Is the fact that Brazil are Argentina’s next opponents in the World Cup qualifiers getting to Argentines worried by the precarious position of Diego Maradona’s team in the standings?

While Brazil enjoy more match practice at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, Argentina, their rivals in the 2005 final in Germany, are bickering over the pitch on which to host their arch-rivals in match that will have a major bearing on their World Cup ambitions.

The River Plate pitch was in a disgraceful state, Maradona said before his team, playing poorly, beat Colombia 1-0 in their last qualifier on June 10 just days after fans at a rock concert trampled all over it.

A 2-0 defeat away to Ecuador at altitude in Quito in a match Argentina, playing better than against Colombia, should have sewn up in the first half, had an unhappy Maradona once again harping on about the River Plate pitch where Brazil are due on the first weekend in September.

River Plate then brought their bitter enmity with Boca Juniors, the club Maradona played for and supports, into the issue.

They demanded from the Argentine Football Association (AFA) to see Maradona’s contract and proof that the former national team captain had undergone psychological tests before being appointed to the job last year.

AFA president Julio Grondona apologised to River over the aggressive tone of Maradona’s remarks.

“It’s all about a Boca and River issue in which the River people are complaining about some remarks made by a fervent supporter of Boca,” Grondona told radio La Red.

But he also reminded River that the AFA has first say over how the ground is used and had not been asked if the club could hold a rock concert there so close to a qualifier.

Grondona also admitted, though, that the AFA had been at fault in having only one stadium that fits FIFA specifications for World Cup matches and said it was applying for the ground of Rosario Central, in Argentina’s second city 400 km north of the capital, to be passed as a reserve stadium.

Newspapers then extended the debate to canvassing fans as to whether they thought Argentina might be better off playing Brazil in the more compact Central stadium where the arch-rivals drew 0-0 during the 1978 World Cup.

With four matches to go, Brazil lead the South American qualifying group with 27 points, one more than Chile, three ahead of Paraguay and five in front of Argentina in the four automatic qualifying berths for next year’s finals in South Africa.

Slipping down to fifth would put Argentina in a playoff berth against a team from the CONCACAF region of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

What also might help Argentina improve their position is playing better and for this Grondona believes it might be good to recall Boca playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, who controversially quit the national team over critical remarks by Maradona in the media in March.

“Also, if possible we’ll make a move to have Riquelme back,” Grondona said. “It’s not a request of Diego’s, I haven’t spoken to him about this. But who wouldn’t want him back. I sent Riquelme a few hints, he’s a good kid,” said Grondona of the player who was the midfield fulcrum of the Argentina side that reached the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals.

The outspoken Maradona is paradoxically persona non grata at his beloved Boca because of his perceived role in Riquelme’s decision to quit and hasn’t been to his private box at the club’s Bombonera stadium since.

PHOTO: Argentina’s Diego Maradona reacts after an Ecuador goal during their World Cup 2010 qualifying match in Quito, June 10, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Granja

The South African sporting public were a little underwhelmed by the early stages of the Confederations Cup and the British and Irish Lions tour but the last few days has seen a major turnaround and there is now something in the air.

Relatively high ticket prices combined with the Sprinboks' decision to keep their players out of their Super 14 teams combined to ensure the early provincial games were played against a backdrop of empty seats.

Now, however, with the first test looming on Saturday, a ticket for King's Park is like gold dust. The few thousand Lions fans who followed the team round the country over the first three weeks have been joined by a massive influx for the tests.

Estimates are that more than 30,000 will arrive for some part of the tour and they were out in force in Durban this week. Balmy seaside temperatures, good cheap food and, vitally, even cheaper beer, makes the coastal resort a dream destination for rugby tourists.

Organised groups, more often than not bedecked in matching tour shirts, are fillling the oceanside bars by night, while taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities South Africa has to offer by day.

While everyone has an opinion on whether the Boks should or should not have played a warm-up match and on the Proteas' prospects in cricket's World Twenty20, the efficiency of Iraq's back four in the Confederations Cup has not been at the conversational fore.

However, South Africa's victory over New Zealand on Wednesday has stirred things up and, with the World Cup less than a year away, previously pessimistic fans are warming again to their side, who are well-placed to reach the semi-finals of this dry-run tournament on home soil.

It's not exactly World Cup fever just yet, but the temperature is definitely rising.

PHOTO: A fan cheers before South Africa take on New Zealand in their Confederations Cup soccer match at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg June 17, 2009. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Cristiano Ronaldo's obsession with scoring an unforgettable goal in the Champions League final makes perfect sense now the world knows he always intended to leave Manchester United afterwards for Real Madrid.

Reaction in England to his departure was captured in a Guardian headline: "United fans will miss outrageous talent but not a charmless man". Ronaldo, it was said, possessed sumptuous talent coupled with obnoxious self-regard.

What, in the end, will Ronaldo be remembered for? His artistry as a footballer or his perceived failings as a man?

John Updike, who died this year aged 76, gives a clue.

