For seven years 2010 bid committee CEO Danny Jordaan has been on the road trying to secure the World Cup for South Africa. Now he is just seven days away from realising his dream. It all began in 1997, when South Africa first decided to bid for the 2006 World Cup.

Kaizer Chiefs have collected an array trophies this season and will soon learn if another glittering piece of silverware is on its way to Naturena as they fight it out with Ajax Cape Town in the Absa Cup last 16. But this weekend the league race will take a back seat as they meet in Mmabatho on Saturday.

The new national soccer coach, who has already been flagged offside before he has even kicked the ball in anger, has at least one thing going for him — most members of his team are Europe-based and therefore the cultural differences would be minimal. This is the view of former Bafana Bafana striker Phil Chippa Masinga.

The South African women’s national soccer team is on the verge of making history — they look set to be the first soccer team from this country to beat Nigeria. Banyana have been here before — but every time they have been on the verge of achieving something great they have been defeated by Nigeria.

We have been here before, facing the the stumbling block that is Nigeria. The South African women’s national team, Banyana Banyana, will have to beat Nigeria at the Caledonian Stadium in Pretoria on Friday if they are to represent Africa at the Olympic Games in Greece.

The Telkom Charity Cup — which is soccer’s contribution to the destitute, elderly and poor — managed this year to raise more than R2-million, the first time in its history that the Charity Cup has been able to raise such an amount. The money was on Monday distributed to a number of needy organisations.

There is still a lot of potential in Jabu Pule, but it appears fame and money will be his downfall. The mercurial young midfielder went walkabout before Kaizer Chiefs’ important Absa Cup clash against Sundowns last weekend and the club has suspended him without pay.

The sky used to be the limit for Sundowns, but of lately the sun seems to be setting on the former three-time league champions. Sundowns find themselves in a precarious position this season, 12th on the log and uncomfortably close to the relegation battle.

Kaizer Chiefs and Ajax Cape Town made a statement of intent this week, in more ways than one. Both teams began the task of garnering points from the backlog of games they have to play by beating their opponents Golden Arrows and Jomo Cosmos respectively on Wednesday night.