite to lift the trophy in the July 11 final but that it will be disappointing if England does not at least reach the semifinals.
The only man to score a final hat trick, Hurst joked that his ideal scenario would be for England to win the final 4-0 with Rooney and captain Steven Gerrard scoring twice each.
"If it takes someone to score three, then so be it," Hurst said.
-- Pan Pylas
Slovenia players view England as group favorites
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Slovenia seems resigned to fighting for second place in its World Cup group, with some players saying England is the clear favorite to top Group C.
Veteran defender Matej Mavric said Thursday his team is mainly concerned with finishing ahead of the United States and Algeria to secure a spot in the knockout round.
"We are optimistic yes," Mavric said. "But England are a very strong team. We want to be second. We will leave the first position for England."
Slovenia open their World Cup campaign against African qualifiers Algeria on Sunday in Polokwane, a day after England plays the United States in Rustenburg.
Mavric and assistant coach Milan Miklavic both said the expect England to beat the Americans in the highly anticipated group opener.
"Both England and the USA are very strong teams," Miklavic said. "But England are stronger."
Attacking midfielder Nejc Pecnik said he's not taking Algeria lightly either. Slovenia is 25th in the FIFA rankings, with Algeria five spots below them.
"They are a very good side," Pecnik said. "Our coach and his assistant have had a good look at them, and they play organized football. We will respect them."
-- Enock Muchinjo
Overall World Cup News
World Cup opening: Many stars and VIPs expected
JOHANNESURG (AP) — The most important person on the guest list may or may not appear. Otherwise, the stage is set for a spectacular and emotional opening ceremony to kick off the first World Cup on African soil.
Organizers have issued a standing invitation to Nelson Mandela, the longtime political prisoner who became South Africa's first post-apartheid president, to attend Friday's ceremony before the opening match between South Africa and Mexico.
However, Mandela, soon to turn 92, is frail, and his family says a decision on his participation may not be finalized until shortly before the ceremony.
Plenty of dignitaries are expected to be on hand at the Soccer City stadium, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, and numerous African heads of state, including the host nation president, Jacob Zuma. Both of Kenya's top leaders, President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minster Raila Odinga, are coming.
The ceremony's theme is "Welcoming the World Home" — chosen, according to local organizers, because of Africa's reputation as the cradle of mankind.
"We are saying everyone has got a bit of Africa in them," said the organizing committee's marketing chief, Derek Carstens.
There's also a new World Cup anthem, "Sign of Victory," written by American singer R. Kelly, who will be on hand to perform it with the Soweto Spiritual Singers.
"It's definitely, no doubt, a humanity song, and I'm hoping that everybody feels the same way when they hear it," Kelly said Thursday on arrival in South Africa. "(I'm) hoping they can be as touched by it as I was when I heard it in my head."
A number of African artists also are expected to perform — including South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, Nigeria's Femi Kuti, and the Ghanaian band Osibisa.
Overall, the cast will include more than 1,500 performers, but a singer picked by Mandela to perform a song called "Hope" won't be among them. Siphiwo Ntshebe, 34, died of bacterial meningitis last month.
A global TV audience of several hundred million is expected to watch the ceremony.
-- David Crary
Shakira, Peas & Keys perform at World Cup concert
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The world came to Soweto on Thursday for a celebration of soccer, music and unity on the eve of Africa's first World Cup, with a concert featuring international headliners Shakira, the Black Eyed Peas and Alicia Keys.
Warm-up acts played for hours before the internationally televised portion of the concert at Orlando Stadium began at 8 p.m. with a frenzy of flag waving, drumming and African-inspired dancing.
Veteran South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela took the stage with "Grazin' in the Grass" a No. 1 international hit in 1968. He was quickly joined by a new South African star, Lira, who covered the late Miriam Makeba's "Pata Pata", another worldwide hit that originated in South Africa.
The Black Eyed Peas were next with a slick medley of their hits, then it was back to Africa, with the blind duo Amadou & Mariam of Mali and their sinuous, driving sound.
Shakira, wearing an animal print, waka waka-ed — the anthem and dance of the World Cup. The turbaned Tinariwen brought the sounds of Mali's desert nomads to the mix. The crowd swayed to Keys, and did the toyi-toyi — the protest dance of the apartheid era — to hometown favorites BLK JKS. Colombian rocker Juanes, in a multicolored warm-up jacket, debuted his newest single, "Yerbatero" to cheers from the crowd.
