FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke.

The Foreign Correspondent’s Association of Southern Africa organized a lunch with Jerome Valcke this week. Fifty reporters who work for non–South African media gathered at a Johannesburg hotel to ask the FIFA general secretary questions about the World Cup.

The most interesting things he had to say referred to the ticketing system. Valcke admitted that it was disappointing that more Africans hadn’t bought tickets. Only 40000 people from the rest of Africa would be travelling to South Africa for the World Cup, he said.

The reasons? He conceded that tickets might be too expensive for most Africans. The ticket prices are the same price as the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Also, FIFA has realized selling tickets over the Internet has been a difficult and complicated process for most Africans because Internet penetration is low on the continent. He said FIFA was looking at changing the whole ticketing process for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

He said 2.865 million tickets were available for this year’s World Cup and 90 percent of them have been sold so far. FIFA is concerned about illegal ticket touts making money out of black market sales of tickets.

So they are working with Interpol, which has set up a taskforce dealing specifically with this crime. Valcke says they are less interested in the lone guy outside the stadium gates trying to make a fast buck on his handful of tickets. Instead, they are concerned about crime syndicates hacking into their computers systems and stealing ticketing information.

He also touched on the controversy around the number of visitors expected to come to South Africa. Valcke said FIFA never said 450,000 to 500,000 football fans would come to South Africa, he said that number was an estimate put out by the South African authorities. Recently, that number has been significantly downgraded – only 150,000 to 250 000 foreign visitors are expected over the World Cup.

One journalist asked him how FIFA dealt with the negative image they have in South Africa because the football body is viewed as "bullying" and "taking over the country." Valcke was pragmatic, he said FIFA were the "gatekeepers of football" and so they didn’t have to be "nice" all the time.

He said they weren’t taking over the whole of South Africa, "just a little bit of it."

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Although many consider football to be a global sport, a look at the history of the World Cup shows only a handful of nations have mastered it. FIFA – the game's world governing body – recognizes 208 national associations but just seven have celebrated having the best team on the planet.

Italy won the World Cup in 2006 but who will do it this time around?.

South Africa 2010 will be the 19th football World Cup. Of the previous 18 tournaments, five have been won by Brazil, four by Italy and three by Germany. Argentina and Uruguay have claimed two each and France and England one apiece. So, four European and three South American countries have triumphed but the world champions have never come from North America, Asia or Africa.

It is hard to see that record changing this time, although Africa's contenders will be bolstered by the first ever World Cup on their home continent. Ghana and Ivory Coast are arguably the strongest of those countries.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba will lead the Elephants' campaign. He hit 37 goals for his club this season and was the English Premier League’s leading scorer. His teammate Salomon Kalou has been in good form too. However, another Chelsea player, Michael Essien, could miss out through injury – a setback for the hope of the Black Stars.

We’re expecting a warm welcome from South Africa’s fans but only the most blinkered of them will consider the hosts to have any chance of lifting the trophy. Even 'dark horse' status is optimistic for Bafana Bafana, unlike France, Portugal, the United States, Australia and North Korea who each have credibility.

France and Portugal had poor qualifying campaigns – one of the reasons why they aren’t the top seeds in their respective groups. But both countries have talented squads and if they find form at the right time will be a match for anyone. Portugal, in particular, will hope their Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo gets inspired on the biggest stage of all.

Like Greece at the 2004 European Championship, the United States will feel they are more than the sum of their parts – and players like Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard show star qualities at times.

Australia’s teamwork and battling spirit will be their biggest weapons. Many felt they were unlucky to lose to eventual champions Italy four years ago – and the Aussies can never be ruled out at any sport.

North Korea will be the lowest ranked team at this World Cup but mainly because they play so little international football. No-one knows very much about them and, as they did back in 1966, the country could spring a few surprises.

Of the highest-ranked nations, I would discount Argentina, England and Germany. Maradona may have been a genius as an Argentine player but he’s some way short of that as a coach. He isn’t getting the best out of world player of the year Lionel Messi and his omission of Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti from his World Cup squad is puzzling.

England’s first team is good but they lack strength in depth and don’t have enough goalscorers while Germany have been dealt a huge blow with the injury to their captain Michael Ballack. Not only vastly experienced, Ballack has scored an astonishing 42 goals in his 98 international appearances.

Brazil, Spain, Italy and Netherlands are the outstanding favorites. However, neither Spain nor Netherlands have won the World Cup before, while a European team has never triumped away from European soil.

Some may have more chance than others on paper – but what will happen in reality is anyone's guess; so who do you think will be crowned world champions?

