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Morocco, S Africa in World Cup race

South Africa and Morocco have a final chance here yesterday to impress world football body FIFA's most powerful officials who will decide the destination of the 2010 World Cup, the first to be held in Africa.

If pre-vote rumors are correct, the 24 members of FIFA's Executive Committee will be paying most attention to the half-hour presentation of Morocco, which appears to have closed the gap dramatically on favorites South Africa.

The five-nation race, which will be decided by a vote today, also includes outsiders Egypt, while Tunisia and Libya are making up the numbers.

South Africa controversially lost out to Germany by a single vote in the controversial ballot for the 2006 finals and is desperately hoping it will win this time as it celebrates a decade of democracy following the end of apartheid.

"There could be few better gifts for us in this year of our celebration than to be awarded the 2010 soccer World Cup," former president Nelson Mandela said this week before leading the delegation to Zurich.

The stakes are enormous -- hosting football's showpiece event is worth US$5 billion at a rough estimate and billions more in prestige.

South Africa were favorites to host the 2006 World Cup before Germany won a vote mired in football's murky politics which infuriated South Africa and many neutrals.

The Oceania representative, Charles Dempsey, abstained in the last round of voting in the knowledge that Germany were leading 12-11.

Had he voted for South Africa, tying the scores, the casting vote would have gone to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who was likely to have chosen South Africa.

Blatter fears the vote may be so close that he will have to make that casting decision this time.

"I hope I will not be in that position," Blatter said.

In the wake of the 2006 vote, Blatter introduced of a system under which the hosting of the tournament would be rotated around continents -- and he promised the World Cup would be played on African soil for the first time in 2010.

South Africa have long been the front-runners, trumpeting their success in hosting the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the Cricket World Cup last year.

Morocco however has attracted heavyweight support, including from France and Spain, and the Moroccan press has this week been carrying what it claims are leaked confidential FIFA documents which give it the edge over South Africa.

That is despite FIFA inspectors rating the South African bid as excellent.

South African bid chief Danny Jordaan was also behind the 2006 attempt and knows nothing can be taken for granted.

"The lesson we learned from last time is that it's not over until the final whistle," Jordaan said in Kuala Lumpur last weekend, where he was lobbying FIFA's four Asian representatives.

"A lot of officials from different countries and confederations have said they support us, which is always welcome.

"But it won't win us the World Cup. What matters is persuading 13 members of the FIFA Executive Committee that we have the best bid."

While Mandela will be hoping to pull the heartstrings, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade will accompany the Moroccan delegation to Zurich, lending the North Africans valuable support from the west of the continent.

"A World Cup in Morocco will be a World Cup for the whole of Africa," said bid chief Saad Kettani.

Morocco also have the guidance of US lawyer Alan Rothenberg, who organized the 1994 World Cup in the US, the tournament that Morocco missed out on staging by a single vote.

Rothenberg has dismissed the appearance of Mandela as a mere gimmick.

"Nelson Mandela is an heroic figure but what has he got to do with the organization of a World Cup? The FIFA members won't be duped," he said last month.

Egypt is bidding for the first time and it would be a huge surprise if it got the nod.
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