No multistarred stadium show would be complete without everyone on stage for a rousing, closing anthem. Thursday, it was Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People," punctuated by fireworks.
An exuberant Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in full South African green-and-yellow fan regalia, was treated like a rock star as he led the crowd in cheers for Nelson Mandela, who is credited with sealing South Africa's bid to host the World Cup.
Tutu also acknowledged the fans from around the world who have come to South Africa for soccer's premier event.
"We welcome you all. For Africa is the cradle of humanity, so we welcome you home," he said.
About a third of the seats at Soweto's 40,000-seat Orlando stadium were blocked off for the stage and backstage. Most of what was left were filled, as was a dance floor on the pitch.
The monthlong tournament the concert celebrates begins Friday at the main Soccer City stadium just outside Soweto, with host South Africa taking on Mexico. Organizers called the concert and the first game triumphs after years of questions about whether a world class event could be staged in a nation saddled with poverty and crime and still riven by the legacy of apartheid.
"This is a showcase," concertgoer Nana Masithela said as she entered Orlando on Thursday. "We are showcasing ourselves, to say, 'Blacks can do it!' "
Sepp Blatter, head of soccer's world governing body FIFA, had pushed to bring the World Cup to Africa. He made a brief appearance during the concert to speak about 1GOAL, a campaign to improve education in impoverished countries. South African President Jacob Zuma, who took the stage with Blatter, thanked South Africans for the welcome they have given World Cup fans, and called on them "to show the warmness for the whole duration of the tournament."
Orlando, the venue for Thursday's concert, got a three-year, $43 million renovation as part of a nationwide building spree in preparation for the World Cup.
South Africans of all races filled Orlando, parading in the yellow and green of their national team, or draping themselves in their flag. Soccer fans from other countries also sported their colors.
Concertgoer Tumi Mohafa said the mix of races in the renovated stadium in an area where blacks once were confined is a sign of how far South Africa has come from apartheid, which ended in 1994.
"We're a rainbow nation," Mohafa said.
-- Donna Bryson
Study: Vuvuzela could spread colds and flu
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Already criticized by some for being too noisy, the vuvuzela could also be spreading colds and flu germs, according to a London doctor.
The vuvuzela, a long plastic horn as common as uncomfortable seats at soccer matches in South Africa, is just about the most popular item in the country with the World Cup only one day away.
But with the flu season in South Africa in full swing, Dr. Ruth McNerney of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told The Associated Press that the instrument could cause health issues.
"Vuvuzelas have the potential to spread colds and flu as a lot of breath goes through the vuvuzela," McNerney said, adding that they can infect others on a greater scale than coughing or shouting.
McNerney was involved in a recent study of eight healthy volunteers who blew the vuvuzela in order to measure what comes out at the other end. They found that tiny droplets which can carry flu and cold germs were formed at the bottom of a vuvuzela.
Those particles are small enough to stay suspended in the air for hours, and can enter into the airways of a person's lungs, McNerney said by telephone.
"For ethical reasons, we have not tested sick people yet as we need special permission and a secure room to test sick people in," McNerney said. "But it is evident that the potential of a vuvuzela spreading colds and flu exists."
Dr. Maggi Soer of the Department of Communication Pathology at the University of Pretoria agreed that it could be harmful, especially because people often share vuvuzelas by passing it along to each other to blow.
"For me that is not a healthy principle," Soer said.
But Soer was also concerned about another potential danger: hearing loss.
In a separate study done by Prof. James Hall and Dr. Dirk Koekemoer at the University of Pretoria, it was found that vuvuzelas can have negative effects on people's ear drums when they are exposed to the sound for a certain time period.
Soer, who was present when the study was done and is knowledgeable of the findings, gave some simple advice on how to avoid any danger.
"Wear earplugs to the games," she said. "Either buy them at a pharmacy or make them yourselves and take it with you to the soccer games."
Despite the health risks, some soccer fans aren't at all concerned.
"I am not worried," said Matthew M'Crystal, a 24-year-old law student. "Anyway, it won't kill us."
Others, however, don't want to chance it.
"We have to take certain precautions to avoid spreading diseases with the vuvuzelas," said Shireen Morgan, a local housewife and mother of two who said she allows her children to blow vuvuzelas, but explained that she "gives them medicine" to keep them from getting ill.