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Is this really a new glorious dawn for English cricket or another false one? The exciting, fun, entertaining thrill-a-minute ride that is 20/20 cricket was first played and devised in England and now a nation not exactly noted for regular sporting triumphs on the world stage can rightly claim to be the best.

Captain Paul Collingwood proudly shows off the world 20/20 trophy after England's victory over Australia (Getty Images).

I was in Barbados for the comfortable seven-wicket victory over Michael Clarke’s Australia and I have to say the English were certainly worthy winners.

Superbly led by captain Paul Collingwood and a rejuvenated Kevin Pieterson, they never looked in trouble. The squad combined experience with youth. Stuart Broad for example is an exciting prospect. It’s certainly unfair and way too early in his career to label him the next Ian Botham – I’m sure Stuart himself would be the first to conceed that – but the future’s bright for this nucleus of players.

I was interested greatly by the Australian response though to this defeat. Clarke was clearly very disappointed by this loss but you sensed a win for the Aussies would have been more a case of the icing on the cake for them.

Ricky Ponting, the Australian Test captain, will have been watching events unfold closely of course and it would have been great for his country had they added the world 20/20 title to complete their sweep of World Cup and Champions Trophy successes.

Another Ashes series looms large on the horizon starting in Brisbane in November. The Aussies were already a wounded animal after last year’s defeat in England and you just sense that this 20/20 setback to the English once again will only fire them up a lot more.

Remember what happened the last time England tried to successfully retain the Ashes down under? That’s right, they were put to the sword in emphatic fashion by one determined Australian team. The challenges ahead in the coming months will say a lot about the moral fibre of this current England team.

But what about the tournament as a whole. I think it’s fair to say that for, the cricketing purists, the 20/20 version of the sport will never be the real deal.

Take the comments of Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakarra whose team reached the last four before losing to England. In his view, there's simply nothing better than playing for your country. In Test matches.

That's his valid opinion and of course he's entitled to it. There are many merits to the five-day verson of the game not least of all its heritage and tradition.

But surely nobody can argue cricket is better served long-term by broadening its appeal to the masses and taking it to places a few years ago you'd never even have thought possible. Like the USA for example.

In the next few days, the state of Florida will host an international 20/20 gathering, and Sri Lanka for one will be there. And, in my view, that's great to see. For a nation so passionate about Major League Baseball, why not introduce all the fun, passion and flair of this form of cricket?

I'm sure many top players were sceptical when the concept of the revolutionary new twist to cricket was first put forward but I also feel now there are many converts.

Take Michael Hussey of Australia. He was the Aussies' match-winner in that sensational semi-final victory in St Lucia at the expense of champions Pakistan.

His 60 not out from just 24 balls was among the most devastating spells of top-class sport I've ever been anywhere near! The mission statement for 20/20 cricket is centered on entertainment. Players and fans alike have been won over ….now watch it grow and grow!

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In the next few years the French Open may be forced to leave its iconic city center location of Roland Garros, in favor of an out of town setting which would allow it to expand like its grand slam counterparts already have. But is abandoning the bright lights of Paris really a good move for the French? And how will the alternative venues measure up?

Roland Garros is too small for the large audiences it attracts.

Ever since the French Open began in 1928 it has been held on the red clay courts of Roland Garros, in the city’s chic sixteenth arrondissement.

As French as Wimbledon is English, Roland Garros, which is named after a French airline pilot and World War One hero, has become synonymous with tennis. And consequently, the French are far from impressed at proposals for a move from their prestigious home to the city’s less than glamorous suburbs.

But with only a small area of land to play with, half that of Wimbledon’s South West London location, the French Open has outgrown itself, hemmed in by the vast Bois de Boulogne park on one side and avenues of expensive homes on the other.

It would certainly be a great shame to leave the history of the venue and Paris behind but organizers are under considerable pressure to do so after it was reported that reigning champion and world number one Roger Federer gave a list of his complaints about Roland Garros' facilities to tournament director Gilbert Ysern.

Federer was not advocating a move out of the city but his opinions will have further convinced those who believe it is necessary. And as hopes to improve the existing venue were stalled by protests from environmentalists and local residents, who amongst other things objected to the construction of a roof over the Phillipe Chatrier court, organizers seem to be running out of options.

Earlier in the year Ysern told the media that leaving Paris would be “heartbreaking,” but something that he knew had to be considered for the future of the tournament. And it seems that future could lie in one of four locations, all situated at least 15km outside of Paris – not quite as attractive to players or traveling fans.

To the north there is the nondescript town of Gonesse, a 16.5 km train or car journey from Paris and close to Charles de Gaulle airport, which can claim very little to its name except for being the sight of a Concorde crash in the year 2000.

Then there is the equally uninspiring 1960’s town of Evry, 25km to the south of the city and close to the other international airport in Paris, Orly.

