Posted in News on May 04, 2004.
South Africa's bid seemed to come out top in the technical assessment published on Tuesday by Fifa after a visit to the five candidates by its inspectors ahead of this month's vote to decide which African country will host the finals.
"It was very important for us to have a good technical report, and I'm very, very happy that that has been achieved," Denny Jordaan, chief executive of South Africa's bid, told Reuters.
"We're working very, very hard, and we are going to work until the 15th, in the morning, when we are told we have to stop," he said, referring to the date of the vote by Fifa's 24 executive committee members in Zurich later this month.
Four years ago South Africa missed out on hosting the 2006 tournament by one vote when Oceania delegate Jack Dempsey abstained in defiance of his instructions to vote for South Africa. The result was that Germany was chosen instead.
"In 2006 the voting pattern followed the evaluation report," Jordaan said. "Indeed, the voting mirrored the report exactly. The evaluation report said that South Africa and Germany were equal, then England, and last was Morocco.
"In the voting, Morocco was the first to be eliminated, then England," Jordaan added.
"Given the fact that we lost 2006 by one vote and we ranked equal to Germany, it is very important to us to have a good report again."
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Morocco, seen as South Africa's main rival to host the continent's first soccer World Cup, took an unexpected knock after being ranked third behind Egypt in the report drawn up by a five-man team led by Belgian Jan Peeters.
In particular, the report noted that stadiums presented to Fifa as being under construction ahead of the 2006 vote four years ago have still not yet been built.
The latest report noted South Africa's public enthusiasm and government backing for the bid, the country's "excellent overall infrastructure" and "world class tourist attractions" plus the benefits in helping to unite a society divided for decades by apartheid segregation.
It sounded a note of caution over "questions over security" in the country, known for its high crime rates.
But Jordaan said South Africa had shown several Fifa executives, including its president Sepp Blatter, at last week's 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid and presidential inauguration that it could handle security at big events.
"If your definition of security takes into account the post-September 11 world, then we feel pretty secure," Jordaan said. "For the Fifa members - some of them came to the inauguration and they were happy. I'm reasonably happy with our position."