As for the fans in South Africa just for the World Cup, it's going to take more than the threat of a cold to keep them from taking part in the local phenomenon.
"I could have died in Mexico," said Ricardo Avila, a 56-year-old soccer fan visiting South Africa for the tournament. "So no, it does not bother me."
-- Mia Snyman
Once-embattled Soweto marvels at nearby World Cup
SOWETO, South Africa (AP) — Once a battlefront in the anti-apartheid struggle, the vast township of Soweto — from its iron shacks to its expanding stock of luxury homes — is now brimming with exhilaration as the World Cup opens next door.
"You can feel the vibe," said the Rev. Benedict Mahlangu, the cheerful priest at Regina Mundi, Soweto's main Roman Catholic church.
During apartheid, the red-brick church was a bastion of political resistance. Now it's decorated with the flags of World Cup nations and has been hosting crowded prayer services for South Africa's underdog team, Bafana Bafana, who open the tournament Friday in the nearby Soccer City stadium.
For Sowetans, who number well over 1 million, it's a time not only to root for the home team, but also to welcome visitors, celebrate progress and reflect on unmet promises.
Their township abounds with eye-catching contradictions 16 years after this nation's first fully democratic elections. A new, five-star hotel overlooks a tract of the squalid, plumbing-deprived homes. Restaurants and inns cater to foreign tourists, but local schools are so bereft that some students cram into vans before 5 a.m. to get a better education in distant communities.
Amid the soccer hoopla, it also will be time to remember the fateful Soweto student uprising of June 16, 1976 — a date now observed as a national holiday.
"The young men on our national team, they never could have hosted the World Cup without that day," said Cathay Yenana, who is helping organize next Wednesday's June 16 commemorations in Soweto.
"They owe each and every goal they score to that class of '76," she said.
The uprising was sparked by a student protest against an edict requiring blacks to be taught in Afrikaans, the language of the white-minority rulers. Hundreds of blacks were killed in ensuing clashes nationwide — a foretaste of the conflict that escalated in the 1980s and finally led to apartheid's demise in the early 1990s.
Today's Soweto students have been taught the history of the liberation struggle, but soccer is their all-consuming passion this week.
"Bafana Bafana will win," said 19-year-old Katabo Matabane as he watched friends playing soccer in the bright winter sunshine at a newly refurbished park near Regina Mundi.
Also watching on the sidelines, and pointing out the most skilled players, was Nthato Korolosi, a 33-year-old Soweto tour operator and dance instructor.
He described the recent "diski dance" craze — featuring improvised dance steps inspired by soccer moves. And he predicted off-the-charts excitement Friday afternoon when the opening Bafana match with Mexico is shown on a giant video screen at a "fan park" in Soweto.
Unlike the players on the nearby field, Korolosi is old enough to remember apartheid, and to marvel at the changes since then.
"Apartheid was intended to make black people feel they couldn't even think," he said. "We're a very fortunate kind of people, here in Soweto. We have moved on. We learned to reconcile and be united."
Back in the apartheid era, armored police and army vehicles often patrolled Soweto's streets, and — in the winter months — a thick shroud of smoke from coal stoves hung over the sprawling expanse of unelectrified homes. Now, the winter skies over the township are crystal clear, thanks to a massive government electrification program.
Police still patrol the streets, but the priority now is to curtail violent street crime.
Danny Dube, the 58-year-old caretaker at Regina Mundi, said that's the biggest change for him in recent years.
"You are now free to go where you want to at any time of day or night," he said.
The township has been trying hard to woo tourists. There's a June 16 museum named after Hector Pieterson, honored as the first student to die the uprising, and the Vilakazi Street neighborhood, featuring restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, and the homes of anti-apartheid heroes and Nobel Peace laureates Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.
Some Sowetans complain that the economic benefits of the World Cup will largely bypass their township. Pumzile Ngwenya lives with her five children in a shack near the new luxury hotel in Freedom Square.
"It's nice for some, not for others," she said angrily outside the meat market where she works as a cleaner.
At a nearby sidewalk stall, however, vendor Livingston Mahimele was beaming — crediting World Cup fever for doubling his daily income thanks to surging sales of South African flags and soccer apparel. The stand was a riot of colors — mostly the yellow and green of Bafana T-shirts and scarves.
