Hoha! (Pointblank): The Talkingheads on South Africa 2010

"I'm more of a realist. I don't think it will happen in 2010, but it will be something special if an African nation can win it because it's on the continent. I think if it was somewhere in west Africa, with the heat, then you could have said an African nation could win. But in South Africa it will be winter, so it will be more in the favour of the Europeans."

-------Steven Pienaar, South Africa/Everton midfielder predicting with certainty no African team will win the World Cup that begins next month when asked if he thought an African team could win the World Cup


"I think we can go far. Why not? First, it is imperative to go through the group stage. We need to concentrate on this target. We have three matches. First we need a win, and then a draw. This can send us through. Seriously, I think we will go through the group stage. Afterwards, I don't know how far we can progress."

-------Kafoumba Coulibay, OGC Nice/Ivory Coast midfielder when asked by Goal.com on how far he thought Ivory Coast will progress in the World Cup.



"The beautiful game in High Definition is truly a remarkable thing to see. Any football enthusiast will tell you the difference between standard definition and HD is night and day. World Cup 2006 was the first to be shown in HD, but it was rare. It was far less common for someone to own an HD television than it is now as they were more expensive and people had yet to see a need. HD programming was not yet easily available to everyone, let alone on ESPN. It was more common on the networks, which is why World Cup 2006 games being seen in HD were mostly on ABC . HD was still in the beginning stages just four years ago."

-------Jake Islas, European Premier League (EPL) Talk podcaster on one of his five reasons why South Africa 2010 World Cup will be the best tournament.


Ever since we first bid for the World Cup, this is a road we have travelled. There have been doomsayers, but we have so far proved those people wrong and we will prove them wrong again.
From the moment Nelson Mandela walked out of prison, this country was written off. But we have struggled hard. You cannot determine your lives by having people say, 'You cannot do this'. Because if we were to have taken that position, I would still be living under apartheid. There is only mild hyperbole in this invoking of history. The World Cup is a massive chapter in the development of the democratic South Africa, an event of infinitely greater significance to its hosts than to Germany in 2006 or to France in 1998. And it will continue to have its doomsayers, but you can only hope that in 49 days they are wrong."

-------Danny Jordaan, Chief Executive of South Africa 2010 on the critics and his organizing committee about the World Cup.