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Germany’s away jersey for the 2010 World Cup tournament has been unveiled by the Deutscher Fussball Bund and Adidas. In a break from the red strip the team wore in the past when playing away from home, the new shirt is black. An interesting colour choice for a rather warm South African winter in the months of June and July…

Red and gold complement the base colour, whilst the badge contains the DFB logo and three gold stars, one for each World Cup win (1954, 1974 and 1990).

White shorts with black and red strips round out the away wear.

Germany will test their Adidas kit against Argentina in Munich on 3 March 2010. The announcement can be read in more detail at the DFB site.

The adidas Tango was the first football I ever played with that had a technological advantage. Even for amateur, school-level football, that ball was an absolute revolution – light in weight, perfectly round and unwilling to soak up water the way older leather-panel balls would. Adidas still develops special match balls for the World Cup, and the 2010 edition features some up-to-date technology. The adidas Jabulani is made up of eight thermally-bonded 3D panels that are spherically molded to make the ball perfectly round.

The name is typically South African and the design incorporates some colours of the South African flag.

Jabulani. To celebrate.

In 2010, I’m sure we will.

The draw for the FIFA World Cup 2010 tournament has taken place.

Of 200 teams in over 800 matches, 32 teams qualified for the competition. The 32 teams have been placed into eight groups and thus have been allocated their first opponents and venues of play beginning 11 June 2010. In a draw that was performed by a number of celebrities, South Africa has had its first opportunity to impress the world.

Group A

	South Africa
	Mexico
	Uruguay
	France

Group B

	Argentina
	Nigeria
	Korea Republic
	Greece

Group C

	England
	United States of America
	Algeria
	Slovenia

Group D

	Germany
	Australia
	Serbia
	Ghana

Group E

	Netherlands
	Denmark
	Japan
	Cameroon

Group F

	Italy
	Paraguay
	New Zealand
	Slovakia

Group G

	Brazil
	Korea DPR
	Ivory Coast
	Portugal

Group H

	Spain
	Switzerland
	Honduras
	Chile

Some very interesting combinations! Spain seems to have a reasonably easy group, whilst the other seeds are likely to have a tougher time. Now, to book accommodation and a flight…

FIFA has announced the eight seeded teams and the individual pots from which teams will be chosen for the official draw that will be taking place at 19:00 South African time this coming Friday. The 90 minute event will see 32 teams allocated to eight groups designated A through H. Each of the seeded teams will be allocated to one of the groups in position 1, whilst the remaining teams will be drawn from pots and allocated to individual groups. There are some rules: except for teams from Europe, no two teams from any one confederation will occupy the same group. As the host nation, South Africa is allocated to the premier position A1 and starts off in pot 1 together with the remaining 7 seeded teams. The seeding is based on the October FIFA ranking.

Pot 1 (seeded teams and host nation)

	South Africa
	Brazil
	Spain
	Netherlands
	Italy
	Germany
	Argentina
	England

Pot 2

	Australia
	Japan
	Korea Republic
	Korea DPR
	Honduras
	Mexico
	United States of America
	New Zealand

Pot 3

	Algeria
	Cameroon
	Ivory Coast
	Ghana
	Nigeria
	Chile
	Paraguay
	Uruguay

Pot 4

	Denmark
	France
	Greece
	Portugal
	Serbia
	Slovakia
	Slovenia
	Switzerland

The separation of higher-ranked teams means there should be some excitement lined up for matches beyond the first round. How well South Africa fares through the first round will be interesting.

It took the team from the USA a scant ten minutes to shock their Brazilian opponents. Dempsey scored a goal as the USA maintained pressure on the favourites in the exciting final of the 2009 Confederations Cup. Another 17 minutes, and Donovan scored yet again for the USA. Brazil seemed very unsettled and uncomfortable as the team from the USA showed remarkable skill and poise in breaking away and countering.

