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Mandela farewell match a let down

The Nelson Mandela farewell match, played between a world team of football all-stars and a squad of mostly South African yesterday stars, was meant to bring the best players on the planet to South Africa and prove that country is ready to host the World Cup in 2006. But the organisers failed on both counts.

Possibly the biggest name and certainly the star on the night was former German international, Thomas Haessler, who not only dazzled with his skills, but also scored once and provided the cross for the World XI's second goal in the contest that ended in a 2-all draw.

The South African World Cup bid committee had hoped to show to the world and the members of the FIFA executive committee who had travelled to South Africa that the country has the capacity to host the World Cup in 2006. The bid committee had hoped a capacity crowd of some 65 000 people would turn out to watch players like Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly, Roberto Carlos or George Weah in action.

Instead, the 25,000 who showed up in Johannesburg's Ellis Park stadium saw Liberian Louis Crayton, who plays his club football for the reserve side of Grasshopers Zurich in Switzerland, as well as Ssale Al Dawod from Saudi Arabia, after virtually all big-name stars had turned down the request to play in the match.

The Mandela XI, as the African all-star squad was named, was similarly hard-hit by withdrawals. Envisaged at first as an African all-star team, the side was made up virtually entirely of South Africans when it took the field.

The chaos surrounding the participating players even went so far that the organisers still had no clear indication of who would be arriving in the country a few hours before the game was to start.

In fact, Jay Jay Okocha, who was one of the players who failed to come, was introduced to the crowd as being present.

And that was not to be the only mishap during the event. The game started nearly 30 minutes late due to a traffic jam outside the stadium, which caused many spectators to arrive late. Unusual for South African matches was also the heavy police presence, as well as the barbed wire fence strung around the stadium to ensure that there would be no security problems.

As a result, there were no security problems - just as there was no action on the field of play in the first half. It was only in the second 45 minutes that the fans, among them former South African president Nelson Mandela, were treated to excellent and entertaining football.

The Mandela XI went ahead in the 52nd minute through Zambian Kalusha Bwalya, whose first shot gave goalkeeper Jacques Songo'o no chance. A minute later though, the World XI had drawn equal through a Haessler header from a Stig Bjornbye cross.

In the 62nd minute, the diminutive German became provider when he deftly back-heeled the ball into the path of Slovakian player Lubomir Moravcik, who had little trouble in beating Brian Baloyi in goal for the Mandela XI.

A short while later, the referee awarded a penalty for the Mandela XI, only to change his mind after consulting with his assistant, instead giving a free-kick for offside. A second goal on the night for Kalusha Bwalya in injury time gave the Mandela XI a deserved draw. The 32-year-old Zzambian managed to hit a free-kick just outside the area past goalkeeper Crayton into the bottom right corner of the net.

UNI