SOUTH KOREA: SLOVENIA AND SOUTH AFRICA PREPARE FOR THE UPCOMING WORLD CUP MATCH

Record ID: 640590

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: SLOVENIA AND SOUTH AFRICA PREPARE FOR THE UPCOMING WORLD CUP MATCH
  • Date: 7th June 2002
  • Summary: DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 7, 2002) (REUTERS) VARIOUS SHOTS OF SOUTH AFRICA TRAINING VARIOUS OF SLOVENIA TRAINING Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 22nd June 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA2HKQTQNGD2GCGS1TFBNWLT9T7
  • Story Text: News of Zlatko's Zahovic's expulsion from Slovenia's World Cup squad only reached the South Africa camp on Friday.
    While Slovenia's preparation for their upcoming match with South Africa were rocked by the expulsion of Zahovic early in the week the opposition seemed blissfully unaware of the turmoil.
    Midfielder Quinton Fortune, who scored the team's last-gasp equaliser in their 2-2 draw with Paraguay, admitted he knew little about the Slovenian players.
    With or without Zahovic,South African coach Jomo Sono thinks Slovenia will pose South Africa's biggest test of the tournament.
    Slovenia lost their opening game 3-1 to Spain but Sono thinks the sides were evenly matched for long periods.
    Sono has been boosted by the recovery from injury of goalkeeper Andre Arendse and defender Pierre Issa, but hinted that he would make one change to his starting line-up.
    The coach tried a striking duo of Benni McCarthy and Siyabonga Nomvete in a midweek practice match, and said Nomvete, an unused substitute against the South Americans, was in contention for a place along with right-sided midfielder McDonald Mukansi Slovenia do not want to talk about expelled midfielder Zlatko Zahovic and he is now far from South Korea but coach Srecko Katanec recognises their bust-up casts a shadow over the country's first World Cup.
    Slovenia booted out their most famous player on Thursday after a week of fierce rowing following their 3-1 defeat to Spain in their opening game last weekend that led a tearful Katanec to say this World Cup would mark the end of his stint as coach.
    But there was no sign of that high emotion on Friday as Slovenia tried to put a divisive week behind them and concentrate on a group B match against South Africa on Saturday from which they must extract their first points to avoid an early exit.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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