Among those with mixed emotions about the World Cup is Sibongile Mkhabela, who as a high school student was a leader of the 1976 protest march and spent three years in jail. She is now chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.
"There's a lot of excitement now," she said. "But at the same time, we've let down in one or two things that we aspired to back then.
"We look at Soweto today — it's a great place to live," she said. "But we're busing our children away to other towns. You'd be hoping our schools would enable the young person of today to get a good education without having to pack into a taxi at 4 a.m."
Mkhabela hopes the World Cup might help Soweto, and South Africa, take more vigoroous strides toward long-term progress.
"We could use this energy to turn things around, to make the schools work, to help the child who wants to be the next sports star by bringing sports back into our schools," she said. "We want these young people to live our dreams."
-- David Crary
Cape Town hoopla kicks off with WCup fan festival
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Known as the "Mother City" of the nation, Cape Town claimed its share of the pre-World Cup attention on Thursday with a fan festival attended by thousands.
Long left in the shadow of Johannesburg's Soccer City and the hoopla surrounding its World Cup opening match, people might almost have forgotten there was second game on Friday's opening day.
France plays Uruguay in a clash of former World Cup winners and seven more games will be staged at the stunning Green Point Stadium on the coast, culminating with the July 6 semifinal.
On the eve of the match, thousands of fans clad in all colors converged for a concert in front of city hall, filling the air with the din of vuvuzelas and honking horns.
For once, there were no clouds hanging over Table Mountain, with its outlines cut clear against an azure sky and above the city and ivory-colored Green Point Stadium below.
Yet amid all the enthusiasm and beauty, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille sounded a warning to Capetonians on Thursday.
"The end of this tournament is going to leave one hell of a hangover," she told the Cape Argus newspaper. "There is going to be grave disappointment by many — about fewer visitors than expected."
On Wednesday night, two says before the kickoff, the V&A waterfront district looked eerily empty with most restaurant tables waiting in vain for visitors.
Taxi drivers said they were surprised by the empty roads, and cafes were debating whether there was enough demand to open the kitchen late into the evening.
At midday Thursday by the waterfront, tables and chairs were set out on the verandahs of restaurants, but they were mainly empty. It contrasted sharply with the scenes in December during the final draw of the World Cup, when the same area thronged with people enjoying high summer in the Mother City.
Most, though, had flocked to the center of town where there was plenty of fun to be had below the city hall balcony, where previously former President Nelson Mandela had given his first speech after his release from years of imprisonment.
The party kicked off with local artists belting out such anti-apartheid songs as Eddy Grant's "Give me hope Jo'Anna."
And there was plenty of hope that, despite Zille's dire prediction, the fever of Thursday's fan festival would increasingly spread over the next month, for the good of the city.
"The influx will be exponential from now on," said Andre Oaker, a 31-year-old Capetonian, as people from the age of 7 to 77 blew vuvuzelas in the background. "We always wake up a bit late here, and this party will get crazier and crazier as the month gets on."
-- Raf Casert
WCup visitors warned after robberies
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African authorities are urging World Cup visitors to be extra careful following a spate of robberies targeting foreign journalists and players ahead of the opening match.
Several Chinese journalists were mugged in the center of Johannesburg on Wednesday, the same day armed men robbed three foreign journalists in the country's northwest region. Three members of the Greek team said money was stolen from their hotel rooms.
South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of violent crime, and the thefts were a reminder of dangers that face hundreds of thousands of fans coming to watch the monthlong tournament.
The government sought to provide reassurance, saying it has 190,000 policemen on duty, including at least 40,000 assigned to the World Cup. A joint operations center led by police and including military, intelligence and other government agencies is supervising the games' security from an undisclosed location.
Large sporting events like the World Cup, which are watched by hundreds of millions around the globe, have been targeted by troublemakers, crime gangs and terrorists in the past. In 1972, Palestinian gunmen took hostage athletes and coaches from Israel's Olympic team, killing 11.
The U.S. State Department has warned that there was a "heightened risk that extremist groups will conduct terrorist acts within South Africa in the near future."
But Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the local organizing committee, said he was "comfortable" with the level of security, and authorities have said they are ready not only for petty crime but also for any of the hooliganism that has been a problem in some past World Cups.
