Hosts South Africa or Asian champions Iraq could well be on course for a semifinal place if they can win their opening match in the Confederations Cup which kicks off on Sunday.
With European champions Spain expected to win the group and Oceania champions New Zealand widely predicted to finish bottom of the Group A quartet, the runners-up spot is up for grabs with the prize a place in the last four.
South Africa’s Brazilian coach Joel Santana said on Saturday that his team were all ready and that playmaker Teko Modise would start the game against Iraq.
Bora Milutinovic, Iraq’s widely-travelled coach who has only been in charge of the squad for a few weeks, said he was relishing the biggest challenge of his life and was optimistic his team would do well against the hosts, despite the vociferous home support they will receive at Ellis Park.
The second match of the day is at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg where Spain look to extend their 32-match unbeaten run against a New Zealand team that led world champions Italy three times in a friendly in Pretoria on Wednesday before going down to a 4-3 defeat.
Spain, top of Fifa’s world rankings for a year and among the favourites to win the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, have won their last 12 matches and have brought a strong squad to South Africa, including Fernando Torres who scored in their 1-0 win over Germany in the Euro 2008 final.
Spain have never met New Zealand in a full international and their only previous meeting dates back to the 1997 World Under-17 Cup when Spain beat the ”All Whites” 13-0.
Spain are unlikely to enjoy such mastery again on Sunday but it will be a major upset if they do not chalk up their 13th successive victory and take their own first step towards the last four.
Bumpy ride?
Meanwhile, workers struggled on Saturday to make the damaged Ellis Park pitch playable. Rugby has left the field scarred and uneven around midfield and players expecting international-standard pitches could be disappointed.
With South Africa’s two biggest sports competing for the same stadiums, it often leaves bumpy pitches for football once the rough and tumble of rugby’s big men stops. The touring British and Irish Lions played on the Johannesburg pitch just 10 days ago.
At Ellis Park on Saturday, five workers stared at a hole 10cm deep in the centre of the goalmouth.
One worker was using a spade to roughly cut up a divot to see if it would fit. With rain and increased shade because of a roof expansion at Ellis Park, the original turf used to replace the rugby goalposts had caved in, resulting in more emergency work.
”Hopefully, it will be good for tomorrow,” said South African captain Aaron Mokoena. – Reuters