I'm back. Again. Hopefully for good this time. Anyways, South Africa. Host country of the 2010 World Cup. Enigmatic country going through some difficult change at the moment. According to new South African president Kgalema Motlanthe (pictured, above) and ruling party leader Jacob Zuma, South Africa will meet all the deadlines set by FIFA and are on course to host the “best World Cup ever” in 2010. The assurance was issued against a background of a domestic political drama in South Africa... Read Full Story

I know, I know. I promised 31 straight days of posts and what happened? Anyways, I'm here. As you know, I also write for New African Soccer magazine. What is that? According to the site: New African Soccer Magazine is the only monthly English language magazine and ezine dedicated to African football. We provide all the news and views, twists and turns of the beautiful game from an African perspective. As the football world turns towards the 2010 World Cup in South Africa we want to... Read Full Story

Horrible news out of the Congo as accusations that a soccer player was using witchcraft (juju) during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot that killed 13 people, a U.N.-funded radio station reported Monday. Most of the victims were between the ages of 11 and 16, Radio Okapi said. They were suffocated as panicked crowds ran for the exits during the mayhem Sunday in Butembo in eastern Congo's North Kivu province. Radio Okapi said police tried to control the violence at Matokeo stadium... Read Full Story

Bad news for Ethiopia. FIFA has announced that Ethiopia have been kicked out of the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The results from all four matches played by Ethiopia to date in Group 8 are now void. The Emergency Committee of football's world governing body suspended the Ethiopia Football Federation (EFF) on July 29th. The EFF problems began in January when its general assembly fired the federation's president Dr Ashebir Woldergiorgis and elected Ahmed... Read Full Story

Now that South Africa have been eliminated from playing in the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola ahead of hosting the 2010 World Cup, many in the nation are blaming the South African Football Association (Safa) for their football development programs. Safa chief Raymond Hack doesn't respond kindly to these critics, calling them "idiots who do not know what development is." It's getting nasty down in South Africa. Safa has been under fire for its lack of development structures both... Read Full Story

Now that South Africa has been eliminated from the 2010 African Cup of Nations, will South Africa coach Joel Santana get the boot? A South African newspaper editorial from the Cape Times doesn't seem to think so. The South African Football Association must stay calm and resist the urge to fire coach Joel Santana after Bafana Bafana failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup in Angola in 2010. Bafana lost 1-0 to Nigeria on Saturday, ending their hopes of sneaking in through the backdoor... Read Full Story

Benin overcame the formidable challenge of Angola on Sunday to join Nigeria and Cameroon in the last phase of African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. A 3-2 win in Cotonou for the small West African country came 24 hours after Cameroon had secured their progress by beating the Cape Verde Islands 2-1 in Praia. Nigeria, who had already made sure of their berth at the end of June, kept up their 100 percent record with a 1-0 win over World Cup hosts South Africa, who are now... Read Full Story

Here, the latest scores from the latest round of 2010 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers... The joint qualifying campaign will decide which five teams will join hosts South Africa at the World Cup in 2010. The qualification process will also decide the 15 teams who will join host Angola to take part at the 2010 African Cup of Nations.From FIFA, some results from today .... Is South Africa out of the Cup of Nations already?? The already-qualified Nigeria maintained one of... Read Full Story

While most of the world is in qualification mode for the 2010 World Cup, the host country South Africa is also in 'qualification mode.' FIFA president Sepp Blatter visits South Africa next week and organizers of the 2010 World Cup are confident the head of football's organizing body will like what he sees. There's been talk of moving the World Cup from South Africa to another country more prepared to handle it, like the United States or Germany. So this visit by Blatter and his cronies... Read Full Story

Interesting article from the Bangkok Post about how confusing the 2010 African World Cup qualifiers are. As they put it, 'FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are on course to score an own goal' with their qualifier rules. Basically, there's a situation where South Africa may have to lose or draw to make it to the next round (weird, I know. Play along). South Africa spokesman Sipho Nkumane said the situation was strange, to say the least. "It is a difficult situation. How... Read Full Story