Published: Sunday | July 11, 20100 Comments and 0 Reactions
JOHANNESBURG (AP): As a veteran with only one more game left in his legs, Netherlands captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst wants to live the boyhood dream of tens of millions of kids: lifting the World Cup.
"As a kid, you follow the World Cups," Van Bronckhorst said yesterday, a day before the Netherlands face Spain in the final at Soccer City. "And when the cup is lifted, it is a very special moment."
Once the final whistle goes and all is decided, there is still the sense of suspended celebration until the captain walks up as the last of the winning team to get his medal, and finally receives the trophy. Only then does the party start for real.
"Only a precious few players can do that," the Netherlands captain said. "So it is a dream for me to lift that cup."
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Rogge hails SA
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP):
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge yesterday congratulated South Africa on an "outstanding success" as host of the World Cup.
However, neither Rogge nor South African President Jacob Zuma, in brief remarks to the media after a private meeting, broached the question of whether the World Cup accomplishments might boost a future Olympic bid by South Africa.
There has been widespread discussion in South Africa of whether Cape Town or Durban might launch a bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics - a possibility that Rogge has encouraged in the past.
Zuma, in an interview earlier this month with FIFA, said: "I don't see why we can't bid to host the Olympics."
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Cruyff says Spain
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP):
Dutch football great Johan Cruyff says that of the two teams in the World Cup final he "sees the most of me" in Spain and not the Netherlands.
The former midfield star and architect of Dutch "total football" of the 1970s made the comment in a newspaper interview as his country whips itself into a football frenzy ahead of today's final in Johannesburg.
An orange tram was riding around Amsterdam yesterday and the Defence Ministry has announced that two F-16 fighter jets, including one painted orange, will escort the team's plane home once it reaches Dutch air space tomorrow.
Cruyff also praised Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque for forging a cohesive team out of stars drawn from rival clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona.
JOHANNESBURG (AP): As a veteran with only one more game left in his legs, Netherlands captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst wants to live the boyhood dream of tens of millions of kids: lifting the World Cup.
"As a kid, you follow the World Cups," Van Bronckhorst said yesterday, a day before the Netherlands face Spain in the final at Soccer City. "And when the cup is lifted, it is a very special moment."
Once the final whistle goes and all is decided, there is still the sense of suspended celebration until the captain walks up as the last of the winning team to get his medal, and finally receives the trophy. Only then does the party start for real.
"Only a precious few players can do that," the Netherlands captain said. "So it is a dream for me to lift that cup."
........................................
Rogge hails SA
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP):
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge yesterday congratulated South Africa on an "outstanding success" as host of the World Cup.
However, neither Rogge nor South African President Jacob Zuma, in brief remarks to the media after a private meeting, broached the question of whether the World Cup accomplishments might boost a future Olympic bid by South Africa.
There has been widespread discussion in South Africa of whether Cape Town or Durban might launch a bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics - a possibility that Rogge has encouraged in the past.
Zuma, in an interview earlier this month with FIFA, said: "I don't see why we can't bid to host the Olympics."
.........................................
Cruyff says Spain
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP):
Dutch football great Johan Cruyff says that of the two teams in the World Cup final he "sees the most of me" in Spain and not the Netherlands.
The former midfield star and architect of Dutch "total football" of the 1970s made the comment in a newspaper interview as his country whips itself into a football frenzy ahead of today's final in Johannesburg.
An orange tram was riding around Amsterdam yesterday and the Defence Ministry has announced that two F-16 fighter jets, including one painted orange, will escort the team's plane home once it reaches Dutch air space tomorrow.
Cruyff also praised Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque for forging a cohesive team out of stars drawn from rival clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona.
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