african-cup0

South africa is gearing itself up for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and while there's a rush on to get stadiums built on time and roads heavy-traffic friendly, some surprises and curious incidents of petty wrangling keep cropping up. As an example, Durban in Kwazulu-Natal is proving to be an extremely popular'matchfill' location. Which means that although Durban will only host six World Cup matches, they'll host plenty of the visitors who have tickets for matches in Johannesburg, Gauteng, where almost all of the matches will be played.


Durban is strategically situated on south africa's warm Indian ocean shore, so even in winter, when the Cup will be held, visitors can enjoy warm, bright weather and a dip in the sea . Strategic matchfill locations have been identified all around the country in the hopes of lessening the strain on match hosting towns. George in the Western Cape also provides a dramatic coastal location outside the main fray for World Cup spectators, with a focused 1,600 rooms for 2010.

not many are OK with the matchfill designation, however , as Durban's Ethekwini Municipality Mayor, Logie Naidoo, has voiced his dissatisfaction with agreements. Naidoo is especially sad about the fact that more than R2.6 bill is being invested in the new Moses Mabhida Stadium, for only six matches. He refers to the 2010 World Cup as Gauteng's World Cup because Johannesburg will host both the opening and closing rites and the bulk of the matches. According to Naidoo,'This doesn't make sense especially because Durban will be the hottest place in SA in winter 2010, while the majority of the other parts of the country will be freezing.'

Reference :
.