We are on time, insist 2010 World Cup organisers

Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the organising committee for the 2010 World Cup, insisted Sunday South Africa “is on time” to host the tournament and dismissed rumours Germany could step in as a replacement.

And Jordaan said FIFA president Sepp Blatter would be impressed the next time he visits South Africa at the progress made there in recent months.

“We are on time and there will be no more strikes on the construction building sites,” Jordaan was quoted in Monday’s edition of Die Welt. “The next time Mr Blatter visits South Africa, we will show him what enormous progress we have made.”

The announcement in July, that the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth would not be ready by the time of the Confederations Cup in 2009 – the traditional World Cup dress rehearsal – had caused fresh doubts over South Africa’s ability to host the tournament.

But Jordaan insisted the idea of another country replacing South Africa as hosts was incomprehensible.

“No country would be in the position to host the World Cup in such a short period of time, not even Germany,” he insisted, adding all stadiums would be ready by the end of October 2009.

South Africa will build five new stadiums for the tournament, while a further five will be renovated at a cost of more than 9.8 billion South African Rand (1.2 billion US dollars).