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By WC2010Mania, February 8, 2010 1:04 pm

Sir Alex Ferguson has told Michael Owen not to give up on his 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa dream. The striker hoping to retain his starting spot for Manchester United’s Premier League encounter with Aston Villa tomorrow, following his memorable hat-trick for the Red Devils in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League win over Wolfsburg.

Although it has shot the 29-year-old back to prominence, the general view is that his efforts have come too late to get him on the plane to the world finals next summer. Fabio Capello has overlooked Owen completely since the friendly defeat in France, which will be two years ago by the time England are next in action – probably against Egypt – on 3 March.

In that time, Jermain Defoe has established himself as the back-up to Wayne Rooney, who is certain to be in Capello’s 23-man squad, while Owen hardly fits the bill of a bulldozing attacker, such as Emile Heskey or Carlton Cole. Nevertheless, Ferguson thinks his No7 could still force his way in.

“Fabio has said himself, performance is the only thing that matters,” said Ferguson. “If Michael is going to get to the World Cup it will be through his performance and I think Wednesday helps him.

“There is a view that he will not have played enough games. But he will play a sufficient number to be considered. That is the best chance he has got. That is all he can hope for.”

While England’s FIFA World Cup fate is clearly not Ferguson’s concern, he does understand that if Owen scores enough goals to reach his fourth trip to the greatest tournament on the planet, United will have been the beneficiaries. The former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Newcastle United player has scored so often down the years that his first hat-trick for the Red Devils will not have provided a particular confidence boost.

However, with his third goal in particular, when Owen collected Gabriel Obertan’s short pass and raced towards the Wolfsburg goal from halfway before expertly chipping home, Ferguson saw the killer instinct that was evident so early in his career.

“It was vintage Michael Owen,” said the Scot. “He had the cleverness to cut across the defender, forcing him to think about whether to bring him down, which would have meant a penalty and a red card.

“The guy could not afford to tackle him because at that point, Wolfsburg were still in the Champions League. The goalkeeper came out but Michael waited and chipped him when he went down. It was brilliant.”

Source: FIFA.com

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By WC2010Mania, February 8, 2010 1:02 pm

Keys to the brand new Cape Town Stadium will be handed over to the city’s Executive Mayor Alderman Dan Plato ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup today.

“Just over a week after the successful hosting of the Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Cape Town will witness another momentous event – the handing over of the brand new Cape Town Stadium (Green Point stadium) to the City of Cape Town.

“At a special ceremony to mark the completion of one of the world’s most spectacular stadiums, the ‘keys’ will be handed by the main contractors, Murray and Roberts and WBHO, to Cape Town’s Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato,” the city said in a statement on Monday.

Construction of the 68 000-seater stadium started on 26 March 2007, and the project has been completed on deadline two years and nine months later.

In just 33 months, joint contractors Murray and Roberts and WBHO completed the massive project at a cost of 4.4 billion rand (about 600 million dollars).

The project architects were an association between GMP Architects of Germany and two local firms, Louis Karol and Associates and Point Architects.

Green Point stadium

The design: The sweeping silhouette of the Green Point stadium has forever changed the face of the surrounding Green Point Common.

Enwrapped by a façade of woven fibreglass, coated with Teflon, it will resemble a rose-coloured bowl floating on a base, when lit up at night. The architects have dubbed the stadium “the Diva of Cape Town”, reflecting the constantly changing moods of the city in varying weather conditions.

The roof: The design and construction of the roof is unique. Its basic structure resembled a bicycle wheel, open in the middle with 72 cables linking the outer and inner rings of the circle were slowly tightened to raise the roof from ground level to its present height.

Another first for the roof is the use of 16mm thick panels of glass to cover and protect the spectators from strong winds and rain. This will let in the light while the ceiling panels underneath – made of woven PVC fabric – will soften the noise from within.

The stadium bowl: For the eight World Cup matches to be played at the venue, the stadium will have a seating capacity of 68,000, including 13,000 temporary seats which will be removed afterwards. Features of the stadium are that it can be evacuated in 15 minutes and that all the spectators are close to the game.

Safety: Spectators will be protected by a state-of-the-art camera surveillance system which is monitored by police in the Venue Operations Centre inside the stadium, while pitch invasions are discouraged by a wide moat around the circumference. There is also a police station inside the building to deal with hooligans and other criminals.

Quick facts:

* 96,000 cubic metres of concrete were used
* The roof has a total weight of 4,700 tons
* Some 9,000 glass panels were used to cover 37,000 square metres of roof
* 500 toilets and 360 urinals
* 115 entry turnstiles
* 16 lifts
* More than 2,500 workers were employed on site during construction, and almost 1,200 artisans received training from the contractors

Source: FIFA.com

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By WC2010Mania, February 8, 2010 12:55 pm

Fabio Capello has revealed that he is dreaming of an England-Italy final in 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The Italian is confident his England team have the quality to go all the way in South Africa and admits his home nation would be his dream opponents in the final in Johannesburg on 11 July. Speaking to French television station Canal Plus, he said: “I would love a final between England and Italy. For Italy, for me and for all of us.

“The strangest moment would be during the national anthems. But, I am wearing a different shirt now and I must work for the England shirt.”

Capello, whose side have been drawn to face USA, Algeria and Slovenia in the group phase, added: “My team is strong. The fans are proud of what we’ve done, as are we. There’s a World Cup to play for and our goal is to reach the final.”

The former AC Milan, Real Madrid and Roma coach reiterated his no-nonsense stance towards discipline and will demand respect be shown for everyone at all times by his players. “I don’t accept lack of respect. That means be on time, respect the dressing room code and table manners,” he added.

“They are necessary rules to create a group. Functioning in this manner at clubs that I managed has always given results. You must have respect for the people you work with – even those with more modest jobs, the guy who brings the papers, the guy who washes the kit.”

Source: FIFA.com