The 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa (OC), represented by Chief Executive Officer Dr Danny Jordaan and SAFA President, Kirsten Nematandani, welcomed Australia’s Socceroos as the first participating team in the country for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.
Australia landed at 18h35 this evening (26 May) at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
“We are pleased to welcome Australia as the first team to arrive in our country. We all know that the stadiums are all ready, everything is in place and now the teams are finally here. More importantly though, our people are ready. From now, we have to concentrate on the kickoff match in few days time,” said Jordaan.
SAFA President, Nematandani, was there to
welcome the team as the representative of the host team. “As the host association, we feel excited to welcome all the teams to our country. It’s important that all the teams should feel at home and enjoy the best that our country has to offer.”
Australian coach, Pim Verbeek, said his team was excited to be in South Africa.
“First of all I want to say that we are very excited to be here in South Africa. I have been in this country about eight or nine times already and I have always enjoyed my stay here. It’s a great country and they have some of the best hotels. However, now we are here for a different reason, we are here to compete. However, I know it’s not going to be easy, we have a tough group with some quality teams.”
“The most important thing for us is to win our first game. We have given ourselves plenty of time to prepare and acclimatise to the local conditions. The players will have to get used to the altitude and the few warm-up matches will help us a lot in achieving this. When playing in the World Cup, you have to prepare yourself and make sure the team is in good condition,” said Verbeek.
Australia will open their 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign against Germany in Durban on 13 June, moving to Rustenburg to play Ghana on 19 June and ending their Group Matches against Serbia in Nelspruit on 23 June.
All 31 teams arriving for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ will arrive via terminals not open to the public due to security considerations. The best opportunity for fans to see the teams will be during the public training sessions of the teams. Each team must hold at least one open to public training session prior to their first group stage match. Further details on these sessions will be announced soon.
