SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Coach Fabio Capello happy with England's World Cup base near Rustenburg

Record ID: 455513

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Coach Fabio Capello happy with England's World Cup base near Rustenburg
  • Date: 24th February 2010
  • Summary: SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA (FEBRUARY 23, 2010) (REUTERS) WIDE OF TEAM WORKSHOP DELEGATES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND COACH FABIO CAPELLO SAYING: "I am really happy because we checked yesterday everything, they have improved a lot since the last time we stayed here, the pitches are good, the pitches will be better for June, that is really nice, the other thing about the team medical centre will be ready in two months, we are really really happy because it is third time we come here and the facilities are fantastic." MORE OF MEDIA AND DELEGATES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND COACH FABIO CAPELLO SAYING: "We have to sign but we are ready for signing." MORE OF MEDIA AND DELEGATES (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AFRICA COACH CARLOS ALBERTO PARREIRA SAYING: "Normally, being the host country, being the home country since 2004 we know that we should have the best place for us from the very beginning, I do not know what happened, if you ask me where it went wrong I can not tell you, go to the right people they will tell you. I do not know why we can not have the base camp now." (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPAIN COACH VICENTE DEL BOSQUE SAYING: "We're coming with the aim of reaching the final.. It'll be very difficult. And at the end of the championship we can analyse how the World Cup went, whether well or badly, but we're not there yet." (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) BRAZIL COACH DUNGA SAYING: "These conditions are similar to the ones that Brazil is used to. We had seen other options as well, but the players would be very close to each other or very separated, in huts. It's going to be winter time and the less they have to move from one place to another, the better. And during a competition like the World Cup, the players have to be close to each other, keep in touch. So, a place like this should be more suitable for our work." WIDE OF DELEGATES AND MEDIA
  • Embargoed: 11th March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA8YLKVQPYPNUPHNKPB9IYTMQFV
  • Story Text: Head coach Fabio Capello says he is really happy with the England's World Cup base near Rustenburg.
    England are happy with their proposed World Cup base, coach Fabio Capello said on Tuesday (February 23), amid media reports that the complex was only half completed and substandard.
    "We are really happy because we checked everything. They (the facilities) have improved a lot from the last time that we stayed here," Capello told reporters at the FIFA pre-tournament workshop in Sun City.
    "The pitches will be better for June and the medical centre will be ready in two months," he added.
    World football's governing body FIFA had earlier gone on the offensive in a row with English tabloid newspapers over the readiness of the hotel complex near Rustenburg.
    Capello said the team management were ready to finalise the deal to use the complex.
    "Yes, we (still) have to sign but we are ready for signing," he said.
    England play their opening match of the finals against the United States in Rustenburg on June 12.
    Hosts South Africa are yet to decide on their training venue after the delays in refurbishment work at Esselen Park .
    "Normally, being the host country, being the home country since 2004 we know that we should have the best place for us from the very beginning, I do not know what happened, if you ask me where it went wrong I can not tell you, go to the right people they will tell you. I do not know why we can not have the base camp now," said South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.
    With teams still changing their schedules ahead of the World Cup the list of training camps still hadn't been completed.
    Spain, who top the FIFA world rankings will be based in Potchefstroom and will aim high at the finals in South Africa.
    European champions are in Group H with Switzerland, Honduras and Chile.
    "We're coming with the aim of reaching the final.. It'll be very difficult. And at the end of the championship we can analyse how the World Cup went, whether well or badly, but we're not there yet," said Spain coach Vicente del Bosque.
    Five times winners Brazil will play Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea in the tournament's trickiest group.
    Brazil's coach Dunga, who is still undecided where his team will be based, expressed his thoughts on the preparations for the tournament which kicks of on June 11.
    "These conditions are similar to the ones that Brazil is used to. We had seen other options as well, but the players would be very close to each other or very separated, in huts. It's going to be winter time and the less they have to move from one place to another, the better. And during a competition like the World Cup, the players have to be close to each other, keep in touch. So, a place like this should be more suitable for our work."
    The local organisers said on Tuesday that South Africa's showpiece venue for the World Cup will be ready for its first test events in April or May but the pitch at another of the new stadiums is being relayed again.
    The 95,000-capacity Soccer City near Soweto, where both the opening match and the final of the World Cup will be played, will host one or two events before the tournament starts on June 11.
    However, the pitch at Nelspruit's new Mbombela Stadium is being lifted for a second time after being judged unsuitable by a FIFA inspection team last week.
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