Empty sounds

Sepp Blatter in South Africa does not like the attendance and the blaring of trumpets

The International Football Federation, testing South Africa's readiness to host the 2010 World Cup with Confederations Cup matches, found two shortcomings. FIFA President Sepp Blatter is concerned about empty stadiums and the sounds made by local spectators.

The head of the international federation noticed the half-empty stands already at the first round matches. For now, only the home team can pack a full stadium in South Africa, and no one really needs the champions of the world, Europe and South America. Even with ticket prices not too high - about 100 rand ($10) - the local population is in no hurry to buy them. A dissatisfied Blatter called for free tickets to be distributed to students. But similar methods will not solve the problem a year later at the World Championships. And the fact that it will be relevant is evidenced by preliminary sales statistics, according to which South Africans account for only 30% of all applications - an unprecedentedly small share for the hosts of the tournament. Attendance will probably rise only after Ksenia Sukhinova, announced by the organizers as Miss World, and eight winners of national beauty pageants from countries taking part in the tournament finally appear in South African stadiums.

Blatter's second problem is vuvuzelas. Not a single event in South Africa is complete without the melodious sounds of a local national instrument. Even at a press conference in Moscow, during which the South African ambassador announced the Confederations Cup, the embassy employee responsible for contacts with the press walked around the hall and periodically blew a vuvuzela. The effect, stunning even in a conference hall, is amplified many times over in arenas with thousands of people. “This is a local sound, and I don’t know if it can be stopped,” Sepp Blatter justified himself to television companies dissatisfied with such inter-noise. - I always said that this is Africa, not Western Europe. This is noise, energy, rhythm, music, dancing, drums. We need to adjust a little."

Perhaps in a year vuvuzelas will be banned from being carried into the stands, as they did at last year’s European Championship with Tyrolean horns. But such soundtrack does not bother the favorites. The Spanish national team, having defeated the best team in Africa, Egypt, was the first to guarantee itself participation in the playoffs. The victory of the European champions turned out to be somewhat forced - the Spaniards seemed to force themselves to go forward and create chances. But Vicente del Bosque’s team needed to win. Having defeated the Egyptians, the Spaniards repeated their record winning streak of 14 matches for national teams. If the Spanish national team does not lose in the next game, it will repeat the record for the number of matches without defeat, which currently belongs to Brazil and amounts to 35 matches.

A draw in the third round match between Spain and South Africa will suit the hosts as well. The South Africans managed to beat the New Zealand team. After Australia left to play in the Asian zone in search of solid opponents, the New Zealanders have not yet gotten used to the role of the main representative of their region on the international stage. During the entire match with South Africa, the visitors were unable to create a single decent chance, and their heroic efforts to defend their own goal were in vain. Now New Zealand will also try to beat Iraq. At least in order to leave a good memory of themselves, if all the other participants in the Confederations Cup still had a chance to return to South Africa in a year, then the Iraqi team had already lost their selection.

The second semi-finalist of the tournament was the Brazilian team. The legality of the Pentacampeons' first victory over Egypt (4:3) was questioned by their rivals. The Africans filed a protest, citing the fact that the decision to award a penalty that decided the outcome of the match was taken by the chief referee at the suggestion of the reserve, who, in turn, managed to watch the replay. FIFA rejected the protest, but the Brazilians in the second match with the USA decided not to tempt fate and treated their opponents with great attention, ensuring the result in the first half - 3:0.

Football. Confederations Cup. Group "B". USA - Brazil - ?:?. Team standings : Brazil - 6 (2 matches), Italy - 3 (1), Egypt - 0 (1), USA - 0 (2). Group "A". Spain - Iraq - 1:0, South Africa - New Zealand - 2:0. Team standings: Spain - 6 points, South Africa - 4, Iraq - 1, New Zealand - 0.

Andrey VDOVIN