World Cup 2010

The Cape’s Garden Route has been chosen by four countries as the perfect place from which to prepare for World Cup glory.
Four countries participating in next year’s World Cup have elected to set up their base training camps along the Cape’s Garden Route.
France and Denmark will be based in Knysna, Paraguay in Mossel Bay and Japan in George..

Japanese National Football Association president Motoaki Inukai made the announcement on a whirlwind trip to George after attending Japan’s friendly match against Bafana Bafana in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
“Team coach Takeshi Okada chose George because of its safe and beautiful environment, which will enable players to concentrate on practising for their matches,” he said.
Inukai was “honestly surprised” by his impressions of South Africa, which was portrayed in the Japanese media as unsafe.
“I know now why he (Okada) liked George on his first site visit. It is very different from the image we had before we came here.”

Eden District Mayor Leon Dorfling, who is championing Eden’s involvement in 2010, told Inukai Eden would not compromise on the safety of visitors.
“This announcement is music to our ears. Eden and George municipalities are very proud to host Mr Inukai here today and we want to assure him that the Garden Route has excellent infrastructure in a very safe environment. We are also not compromising on safety and security,” he said.

The district was working closely with national and provincial government and other role players to integrate public safety plans for the World Cup.
Eden acting municipal manager and 2010 manager Morne Hoogbaard said Inukai’s announcement was the culmination of a very committed approach by the Eden 2010 team to ensure that the district benefited from the World Cup.
Hoogbaard said Eden was the first district in the country to commit significant resources towards positioning the region as a destination of choice for teams and fans.
“The Japanese soccer team is known to travel with a large following of about 22000 supporters, and although not all of them will stay in Eden, this will leave a long-term legacy for business and tourism,” he said.
George mayor Flip de Swardt said it would be an honour to host the team.

The Herolds Bay Hotel looks forward to welcoming all World Cup Visitors and Japanese supporters.  Yōkoso – wa-rudokappu 2010!

Please enquire for our 2010 rates:
+27 44 872 9011
reservations@heroldsbayhotel.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 2:41 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.