Durban eyes Beach Soccer WC - SouthAfrica.info

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Durban eyes Beach Soccer WC

13 March 2008

South Africa will take the first step towards possibly hosting the 2011 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup when the 2008 African qualifying tournament takes place at New Beach in Durban from 25 to 30 March.

At the official draw for the African qualifying tournament on Wednesday, eThekwini city manager Mike Sutcliffe announced that Durban would be bidding for the 2011 Beach Soccer World Cup.

With that in mind, it is crucial that this year's qualifying tournament lives up to the reputation of the 2006 and 2007 events, which were rated by Fifa as two of the best organised beach soccer tournaments held anywhere in the world.

Event part of the bid process
"Durban will be bidding to host the Beach Soccer World Cup in 2011," Sutcliffe said at the draw. "That means that this year's qualifying tournament forms part of our bid process.

"We are also bidding to host the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Congress in 2011, and if we get both it will elevate the city to new levels. It will give Durban a chance to deliver real African excellence."

The Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup has previously only been held in the "home of beach soccer", Rio, but from this year the event will move to different cities in an attempt to increase the global appeal of what is a fast growing and exciting spinoff of traditional field soccer.

The 2008 World Cup will be held in Marseilles, France in July.

Qualifying draw
In the draw, made in Barcelona but beamed live to Durban, South Africa were chosen to join Senegal, Mozambique and Egypt in qualifying Group A, while Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria, the defending champions, are in group B. The teams will play round-robin pool matches from 25 to 27 March.

The semi-finals between the top two teams in each pool will take place on 29 March. The two final four winners will then meet in the final on 30 March, although both teams would have already qualified for the World Cup finals in Marseilles.

While the South African team will be happy to have avoided Nigeria, Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire, they will be aware that Egypt and Senegal will be tough to beat.

Impression
Former South African captain Mark Williams, who was at the draw on Wednesday, summed things up perfectly when he gave his impression of the two groups.

"Group B will be a tough pool, but there will be no easy games in this tournament," he said.

"South Africa's first match will be very hard against Senegal, but if they can get a win against Mozambique the next day it will probably set up a 'quarter-final' match against Egypt, with the winner going through to the semis."

SCHEDULE
(First matches at 11:00)

Tuesday, 25 March