About 40 seconds after kick-off in the second half saw a Brazilian team that must have had a bit of a talking to in the locker room: Fabiano executed a remarkable turn, pushing the ball into the back of the American net. With that, the lead the Americans enjoyed shrunk to just a single goal. On 60 minutes, the ball hopped between the horizontal post and goal line, the Brazilians claiming a goal. Slow motion replays seem to suggest that a goal should have been allocated to them, but the US managed to survive, their lead still intact. Only a few minutes later, and Fabiano once again scored for Brazil. The top goal scorer of the tournament set the score to 2:2 in the 74th minute, requiring the US team to once again plan a comeback.

Lucio finally gave Brazil the lead, scoring in the 84th minute. That goal was the result of a huge amount of pressure from the Brazilian team, unabated since Fabiano scored at the beginning of the second half.

Brazil is the Confederations Cup 2009 winner.

USA 2 : Brazil 3

The game for the third place in a major tournament is often a boring affair: teams are ready to pack up and go home. This time, it was slightly different. Spain is the number one team and had high hopes of gaining access to the final to win the tournament. South Africa is the host nation and crowds in Rustenburg were keen to see their team repeat the performance shown against Brazil.

South Africa once again did not disappoint, playing a consistent and inventive game. Two names will be remembered in this game: Mphela for South Africa and Guiza for Spain. Both players scored two goals: Mphela opened the scoresheet for the hosts in the 73rd minute after South Africa had held their opponents well under control, though Khune was forced to make a number of spectacular saves to maintain the 0:0 prior to Mphela‘s excellent goal.

It all seemed as though the hosts would be able to take 3rd place until the 88th minute when Guiza equalized. A minute later, and a cheeky chip by Guiza beat the South African keeper resulting in a 2:1 lead for Spain. In injury time, seconds to go to the final whistle: Mphela once again scores to equalize. His free kick must rank among the best of the tournament and left the Spanish keeper no chance. With the score tied at 2:2, the teams settled into extra time. Spain clinched the game in the 107th minute when Alonso scored from a set piece.

Spain rescued some credibility and South Africa indicated to everyone that their form against Brazil had been no fluke: the team has stepped its game up a notch and improved significantly over the last three weeks. That bodes very well for next year’s World Cup.

South Africa 2 : Spain 3

After last night’s shock defeat of Spain by the USA, South African fans are hoping for a similar result when the host nation meets Brazil at Ellis Park tonight. South Africa may stand a chance after having shown significant improvement in their previous game. Shoddy finishing and their poor track record when it comes to winning matches does not bode well for them, however.

Things ran pretty much counter to my expectation: South Africa seemed to have been transformed into a  completely different team, creating opportunities at a frenetic pace and without doubt keeping the mighty Brazilians in check. It is fair to say that the South African team was in no way outplayed or overshadowed by Brazil. Once again, the lack of a decent striker was evident. Of the many attempts at the Brazilian goal, none could find the mark, though a couple came pretty close.

With 0:0 at halftime, it looked very possible that the game could go into extra time. Brazil changed their tactic slightly, drawing the South African team into towards their goal, then attempting a quick break-away and counter-strike. The South Africans held on. Until two minutes from time, when a foul resulted in a free kick, a perfect set-piece. The goal by Brazilian Alves had a surreal effect, quietning the stadium and shattering the South African dream of reaching the final.

This game should remove a lot of doubt about the South African’s ability to compete on the world football stage. There are still many improvements to be made, but this was an excellent show of ability by the host nation.

South Africa 0 : Brazil 1

The team from the USA meets the European champion Spain in tonight’s first Confederations Cup 2009 semi final match. The Spanish team currently holds the record for being undefeated in 35 games in a row, a rather huge burden weighing on the shoulders of the US.

As in any game of football, anything can happen: the US has shown great skill and determination in the tournament so far and may be able to pull off a tremendous upset. The next 90 minutes will deliver the name of the finalist to meet either Brazil or South Africa.

