Crane collapses on Arena Corinthians - Sao Paulo Stadium

The flagship stadium for the Brazil 2014 Fifa Soccer World Cup has been partially damaged due to a massive crane collapsing onto it. As a result it has been reported that at least two of the construction workers are dead.

The Sao Paulo Stadium is supposed to host the opening ceremony to the 2014 World Cup and is required to be 94% complete by Fifa at this stage. It is hard to say what kind of delay this will put on the construction at the stadium as investigations will need to be carried out.

The crane operator was taken to hospital but later released. The crane was in the process of hoisting a portion of the roof when its structure gave up and collapsed in on itself crushing a part of the stadium on its way down.

Although engineers say that the damage isn't too extensive, there will be procedures to follow in terms of reports, investigations and clean ups. There should be structure load tests also carried out to see if other parts of the stadium where not affected. All this will definitely play a part in the delay of the construct. It will be interesting to see what happens from here, so close to the World Cup. Is this going to change the venue for the 2014 Fifa Soccer World Cup?

Fifa 2014 Tickets Sales

Earlier this month tickets for The 2014 Fifa Soccer World Cup went on sale and this re-ignited the World Cup frenzy in Brazil and the rest of the world. The process of actually purchasing a world cup  ticket is such an event on its own, for it is arguably the worlds best event, no matter what match you are going for or where your seat is in the stands the fact of the matter is that you have an official World Cup ticket.

Once you have that ticket in hand nothing else matters till you attend that match. The sheer awe that you will experience when you first set foot in that stadium is overwhelming and trust me you will remember it for the rest of your life. You now have the bragging rights to say that you were at a World Cup soccer match and it really doesn't matter who played or where you sat, all that matters is that you were there.

Fifa is using the same ticket sales system that was used in South Africa in 2010, where the tickets are released in batches to give everybody a fair chance at purchasing tickets. From experience I remember that ticket can sell out in a matter of minutes from the time they are released. For every purchase window there are a set number of tickets that go on sale for a set time period and then that window is closed and you will have to wait for the next window of opportunity.

If you are buying over the counter you should be able to by at any time of day, but you have to put up with the ques, and standing in a cue for a World Cup ticket can easily take up 3 hours of your life. I bought my tickets online, but its a gamble, you don't know whether ar
e going to get the tickets or not, that is why you have to keep trying until you get the tickets that you want or even get tickets at all.

During the first couple of days when ticket sales began, the online sales website kept crashing, but got better later on. I used to use at least two computers to try and buy tickets and I used to have alarms setup to alert me when tickets go on sale. Finally just past midnight on one Thursday morning I finally got my tickets to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and I was able to say that I attended a Fifa World Cup soccer match.

Good luck to all though's that are try to buy tickets, never give up, it will all be worth it in the end!

South Africa in Brazil 2014

Over the weekend South Africa went up against Ethiopia in a Fifa 2014 World Cup Qualifier match. It was a tough match and unfortunately South Africa lost to Ethiopia 1-2. South Africa needed to win this match to be able to get into the 2014 Soccer World Cup Finals in Brazil.

Later it was discovered that Ethiopia used an ineligible player and were to be docked 3 points. This gave South Africa a small chance of getting into the World Cup next year. But it seems that it is not the first time that Ethiopia have done this.

In the June 8th match against Botswana, Ethiopia used ineligible player Minyahile Beyene. Beyene was yellow carded for two prior World Cup Qualifier matches. This means that SA now stand a far better chance of getting to the World Cup Finals. Ethiopia will now be docked 6 points. Technically SA could have gunned for a draw against Ethiopia and stood a strong chance in the last round for the qualifiers in September.

Gordan Igesund shows promise that he is capable of moving Bafana Bafana in the right direction, but getting the team to play well is only part of the journey to the World Cup. South Africa need to pick up their political and analytic skills as well to get them to the finals. So far luck is on our side.