SENEGAL, MALI , S.AFRICA ,NIGERIA,GHANA

The World Cup trophy is making its way through one of soccer’s hottest countries. The hardware arrived for a stop in Rio de Janeiro and Brazilian soccer star Pele delivered the honors by hoisting the trophy again.

The trophy depicts two men holding up the earth and is made of 11 pounds of 18 carat gold.

A pre-World Cup tour will take the trophy through 83 countries in 225 days before returning to South Africa in May, where the World Cup is scheduled to start on June 11.

Pele urged his countrymen to have patience with Brazilian Coach Dunga. Dunga’s squad struggled at the beginning of the qualifying round, but still came out on top of the South American group.

es has one. So does Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Mali, Algeria, Malaysia and Hungary. And New Zealand has two.

The United States? None. Zero. Zip.

The numbers are in from Zurich, where FIFA’s refereeing committee on Friday named the 30 officials from 28 countries who will work games at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. No American was on the list as either a referee or a referee’s assistant.

Selecting officials for World Cup games has long been a matter of contention, discussion and derision. Over the past 20 years or so, FIFA has attempted to spread the officiating wealth around the world, often with dissatisfying results.

The only United States referee at the 2006 World Cup in Germany was Kevin Stott. He was joined by the assistants Gregory Barkey and Chris Strickland.

After some questionable decisions in Germany, FIFA set up an assistance program to get top officials prepared for the 2010 tournament.

Then again, the list FIFA released is pockmarked with questionable decisions.

Does the name Martin Hansson ring a bell? The Swede found himself in the middle of a maelstrom when he failed to spy Thierry Henry’s hand ball during France’s playoff with Ireland. Henry’s infraction led directly to the goal that sent France to South Africa. Hansson will be taking along to South Africa one of his assistants from that infamous game — Stefan Wittberg — but the other — Fredrik Nilsson — will be watching on TV.

Or perhaps you are a Chelsea supporter, one still sticking pins into your Tom Henning Ovrebo doll. The referee from Norway turned a deaf ear to protestations from Chelsea players during last season’s Champions League semifinal second leg against Barcelona. The match, at Stamford Bridge in London, went Barcelona’s way on Andrés Iniesta’s goal.

More? How about Howard Webb of England, who awarded co-host Austria a late penalty kick that resulted in a 1-1 tie with Poland in the opening match of Euro 2008. And do not forget Massimo Busacca of Switzerland. Fans of the Young Boys club saw Busacca direct an obscene gesture in their direction during a Swiss Cup game last year.

But it appears that all has been forgiven.

I was at the 1994 World Cup second-round match between Mexico and Bulgaria at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., when a ludicrous number of yellow cards — 10 — were given by the Syrian referee Jamal al-Sharif, who was sent home the next day.

What have been some of the more egregious refereeing performances you have seen in the World Cup? And to be fair, what were some of the better jobs?

Here is the list (by confederation) of officiating teams chosen by FIFA:

Asia

Khalil Ibrahim Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia, referee), Hassan Kamranifar (Iran, assistant), Saleh Mohamed Al Marzouqi (United Arab Emirates, assistant); Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan, referee), Rafael Ilyasov (Uzbekistan, assistant), Bahadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan, assistant); Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia, referee), Mu Yuxin (China, assistant), Jeffrey Goh Gek Pheng (Singapore, assistant); Yuichi Nishimura (Japan, referee), Toru Sagara (Japan, assistant), Hae Sang Jeong (South Korea, assistant)

Africa

Mohamed Benouza (Algeria, referee), Nasser Abdel Nabi (Egypt, assistant), Maamar Chabane (Algeria, assistant); Koman Coulibaly (Mali, referee), Redouane Achik (Morocco, assistant), Manuel Candido (Angola, assistant), Jerome Damon (South Africa, referee), Celestin Ntagungira (Rwanda, assistant), Enock Molefe (South Africa, assistant); Eddy Maillet (Seychelles, referee), Evarist Menkouande (Cameroon, assistant), Bechir Hassani (Tunisia, assistant)

Concacaf

Joel Aguilar (El Salvador, referee), William Torres, Francisco Zumba (both El Salvador, assistants); Benito Archundia (Mexico, referee), Hector Vergara (Canada, assistant), Marvin Cesar Torrentera Rivera (Mexico, assistant);, assistant Carlos Alberto Batres (Guatemala, referee), Leonel Leal (Costa Rica), Carlos Pastrana (Honduras, assistant); Marco Rodriquez (Mexico, referee), Jose Luis Camargo Callado, Alberto Morin Mendez (both Mexico, assistants)

Europe

Olegario Benquerenca (Portugal, referee), Jose Manuel Silva, Bertino Miranda (both Portugal, assistants); Massimo Busacca (Switzerland, referee), Matthias Arnet, Francesco Buragina (both Switzerland, assistants); Frank de Bleeckere (Belgium, referee), Peter Hermans, Walter Vromans (both Belgium, assistants); Martin Hansson (Sweden, referee), Henrik Andren, Stefan Wittberg (both Sweden, assistants); Viktor Kassai (Hungary, referee), Gabor Eros, Tibor Vamos (both Hungary, assistants); Stephane Lannoy (France, referee), Eric Dansault, Laurent Ugo (both France, assistants); Roberto Rosetti (Italy, referee), Paolo Calcagno, Stefano Ayroldi (both Italy, assistants); Wolfgang Stark (Germany, referee), Jan Salver, Mike Pickel (both Germany, assistants); Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain, referee), Fermin Martinez Ibanez, Juan Carlos Yuste Jimenez (both Spain, assistants); Howard Webb (England, referee), Darren Cann, Michael Mullarkey (both England, assistants)

