South Africa Drops The Ball

How's this bit of news for reassuring those in the media who are concerned about South Africa's infrastructure in terms of hosting a successful and safe World Cup?

The head of South Africa's police is actively wishing for the US to be eliminated in the first round so he doesn't have to deal with the security challenges of protecting President Obama, should the President attend the tournament.

First of all, boo. This offends me as a fan of USA soccer. I had some sympathy for South Africa's team before now, harboring a wish they would do well in front of their home crowd. Now that I know their police commissioner is rooting against us, well, let's just say I have a petty wish for them not to score a single goal.

My second reaction was to think, Um, isn't that your job? It looks bad for him to publicly want his job to be made easier in this way. As Spider-Man's Uncle Ben--or at least the actor playing him in the movie--once said, "With great power, comes great responsibility." South Africa has this tremendous economic opportunity to host the World Cup which brings tourist dollars and international attention to their country; the concomitant responsibility is to maintain order and safety, and, yes, that includes for the head of state of a visiting country. This is General Bheki Cele. A general. This isn't some deputy sheriff in a small town in Nebraska, but the police commissioner of an entire country.

To be fair for a moment--but only for a moment--hosting the President of the United States would certainly present challenges, as rarely will you find so potentially polarizing a figure--not Obama himself, per se, though he certainly can be polarizing, but the more symbolic figure of the President Of The United States. And yes, South Africa certainly has socioeconomic problems and problems with crime as it is. And yes, the general himself probably wasn't the one who decided to submit the bid to host the World Cup, so he didn't really ASK for this job. And yes, he did tell reporters, "Don't print that."

But that last point was either a joke or a bit of naivete, because obviously that statement would be printed. And it doesn't matter if he didn't ask for this job; actually, he kind of did by accepting the position as police commissioner in the first place.

So as I think about it a little more, I'm willing to cut him a little slack, because, yes, pragmatically, this is a difficult assignment. But on the other hand, I'm not comfortable with the man who would be in charge of security preparations complaining that security is really hard. It doesn't exactly foster a flood of confidence that the World Cup will go off without a hitch.

The World Cup, in an ideal world, would be a sporting venue where politics and violence and fears of terrorism could be forgotten. It's a chance for countries to play sports, to compete without resorting to bullets. Unfortunately, this is not an ideal world. Still, don't talk about how great it would be if the US didn't make it past the group stage; only talk about what you will do to make sure things remain peaceful.

And also, I'm now pissed off again that he doesn't want us to make it out of the group stage.

But does he have a point? What do you think? Should President Obama attend the World Cup, however briefly, if the US makes it into the knockout rounds? Is attending a sporting event worth the extra complications?

On to the predictions and the standings, looking at more standings from the first round of games first, as I fell a bit behind on that front:

GROUP E

HOLLAND 1 WIN 0 LOSSES 0 DRAWS 3 POINTS

CAMEROON 1 WIN 0 LOSSES 0 DRAWS 3 POINTS

DENMARK 0 WINS 1 LOSS 0 DRAWS 0 POINTS

JAPAN 0 WINS 1 LOSS 0 DRAWS 0 POINTS



GROUP F

SLOVAKIA 1 WIN 0 LOSSES 0 DRAWS 3 POINTS

ITALY 0 WINS 0 LOSSES 1 DRAW 1 POINT

PARAGUAY 0 WINS 0 LOSSES 1 DRAW 1 POINT

NEW ZEALAND 0 WINS 1 LOSS 0 DRAWS 0 POINTS


DAY 9, JUNE 19TH, 2010

GROUP D

GHANA VERSUS AUSTRALIA

The second game for both of these teams may see Ghana slip a little bit after beating Serbia, and Australia bouncing back from a tough loss to Germany in the first match. Nevertheless, I think Ghana has the talent to pick up the points, if they remained disciplined. I will predict Ghana in a 1-0 victory, but I would not be surprised to see a draw or an Australian win. This is a tough one to pick, certainly the toughest to date. If I was correct in picking Germany to draw with Serbia, then both of these teams will be particularly motivated.

GROUP E

HOLLAND VERSUS JAPAN

Japan may have had some problems this year with some of their exports not stopping properly, but they will have no such complaint today with the national soccer team, as Holland will put the brakes on the Japanese without too much difficulty, winning 3-0. Anything less than a comfortable victory and the Dutch should consider changing their soccer shoes for silver skates, because they will suddenly appear to be on thin ice.

DENMARK VERSUS CAMEROON

Denmark is too organized a team, and Cameroon lacks the attacking depth behind Samuel Eto'o. Denmark secures a 1-0 victory.