South Africa ready for Confed Cup, says FIFA

With one month until the kick-off of the FIFA Confederations Cup, organisers said Thursday that South Africa was ready to host the event, seen as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup next year.

“We approach the tournament with confidence,” said Danny Jordaan, the head of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee.

Despite worries about South Africa’s alarming crime rate, with an average of 50 murders a day, and a public transportation system that is still being built, Jordaan said the country was ready to host the Confed Cup.

“Our stadiums are ready, our transport and security plans have been fine-tuned and more than 4,000 volunteers have been trained in preparation for the first major FIFA tournament on African soil,” he said

“We know we still have much to do, but I can assure you we will not disappoint.”

Derick Blanckensee of the FIFA competitions division said all four stadiums to be used for the Confed Cup matches were ready, although some of the pitches were still being prepared.

“Some for the stadiums need a little bit more work as there had been a lot of activities especially rugby matches,” he said, adding that experts were monitoring the pitches.

Organisers also announced that they had hired Grammy-winning artist Lebo M, best known for creating the music to Disney’s “Lion King”, to stage the opening and closing ceremonies.

South Africa’s deputy police chief Andre Pruis said law enforcement was receiving weekly intelligence updates from around the world to help monitor any potential criminal activity.

Interpol will also send a team to help local police during the games, he added.