Fifa boss praises SA World Cup stadiums

  1. Posted on Friday 9 July 2010 - 11:00
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    John Afful Jnr, AfricaNews reporter in Accra, Ghana
    FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, has lavished praise on South Africa's World Cup stadiums and confessed they were better than in Europe. "These stadiums are jewels from the architectural point of view, they are really, really good stadiums," he told reporters on Thursday.
    Stepp blatter_ABC
    "Wherever the spectators are in the stadium, they have a complete view of the pitch.

    "There is not one single European country which has so many good and high level stadiums as the ones which are here in South Africa."

    Blatter praised the behaviour of the players, despite some play-acting and occasional refereeing controversies that has evolve during the tournament.

    "The fair play of the players is a compliment to the teams and coaches because the statistics have shown that there are less injuries and this is very important, there have been less yellow and red cards, the players have been respectful to their opponents.”

    Blatter has however expressed hope that former South African president Nelson Mandela would grace Sunday's final match between Spain and Netherlands.

    "If he can come to the stadium, it will be good," he said. "Whether he can stay for the whole final, I do not know.

    "He has had the trophy in his hands in Zurich in 2004 and it would be a wonderful moment for him, for football, for Africa, if this could be a possibility."

    Meanwhile, FIFA is on the move in considering refereeing system to change for the next World Cup in Brazil with goal line technology and extra officials.

    Speaking with Jerome Valcke, general secretary of world soccer's governing body on BBC, disclosed that FIFA's past resistance to change appears to be shifting after some wrong calls in the World Cup, most notably Frank Lampard's disallowed effort for England against Germany that crossed the goal line, and Carlos Tevez's offside goal for Argentina versus Mexico.

    Tevez's goal was replayed on stadium big screens, heightening fury among Mexican players and fans.

    Valcke said the failure to award Lampard's effort was a "bad day" for organisers.
    "We are talking about a single goal not seen by the referee which is why we are talking about new technology."

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