The US played solidly against Spain who seemed to be unable to break through their opponent’s defense. 30 minutes into the first half, Altidore gingerly sidestepped the Spanish defense and whacked the ball into their net to give the US a lead in this very important match. That setback didn’t help Spain, who up until then seemed but a shadow of their former self – unable to penetrate the American defense and constantly on the back foot due to sudden attacks it seemed more and more certain that the US could pull off the tournament’s biggest upset. Dempsey put the team even further into the lead very late in the second half making a comeback highly unlikely for Spain.

Three minutes from full time, Bradley was red-carded after a questionable foul leaving the US team with only ten men on the field. That couldn’t dampen their spirits in the slightest: the US has beaten the world’s number one team and has progressed to the final on Sunday. This was, without doubt, one of the most entertaining and gripping matches of the 2009 Confederations Cup.

USA 2 : Spain 0

As was the case yesterday, the final games in Group B required an extra effort by certain teams if they wished to progress. Specifically Italy as the reigning world champion had a tough time coming to grips with Egypt in a previous game. Facing Brazil is no easy tasks. In the other match, the USA took on Egypt.

Italy could not muster any of their special flair to compete with Brazil. Fabiano scored twice, putting Brazil in the lead by 2 goals. Those goals came within five minutes of each other in the first half, at 37 minutes and then at 42. An own goal by Italian Dossena on the stroke of half time sealed their fate: Italy are out of the tournament and Brazil meet South Africa on Thursday evening at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

At the same time, the USA played against Egypt. Though Egypt had managed to beat Italy some days before, they could not capitalize on the form they had shown in that game: their encounter with the US in Rustenburg ended 3:0 in favour of the hard-working US team who get to play European champions Spain on Wednesday.

Here’s the updated table for Group B

Group B	Team	Points
	Brazil	9
	USA	3
	Italy	3
	Egypt	3

The final games of the initial round of the Confederations Cup 2009 take place tonight. As goal differences and points matter, both games are being played at 20:30. Spain takes on South Africa in Bloemfontein and New Zealand take on Iraq at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

With New Zealand without any chance of making it through, South Africa require at least a single point in their encounter with Spain, though they may still rely on a loss by Iraq to New Zealand. The obvious favourite in the group is Spain. South Africa has a good chance and it would be great to see the host nation attempting a meetup with another big name next week. Sadly, I think there’s little hope that South Africa will progress beyond the next round…

In the first half, we got to see a different South African team: hardly intimidated by the favourites Spain, South Africa initially started with a defensive line-up, then rather quickly took the initiative and pushed forward, attacking the Spanish goal again and again. On 34 minutes, Spain had a great opportunity to go into the lead but a save by Booth after the goalkeeper had been beaten maintained the status quo. South Africa seemed to be creating far more opportunities – maybe Spain were holding back, assured of a semi-final berth? In the game between New Zealand and Iraq, it seemed as though New Zealand had come out fighting fit and Iraq were not afforded too many opportunities. At halftime, both games stood at 0:0.

A foul on Fabregas by Mokoena after 52 minutes resulted in a penalty for Spain…and that penalty was saved by the South African goalkeeper. Seconds later, Villa made sure and popped the ball into the net. He had failed to convert the penalty. Still, South Africa played very well and kept the pressure on. Llorente scored in the 72nd minute putting Spain into a commanding lead. Though South Africa kept the pressure on, there was little they could do to equalize. Slowly but surely, their game turned into a gamble based on the outcome of the paralllel game. At 72 minutes, the score in that game was still 0:0.

This has been one of the better matches of the tournament so far. South Africa played better than they have in quite some time…

South Africa 0 : Spain 2

Iraq 0 : New Zealand 0

Based on the outcome of the Iraq – New Zealand game, South Africa manages to scrape through into the next round to probably meet Brazil. The world’s number one, Spain, progresses too. New Zealand and Iraq are out of the tournament.

Here’s the updated table for Group A

Group A	Team	Points
	Spain	9
	South Africa	4
	Iraq	2
	New Zealand	1