"Policing of the country and ensuring the safety and security of all within it remains a 24-hour operation," said Themba Maseko, a government spokesman. "Those in distress are requested to report to relevant authorities and the appropriate assistance will be rendered."
So far, only thefts and robberies have been reported.
FIFA spokesman Wolfgang Eichler confirmed the mugging of a group of Chinese journalists on a downtown Johannesburg street.
A Chinese media report said four journalists were held up by armed men and robbed of cash and a camera.
Early Wednesday, thieves sneaked into Nutbush Boma Lodge outside of Magaliesburg, 75 miles northwest of Johannesburg, and robbed three journalists — two from Portugal, one from Spain — of money, camera equipment, laptop computers and mobile phones. Police said three suspects were arrested and some of the property was returned to the victims.
In a sign of the crime problem's sensitivity, South Africa's top police commander, Gen. Bheki Cele, met with Spanish and Portuguese journalists in Magaliesburg, promising regular helicopter and surveillance aircraft sweeps of the areas, as well as additional resources to ensure their safety.
Three Greek players had money stolen from their hotel rooms at the beach resort of Umhlanga Rocks near Durban on Tuesday, said Lt. Col. Leon Engelbrecht of the South African police.
The unidentified players reported $1,900 was stolen from their rooms at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Engelbrecht said. He said the Greek team told police it did not want to open a case.
Anneli Botha, a former South African police officer now with the Institute for Security Studies — an independent South African think tank — said any crimes related to World Cup were likely to draw attention.
"Each and every robbery is going to reach the headlines," she said. "You'd travel to anywhere else in the world, and report this to the police, and that's not going to happen. There's tremendous attention because of the World Cup."
Unrelated to the tournament, three British nationals — two women and a man — who were part of a school group touring South Africa were killed in a bus crash Thursday, police said.
Provincial police spokesman Capt. Leonard Hlathi said the vehicle was carrying 22 people — including 18 British students and two teachers — when it veered off the road near the town of Barberton, just outside the World Cup host city of Nelspruit in northeast South Africa.
-- Fisnik Abrashi
Tutu says WCup to outstrip famed rugby win
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — When it comes to sporting events of social and political importance, it is tough to beat the 1995 rugby World Cup.
But Nobel Prize laureate Desmond Tutu is convinced the soccer World Cup beginning Friday will do just that.
"Yes, I believe the World Cup will hold more significance than the rugby World Cup," he said in an e-mail exchange with The Associated Press on Thursday. "The excitement that we experienced in 1995 has more than doubled."
On the eve of soccer's first World Cup in Africa, the 1984 Nobel Prize winner said the event could be deemed a success before a single ball has been kicked. Already, he said, South Africa has overcome strong initial doubts about whether it could pull off such a massive event.
"Winning the World Cup bid was not about soccer, it was about us winning, it gave us a shot in the arm," the archbishop said.
"There was even talk about Plan B and I am proud that we have showed that we can do it.
"It's a victory not only for South Africa, but for Africa as a whole. Infrastructure development in the form of construction of stadia, improved transport system, upgraded road networks and telecommunications has been put in place to ensure a resounding success."
Tutu said the World Cup was something South Africa needed after a slew of political problems.
"The World Cup has given us a boost," Tutu said. "We have not been feeling this good about ourselves too much. There have been things that didn't make you feel thrilled in the political arena."
One of the latest issues was African National Congress youth league leader Julius Malema singing old revolutionary songs inciting the killing of whites, with the lyrics "shoot the boer." Some blamed Malema for inspiring the killers of white separatist leader Eugene Terreblanche. Both issues have raised racial tensions that have lingered since the end of apartheid.
"The World Cup might work towards binding people together" in an atmosphere that has been divisive, Tutu said. "People justify singing lyrics that are inappropriate now contextually. Struggle songs were relevant during that period but are now out of tune as we have attained democracy and are striving to move on and build bridges."
Ahead of the World Cup, South Africa has built some of the world's finest stadiums — like Soccer City in Johannesburg and Cape Town's Green Point — which are a far cry from Tutu's childhood memories of soccer.
"As young boys, all we needed were piles of stones on either sides to mark goals posts, a tennis ball, and then we would enjoy a good game of football," the 78-year-old archbishop said.
"It was delightful to see people showing off their skills usually before school started."