Perhaps slightly better known is Marne-la-Vallée in the west, but this is already the home of the ever-expanding Disneyland and is still around an hour from the center of Paris.

The final contender, and certainly the preferred new location as far as Ysern is concerned, is Versailles. The former French capital is the home of the spectacular palace that was once the residence of the country’s kings and queens.

So despite still being outside the city walls, it boasts a slightly more imaginative and iconic setting than any of the other options, and if the tournament had to move Versailles is the front runner.

Nevertheless, none of the suggestions are quite as alluring as the established Roland Garros complex, just a stone's throw from the city and all the sights it has to offer.

A decision on the future of Roland Garros will be taken by the French tennis authorities at the beginning of 2011, and any move is expected to take up to five years to complete. Perhaps they are hoping this will give the tennis world time to get used to the idea.

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Ernie Els should feel right at home on Wentworth’s west course and you’d think that after designing it he would have an unfair advantage over the rest of the field at the BMW PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy damages his club after getting stuck in the sand on the 10th hole.

Golf is unique in many ways and this is just another twist when a player can directly influence about 7000 yards of landscape, and then head out to compete in European flagship event.

Though, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to think that if Els won it was because of the advantage of designing the course because  he has been playing great golf this year.

It was a good thing that a player of Ernie’s ilk – who has seen the game evolve quite dramatically since he first teed it up at Wentworth in 1992 – put his touch on the Wentworth course.

He brings with him the experience of still playing among the best on both sides of the Atlantic which I feel gives him a better vision of where the game is going for professionals and how to challenge them now.

The players hit long and have more control over their shots which meant for too long that Wentworth was at their mercy. Not any more as Ernie has rightly given it some teeth.

Precision is rewarded and anything else is severely penalised.

It’s the biggest change Wentworth has ever undergone and Els has tried to lay the foundation for a course that will challenge the very best in the game for the next 15 years.

Where the course loses out is around the green of the par 5 18^th that was reshaped with a risk and reward in mind in order to add more drama come Sunday afternoon.

But it’s failing because there is just too much risk with the brook skirting the front of the green and the players are laying up.

Ernie said this week that he and owner Richard Caring had plenty of heated disagreements when redesigning the course and it was Caring who won the argument about how best to make the 18^th.

What on earth was an owner of course doing having the final say over Ernie when it comes to course design and especially on the course’s showpiece hole?

As Ernie said Tuesday: “he was the one paying the bill.”

Now the players are coming off the green during their rounds at the BMW and slamming the hole as a failure.

Maybe Ernie has a wry smile on his face in private, but in public he is still defending the course.

He was doing a lot of that during the week which would have made it hard for him to focus on playing good golf.

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Based on recent report release by FIFA, due to the high demand for certain favorite team, specific tickets series for countries like England, Brazil, Argentina, Republic of Ireland and Netherlands were sold out.

However in a statement release on 16th June 2009, which is exactly one year till the kickoff of the 2010 World Cup, the second ticketing phase which will serve on first come, first serve basis will continue to be made public until the 16th November 2009. This maybe a great relief for supporters who has yet to book their ticket.

According to the FIFA press release, as of today, there have been a total of 630,021 tickets in 188 different countries and territories sold. Half of those total orders, which amounts to 630,021 tickets were submitted by the locals, South African. USA supporters have purchased the second largest number of tickets (73,441), followed by United Kingdom (42,907), Germany (30,880) and Australia (15,038). Sales from Italy National team supporters has reached 6,063 tickets orders, Brazil fans, 5,777 tickets and France National team supporters alrady purchased 5,106 tickets so far.

According to FIFA, The second phase of the ticket sales has seen more than 105,322 tickets confirmed and approved so far. There is also and incredible demand for individual match ticket. For the time being, an additional 72,000 ticket requests are currently being processed (confirmations are due at the end of this week). Should any confirmed ticket not be paid by the applicant, it will be made available to the public again.

Supporters are advised to submit their orders to the official FIFA ticketing sites to avoid fraudulent and high prices on unofficial sites. World Cup is the most awaited event to soccer fans across the globe. Although there is live telecast brought by local TV stations, the feeling of being in the stadium and watching your favorite team playing for glory is totally a different feeling.

For more information on tickets, venue, game schedule, participating countries and players visit 2010 WorldCup South Africa

For more information on tickets, venue, game schedule, participating countries and players info visit http://southafrica-fifaworldcup2010.blogspot.com/

Bahrain denied Iran the WC, and then danced around the pitch with Saudi’s flag. 4 years later Iran qualified for WC beating Bahrain, and then Bahrain came very close to the world cup twice, but failed in the last 45 minutes, and saw themselves in misery. karma baby

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