Engen Santos and Ajax Cape Town will inaugurate the world class Cape Town Stadium in Green Point today (Saturday, January 23, 2009). Kickoff is at 4pm.

Like the inaugural match of the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban in December, this is a test run and only 20 000 tickets were sold.

Cape Town Derby Thriller

It is only fitting that the city of Cape Town chose a classic Cape derby to launch this beautiful 68,000-seat stadium.

Well we know how the Final Draw turned out – terrible for South Africa but here are the groups for the 2010 World Cup, in case anyone doesn't know yet. And the Official Match Schedule.

France and Uruguay are two former World Cup winners and Mexico is known as a very strong team, but South Africa will have to rely on the wide experience of coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and the passion and skill of Bafana Bafana if we want to avoid the humiliation of becoming the first host team in World Cup history to get knocked out in the first round.

Well, now we know Adidas' Jabulani (Happiness) is the new Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Match Ball and it was carried on to the stage at the Cape Town International Convention Centre last night by South Africa's Oscar winning star, Charlize Theron.

Jabulani 11 Colours

Jabulani has 11 colors honouring each of South Africa's eleven official languages, the 11 match ball, and the 11 players on the field.

It seems to happen every time, no matter how they do the final draw – there always is a group of death. This is when more big-name contenders are placed in a group than there are places in the knockout rounds.

One Group with Many Favourites

We have seen that previous World Cup draws have almost always thrown up at least one section brimming with pre-tournament favourites, and when after the first phase, is over, one or two of them invariably find themselves packing for home.

The coaches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup teams have started arriving in South Africa ahead of Friday's final draw.
The much-anticipated draw will determine the groups and matches for the tournament's first round and everybody wants to avoid the legendary "group of death."

Diego Maradona was Banned

All but one of the 32 coaches will attend the event Argentina's controversial Diego Maradona was banned.

Ag man, its FootBall Friday, so lets have a song . one of the World Cup Songs The Beautiful Game it is called and I don't know much about it other than the blurb on YouTube that says 2010 Soccer World Cup Song Jolanta Durno and Eric Begala, South Africa.

Zakumi 2010 Mascot Song

Jolanta messaged us saying: The song is currently on the Sony A&R system pitched as the Zakumi mascot song.

OK, we are all stoked about the World Cup Final Draw on 4 December in Cape Town when we will know where and whom the 32 teams are playing, but what about the Official World Cup Match Ball?

Very little has been said about the most important element of this 2010 World Cup Mix – the Match Ball.

Just seven kilometres north of Nelspruit in Mpumalanga, you will find the funkiest of the new World Cup Stadiums. This 45 000 seater, elevated Stadium is called the Mbombela Stadium has excellent views from all positions.

Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit

And like the others, it has been designed to ensure that it enjoys a useful life beyond the tournament as an adaptable, relevant multi-sport, entertainment, and exhibition venue.

France captain Thierry Henry admitted he had handled the ball in the build-up to a controversial goal that sent France to the World Cup at the expense of Ireland on Wednesday.

Talk about Maradona's Hand of God, for the Boys from Ireland, this tragedy at the Stade de France will now be known as Henry's Le Hand of God.

Vuvuzelas - Noisy Plastic Trumpets in All Colours

According to bbc news Motoaki Inukai, the president of the Japan Football Association (JFA), wants the noisy vuvuzela trumpet to be banned from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Noisy Plastic Trumpet!

And to add insult to this sign of cultural intolerance, when asked for his thoughts on the subject after Saturday's stalemate, Japan coach Takeshi Okada responded dryly: "Perhaps if they play good football (the fans) will be quiet and watch.

My obsession with Moses Mabhida Stadium has taken me and my camera there in all kinds of weather yesterday the weather was grey and every now and they it was drizzling, but Durban's 2010 World Cup Stadium still took my breath away, like it does, every time I look at it through my lens.

People's Park

I first jumped out of the car on the bridge that crosses highway to take some pics across the People's Park with the oval walking track that is being constructed- they have cleared all that rubbish and railway yard stuff, and the actual track is taking shake in front of the stadium in the Kings Park Sporting Precinct.

The Republic of Ireland national football team will have to beat France in order to participate in the 2010 World Cup South Africa. This was decided in Zurich this afternoon (Monday) in a controversial seeded draw.

The two sides (Ireland and France) last met in the 2006 World Cup qualifying stages sharing a 0-0 draw in Paris; a Thierry Henry goal was the difference between the two sides in Ireland.

Somehow it feels like that day that FIFA President Sepp Blatter opened the Envelope and said South Africa was just the other day. The image of Madiba holding the solid gold World Cup Trophy above his head was busying into our minds as we realised that the World Cup was truly coming to Africa, to South Africa in 2010.

Well Maradona's boys are on their way to South Africa. To the delight of this football crazy nation, the two time World cup winners (1978 and 1986) managed to pull off a 1 – 0 score. A solitary goal from Mario Bolatti gave them victory over their worthy opponents at the Estadio Centenario, Montevideo in Uruguay last night in front of a very disappointed home crowd.

With less than 250 days left to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, the qualifying rounds are coming to an end in exciting matches that are determining who will come to South Africa next year and take their place in the Top 32 soccer teams in the world. This week will see the last of the 2010 qualifying games before the play-offs take place.

Didier Drogba

Didier Drogba and the Cote d'Ivoire team believe that Africa is on the verge of hosting an iconic World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

The Chelsea hitman rose from the bench and took just two minutes to score the equalizer in Malawi that has booked Côte d'Ivoire's place at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

Two of the top European 2010 World Cup qualifyers being played this weekend are the Russia vs Germany match and the Portugal vs Hungary Match.

Russia vs Germany Preview

The clash between Russia and Germany at the Luzhniki Stadium on Saturday is probably the match of the weekend, with both sides desperate to secure the top spot in their group and avoid having to go to a play-off for a place in South Africa.

Europe's top teams are at war on the pitch this weekend in the penultimate round of qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, with three top-of-the-table showdowns as well as with another three potentially decisive encounters.
All together, thirteen teams will represent Europe in South Africa next year, but so far, only the Netherlands, Spain, and England have sealed their places for the World Cup finals.

The world's biggest soccer ball is one that not even a giant could kick around, it is a 50 tonne football sculpture on the top of Telkom's Lukasrand tower in Tswane.

Telkom has broken a world record by building a 50-tonne, soccer ball on top of the Lukasrand tower in Pretoria, the company said on Thursday.