Blatter: WC 2010 - What, me worried?

Here’s a man who sounds more desperate by the day. I don’t recall Blatter having to reassure everybody time and again that Germany would be ready to hold the world cup or that it had a Plan B and so forth.

To be honest, it would be disappointing to lose the world cup because how else would the world see what has become of the New! Improved! SA! that it helped create.

Imagine 50 000 journalists peeking into every nook and cranny of the country exposing it for what it has become under ANC rule, not to mention the effect that it will have when the first tourists get attacked.

This is an opportunity to open the eyes of the world and we must ensure that the world cup does indeed take place in SA.

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President of world soccer governing body Fifa Sepp Blatter said the football world should trust South Africa to host a successful World Cup in 2010.

South Africa's preparations have been hit by overruns in stadium construction costs, but the country's government has said that all venues are on track to be completed before the December 2009 Fifa deadline.

There has also been unease over the general security situation with the country's high crime rates, but Blatter said he has been assured that measures would be in place to ensure the safety of football fans heading to the republic to watch the tournament.

Blatter said he will head a Fifa delegation to South Africa next month to talk with President Thabo Mbeki, African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and the tournament organising committee.

He will also visit several cities where World Cup matches will be played and hopes to also to meet with South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela.

"The objectives of the delegation will be to reassure ourselves with the work that the local organising committee of the 2010 World Cup is doing," Blatter told at press conference in Beijing.

"But we also want to make sure that when general elections are held next April that the outgoing and the incoming governments are all behind this organisation.

"I can tell you that they are able to organise the World Cup, they will do it; there is a movement to say 'trust South Africa to organise the World Cup, trust them'."

Blatter also played down security concerns for those at the 2010 World Cup.