Since those days, Tutu has helped spark South Africa's political transformation and won the Nobel for his role as a unifying leader in the anti-apartheid campaign.
It was in 1995, shortly after Nelson Mandela took over as president, that South Africa won rugby's World Cup. Back then, rugby was a sport abhorred by blacks because of exclusionary practices that meant almost all the national team's players were white. But the victory allowed the sport to transcend its historical and political overtones and, for the first time, South Africa shared a communal embrace.
"The 1995 Rugby World Cup saw many blacks celebrating in Soweto. Although many people may not have understood the game, they were happy for the outcome, an illustration sport's extra ordinary capacity to unite people," he said.
Tutu expects the same thing to happen if the soccer team does well.
"Bafana Bafana has really surprised even the hardened skeptic by the turnaround performance and readiness for the World Cup and the whole country is behind them," Tutu said. "They are soaking in all the positive energy around them and I am confident that they will give it their best shot."
-- Raf Casert
R. Kelly says Cup anthem carried message of hope
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — Singer R. Kelly said he hopes his new World Cup anthem can inspire people in much the same way as his signature song "I Believe I Can Fly."
Kelly's new "Sign of a Victory" has been declared the official anthem for the World Cup. The songwriter said in an interview on Wednesday that it carried a message of hope and triumph.
"It's definitely no doubt a humanity song, and I'm hoping that everybody feels the same way when they hear it," he said. "(I'm) hoping they can be as touched by it as I was when I heard it in my head."
Working with the Soweto Spiritual Singers on the song was an "unbelievable" experience, he said.
It's R. Kelly's second trip to Africa. He toured the continent last year, overcoming his fear of flying.
"I always said, 'I can't get on the plane, I can't get on the plane,'" he explained. "But when I finally did get up the nerve to get on the plane and come on over to Africa, the welcome was so unbelievably warm. It was just so touching that I couldn't believe it."
-- Davis MacDougall
Alicia Keys: Africa must know more about AIDS
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Hours before singing at the World Cup opening concert, Alicia Keys says Africa needs to know more about AIDS.
The American singer did her bit to spread the message by surrounding herself with journalists at a Johannesburg suburb on Thursday.
She warned that while the west has an economic crisis, Africa is in the throes of a humanitarian one.
The pregnant star said she feels "extremely blessed and grateful" to become a mother soon.
Keys will join Colombian pop star Shakira, the Black Eyed Peas and other artists for the World Cup Kickoff Concert on Thursday.
Keys says she is "excited to be here. I plan to bring a lot of light, love and that's what you'll feel tonight."
U2 is providing the soundtrack to ESPN's soccer
NEW YORK (AP) — ESPN is using U2's music as a soundtrack to its World Cup coverage.
The band struck a deal with the network for its music to be featured in promotions of World Cup coverage, and spots have been running since April. ESPN uses footage from the band's 2009 concert at the Rose Bowl.
South Africa's Soweto Gospel Choir also recorded versions of some U2 songs for use in the ads.
One ad uses U2's song "Passion" in talking about the World Cup, and notes there was a baby boom in Germany nine months after the country hosted the 2006 World Cup.
WCup chief promises best World Cup
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The head of South Africa's World Cup organizing committee says the upcoming competition will be "the best ever," and proof that Africa can keep its promises.
A day before the opening game, World Cup 2010 chief executive Danny Jordaan said Thursday the lead up to the tournament has brought down several apartheid-era divisions that have plagued this nation.
Jordaan compared the level of excitement to when Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990, and the country's first free elections in 1994.
Jordaan urged fans to head to games early in order to avoids stampedes, like the one Sunday during a friendly between Nigeria and North Korea that injured 16 people.
English hooligans arrested in morning raids
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Five convicted English soccer hooligans have been arrested in early morning raids as part of a crackdown ahead of the World Cup.
Police say the men are between 20 and 44 years of age and were detained at their homes in central England. They are accused of violating "banning orders" by not handing in their passports.
West Midlands police official Dave Mapp says more arrests will be made in the next few days.
The maximum sentence for failing to comply with the ban is six months in jail or a 5,000 pound ($7,250) fine.
Courts in England and Wales can impose banning orders on anyone convicted of a soccer-related offense. Those with banning orders cannot attend any match in England or Wales and must surrender their passports to police when England plays away from home.
