FIFA president Sepp Blatter claims he danced for joy after arriving in South Africa to check on preparations for the 2010 World Cup.
Yet, beneath the public posturing lie very real concerns about stadium construction delays, rising costs, rampant crime and lack of transportation.
Blatter was visiting Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium yesterday on the first full day of his four-day visit, which will also include tours of Soccer City in Johannesburg, the site of the opening game and the final.
“South Africa is on track,” FIFA general-secretary Jerome Valcke told a local radio station yesterday.
FIFA’s decision to stage the World Cup in Africa for the first time was always guaranteed to be a gamble. And the speculation refuses to die that FIFA has a secret plan to move the tournament if organizational problems become insurmountable.
Both FIFA and South Africa have repeatedly denied there is any risk of this happening, bar a natural catastrophe.
“Plan B is South Africa. Plan C is South Africa,” Blatter said for the umpteenth time after meeting South African President Thabo Mbeki late on Sunday.
For Blatter, the success of the 2010 tournament has become a personal crusade. He says he hopes that it will create an enduring legacy to benefit millions of people on the continent.
“When I left the plane and arrived on African soil, I started dancing,” the 72-year-old Swiss told reporters.
He may need to muster his nimblest footwork to avoid the many obstacles that loom.
Valcke also made soothing noises about the government’s ability to rein in violent crime in a country where more than 50 people are killed each day, often for as little as a mobile phone.
“I am not so much concerned by security today. I think we are going the right way,” he said in the Radio 702 talk program, adding that it was impossible to be 100 percent safe, even in cities like Paris and Zurich.
Valcke said local organizers were working closely with Interpol and foreign police and security forces to keep out hooligans.
Listeners were unconvinced.
“Football hooligans are angels compared to the type of criminals we have in South Africa,” said a caller who identified himself as Peter from Port Elizabeth. “I really don’t believe FIFA realizes what they have got themselves into. They have bitten off more than they can chew.”
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