FIFA President Sepp Blatter visited the Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town on Monday 15 September to assess the building progress – which he expressed satisfaction with – and field questions from the media.

Blatter made a point of personally greeting workers at the construction site of the Green Point Stadium and thanking them for their efforts, a gesture that was met with much delight.

When asked about the much-publicised “Plan B” for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, which recent media reports have said may include England or Brazil, Blatter said that he had been misrepresented by the media and that the only Plan B for the tournament was “Africa South”; in other words, South Africa was Plan A and Plan B for FIFA 2010.

Blatter was accompanied on his visit to the stadium by a host of South African dignitaries: former president FW De Klerk, Western Cape Premier Lynn Brown, mayor of Cape Town Helen Zille, head of the local organising committee (LOC) Danny Jordaan and LOC committee member Tokyo Sexwale.

Zille, Brown, de Klerk and Blatter respectively briefly addressed the media from the auditorium inside the Greenpoint Stadium Visitor Centre. Zille said that the progress on the 2010 stadium was four days ahead of schedule, countering claims to the contrary.

De Klerk, who released Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990, said that South Africans, regardless of language, culture or political affiliations, are united in making a success of the 2010 World Cup, and that the tournament should re-capture the spirit of 1994, when South Africa’s democracy was born.

Blatter said that the FIFA Soccer World Cup has an enormous integration value in terms of bringing all cultures within a society together. He emphasized the importance of the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa as being a “mini World Cup” and highlighted the need for Bafana Bafana to bounce back from their prolonged bout of poor form and become competitive against the stronger soccer nations of the world.

Read more about the Green Point Stadium Visitor Centre to get an excellent idea on the developments of the stadium. The centre offers insightful 2010 Stadium Tours, and we would especially recommend that overseas visitors and media do these informative tours.

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