Oceania

Michael Hester (New Zealand, referee), Jan-Hendrik Hintz (New Zealand, assistant), Tevita Makasini (Tonga, assistant); Peter O’Leary (New Zealand, referee), Brent Best (New Zealand, assistant), Matthew Taro (Solomon Islands, assistant)

South America

Carlos Amarilla Demarqui (Paraguay, referee), Emigdio Ruiz Roa, Nicolas Yegros (both Paraguay, assistants); Hector Baldassi (Argentina, referee), Ricardo Casas, Hernan Maidana (both Argentina, assistants); Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay, referee), Pablo Fandino, Mauricio Espinosa (both Uruguay, assistants); Pablo Pozo Quinteros (Chile, referee), Patricio Basualto, Francisco Mondria (both Chile, assistants); Oscar Ruiz Acosta (Colombia, referee), Abraham Gonzalez, Humberto Clavijo (both Colombia, assistants); Carlos Simon (Brazil, referee), Altemir Hausmann, Roberto Braatz (both Brazil, assistants)

Tags: South Africa, WORLD CUP 2010

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria has fired Shaibu Amodu following a disappointing African Cup of Nations, leaving the team without a head coach just months before the World Cup.

The Nigerian Football Federation said Saturday its short list of replacements includes Ratomir Dujkovic, Guus Hiddink, Bruno Metsu, Hassan Shehata, Peter Taylor and Louis van Gaal.

The candidates will be interviewed by the end of the month.

The Super Eagles lost to Ghana in the semifinals of the African Cup, then beat Algeria in the third-place match. Nigeria is in a World Cup group with Argentina, Greece and South Korea.

The refusal of President Umaru Yar’Adua to hand over power to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan has turned Nigeria into a laughing stock at an international conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

One of the speakers at the Mining Indaba Conference and a global economist, Dr. David Hale, told participants on Tuesday that Yar’Adua was very ill and might pass on within six months.

He was not done with the comment as he went on to add that Nigeria would prepare for another election in six months after the expected passage of the President.

He said, “In Nigeria, the President has been in Saudi Arabia for nearly three months for medical treatment and he refused to hand over to the vice-president, even though the people are calling for it.

“He is suffering from acute heart problems and should be dead in six months. So, in Nigeria, there should be a new election in six months after the death of the President.”

The remarks by Hale, who is the Chairman of David Hale Global Economics, surprisingly elicited loud laughter from the participants and protests from members of the Nigerian team at the event.

Delivering the keynote address titled “Global Outlook,” Hale also said that Nigeria, which needed at least 20,000 megawatts for stable electricity supply, however, regretted that the nation was only able to generate 2,000MW.

In a country by country analysis, the respected economist said that Nigeria’s poor power supply made it a difficult environment to invest in.

Hale, whose clients include investment management firms, major hedge funds and multinational companies, is based in Chicago, United States.

He is a member of the National Association of Business Economists and the New York Society of Security Analysts.

The participants comprised mining executives from across the world, investors, analysts, financiers, journalists, policy makers, etcetera.

Speaking at the Nigerian Day at the Indaba Conference, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Senator George Sekibo, described Hale’s comments as unfortunate and highly condemnable.

Sekibo said that Nigeria would make its displeasure on Hale’s comments known to the organisers of conference and demand an apology .

According to him, the Nigerian government will be advised to also take up the matter diplomatically when the delegation returns home.

Sekibo said, “It is important for participants at the conference to note that Nigeria has taken giant strides in mining, especially in the last few years; that is in addition to providing the much needed infrastructure for investors’ participation.

“We assure you that Nigeria is stable. There is not going to be any war anywhere, there is not going to be any division anywhere.

“Mr. President is not feeling very well now, every person can have such a situation. And I believe he will come out of it. Nigeria will still stand as a very strong country.”

Another member of the Nigerian team, Alhalji Suleiman Kassim, also condemned the claim by Hale that Nigeria’s total electricity output was only 2000MW.

Kassim, who is the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, explained that Nigeria was generating over 3000MW and was hoping to increase it to 6000MW.

He maintained that since Indaba was a professional conference for stakeholders in the mining industry to relate, it should not be exploited by “uninformed political commentators” to deride a sovereign nation.

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji, is to appear before the Senate on Thursday (today).

The Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the Senate is also scheduled to meet at the official residence of the President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark.

Mark, who announced this during plenary on Wednesday, did not give reasons for Abba-Aji’s invitation.

It was, however, gathered that it was a fallout of the closed- door session which the Senate held with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, on January 21, 2010 over the President’s health.

Abba-Aji is expected to, among other things, answer questions as to whether or not the President asked him to transmit a letter to the National Assembly on his behalf.

A national newspaper (not THE PUNCH) had reported that the President wrote a letter to the National Assembly in line with the provisions of Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution before he travelled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The newspaper report said the Presidential aide did not transmit the letter for unknown reasons

Tags: NIGERIA, South Africa

A man who grew up in a country without snow is to become the first Ghanian to compete in the Winter Olympics later this month when he straps on his skis to tackle the Alpine downhill.

35-year old Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, aka the Snow Leopard, only saw snow for the first time five years ago and is now set to compete against the world’s top skiers

After teaching himself to ski on indoor slopes in the UK, Nkrumah-Acheampong broke on the international circuit - he’s the first black African skier to do so.

“It has been four years of heartache, sweat and a lot of tears away from my family,” said Kwame after scraping through qualifying to bag a place at the Winter Olympics.

“I feel great about competing and all my friends in Ghana think it is really cool. I am very proud of my heritage and being a role model for other Africans and Ghanaians to follow their dream,” he added.

His story is similar to the Disney film, Cool Runnings, about the Jamaican bobsleigh team’s debut at the 1988 Winter Olympics inCalgary.

We’ll certainly be looking out for the Snow Leopard when the Games begin on February 12.