The FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa

The eagerly anticipated international football tournament kicks off in 2 weeks, in Johannesburg on June 11th, with 32 countries from around the world gathering in South Africa to compete for the title and trophy.

Soccer City Stadium will host the first and final matches

6 African countries will be participating; 4 from West Africa - Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, in North Africa, Algeria and then, of course, the home country South Africa. South Africa beat out Morocco and Egypt in a bidding war to be the first African country ever to host the World Cup. The matches are spread over 9 host cities, including Cape Town and Durban, and the first and final matches will be hosted by Johannesburg at the Soccer City Stadium pictured above.


The month long tournament will end on the 11th of July with the new champions lifting the trophy which is theirs for 4 years until the next competition in Brazil 2014. The defending champions are Italy but Spain, Brazil (who have won more titles and more games than anyone else, and scored more goals in the history of this tournament) and Argentina are the favourites to win this one, the 19th FIFA World Cup. 


Excitement is building as every country harbours hopes of the win and fans travel from across the globe to support their teams and share in the drama and passion that surrounds the beautiful game.


In their first game of the tournament at group stage, Nigeria (who dropped 1 place to 21 in the FIFA/ Coca Cola World Ranking to 21) face Argentina on the 12th June.
Ghana (ranked 32) face Serbia on the 13th, Cameroon (ranked 19th) are up against Japan on the 14th and Cote d'Ivoire (27th) meet Portugal on the 15th of June. 


For more news and updates check out the dedicated news column on the right and follow us on @InTheKnowWA



The official website http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/ for fixtures, team profiles etc.
More from Wikipedia 2010 FIFA World Cup

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua passes on.

The 13th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Umaru Yar'Adua, lost his battle with ill health on the 4th of May. Aged, 58, he died at the presidential villa only weeks after returning to the country after a long absence spent seeking treatment at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia . Mr Yar'Adua was interred in a Muslim ceremony on Thursday in his home state of Katsina, in the north of the country.

Thursday was declared a public holiday and the start of seven days of mourning by the now President, Mr Jonathan Goodluck. Mr Goodluck was declared acting President for the latter part of Mr Yar'Adua's absence, amidst a constitutional crisis that was played out in the world media.

The BBC reports - 'US President Barack Obama led tributes from world leaders. Mr Obama praised "President Yar'Adua's profound personal decency and integrity, his deep commitment to public service, and his passionate belief in the vast potential and bright future of Nigeria's 150 million people".' http://news.bbc.co.uk


Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, celebrates 50 years of independence from British colonial rule on October 1st of this year.

Nneka's Concrete Jungle

Nneka stopped off in London Wednesday, coming off her US tour with a few stops in Europe before heading back to the States to join the Distant Relatives Tour with Nas and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley. Miss Egbuna has just released her first US album, Concrete Jungle, which includes tracks from the award winning No Longer at Ease, released in Europe and Nigeria, and her debut album Victim of Truth and we were lucky enough to see her do her thing live at Scala London.

I can trot out the usual cliches about good things and small packages but it wouldn't do her justice. Petite, yes, powerful, undeniably. Her voice takes you on a journey through the songs - you follow her on Come With Me, raise your fist on Africans, resolve to maintain Focus. The commentary made by The Uncomfortable Truth and Kangpe are on familiar and moving experiences and you can't help but question the part you play in the world as you sing the refrain on V.I.P (Vagabonds in Power). Politics is never far from the mind with her music but it is not a narrowing element, instead like she she says, it is about love, about taking it all in. Suffri is both about vulnerability and strength, Heartbeat both about love lost and feeling ignored in the world, of being exploited and she performed it as an amazing end to the set. She sings the intro quietly, the anticipation is palpable and finally the release of the audience singing the chorus as she brings it home.


She asks early on 'you feel me?' and by the end of the night you most definitely do.

Youthful but mature in her art, this artists star is definitely in the ascendant. Likened to Erykah Badu, she counts Fela Kuti, Bob Marley (who has a song entitled Concrete Jungle) as well as contemporary rappers Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Lauryn Hill as influences, but her style, like her voice, is unique and distinctly hers.


Her new single Walking is out now.

See her American journey through her video diary on the Nnekaworld YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/nnekaworld or on okayplayer.com which has a few more clips as well as articles.


See more pictures (as above, most taken by Tomi Job) on our Facebook page.

T.J. & S.D.