A prodigiously prolific novelist, short story writer, playwright, literary critic, art critic and poet, Updike also produced one classic piece of sports writing entitled "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu". It is a wonderful account of Ted Williams's last game at Fenway Park in 1960, which turned out to be the great slugger's last game anywhere.

Updike cuts to the essence of all great athletes.

"He radiated, from afar, the hard blue glow of high purpose... For me, Williams is the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill."

Baseball, says Updike, and by extension any sport, is maintained "...not by the occasional heroics that sportswriters feed upon but by players who always care; who care, that is to say, about themselves and their art."

Williams's craftsmanship and rigour appealed to Updike's puritan soul. His achievements, like Williams's, depending on unsparing daily endeavour.

There was, though, a contradiction between Williams the athlete and Williams the man. He was, the sportswriter Roger Kahn said bluntly, "not a man to match the deed but an egocentric emotionalist who seems most of all to need a spanking".

Updike did not avoid the controversies which dogged Williams's career. He just didn't think they mattered. Kahn cared no more than Updike about the personal foibles of Williams or of any other ballplayer. "They are all players in a drama larger than themselves," Kahn wrote. "There is a classic tragedy within major league
baseball that catches and manipulates the life of every athlete as surely as forces beyond the heaths manipulated Hardy's simple Wessex folk into creatures of imposing stature."

Art, not the artist, is what matters in the end. Lord Byron, as a recent biography by Edna O'Brien confirms, was a moral monster. Pablo Picasso, Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra were deeply flawed. Their poetry, pictures, films and music will endure, regardless.

So, too, will the memories of Ronaldo's mesmerising feats at Old Trafford when the narcissism and petulance we read so much about last week have been long forgotten.

American soccer fans aren’t noted for their nastiness but the reaction to Giuseppe Rossi, New Jersey native, scoring twice for Italy against the U.S in their 3-1 Confederations Cup defeat on Monday has been surprisingly vitriolic.

What has upset U.S fans is that Rossi was born and bred in the U.S. but chose to play for another country and then — to add insult to injury — celebrated when he scored twice against his country of birth.

Rossi has Italian parents (his father was a soccer coach) also holds Italian citizenship, moved to Parma when he was 12 and was part of the Italian club’s youth scheme before joining Manchester United aged 17. He has represented Italy at youth level before joining the full national side. He now plays in Spain for Villarreal and is the subject of some pretty intense speculation linking him with a move back to one of Italy’s top clubs.

There is now a facebook group with nearly 400 members called ‘We Hate Giuseppe Rossi’ which features a picture of the forward with the word ‘Scum’ superimposed on it. Twitter contributors have labelled Rossi a traitor and there is worse out there.

The word “traitor” is entirely out of place in describing Rossi. In the modern, globalised world it is nothing at all out of the ordinary for players to have dual nationalities. It happens all the time. In fact, if my wife were to give birth to a son here in Miami, he would be eligible to play for four different countries (including, like Rossi, the U.S and Italy). These sort of situations are going to become more and more common in the future.

But it is particularly unfair to attack Rossi for his choice.

First of all, there is the matter of identity. With two Italian parents, Rossi clearly has a strong affinity for Italy.

Secondly, having left the U.S at the age of 12, he has not been part of the U.S youth coaching set-up and so owes nothing to U.S soccer (the bitterness would be more understandable had Rossi benefited from years of American coaching and soccer academies and then as an adult chosen to play for Italy).

Thirdly, he moved to Italy before he was even a teenager and received five years of coaching, schooling and development with Parma and the Italian Football Federation’s coaches, so he owes them much more than he owes U.S Soccer. I mean, he even played for Italy’s Under-16 team.

Often players choose to ‘adopt’ a country in order to gain an easier chance at becoming an international player. But Rossi can hardly be accused of that. As the online magazine American Soccer News puts it:

“In fact, the decision to play for Italy was a big risk if he ever wanted to have a national team career of any sort. Winners of four World Cups (including the most recent edition) and home to one of the best professional leagues on the planet, competition for Italy’s national team spots is fierce. Personnel decisions are analyzed meticulously by the country’s soccer-mad press. The pressure on players fortunate enough to don the national team kit is intense.

“Every mistake is scrutinized at great length in the papers and cafes and grottos and wherever else people gather. Many players’ lives (and those of their families) are ruined as a result. Why would any young man make the decision to expose himself to this maelstrom when he had a far easier, safer choice available to him?

“Rossi would have been all but guaranteed a starting spot for the US, probably for as long as he wanted, where he would not have been subject to anywhere near the same scrutiny.”

Indeed, to add to that, Rossi could find himself, in a year’s time, if his current excellent form deserts him, not making the Italy World Cup squad and be sat at home watching the U.S playing in South Africa and knowing that he would have walked into their team.

So why the bitterness about someone who hasn’t lived in the U.S since he was 12? I think it shows, above all, the deep disappointment among North American fans who have been waiting and waiting for a genuine world class talent to emerge.

While the U.S has produced scores of decent professionals, they really haven’t found anyone who would attract the likes of Manchester United or AC Milan to get their chequebooks out.

The all-time top scorer for the U.S national side, Landon Donovan, has had three tries at a career in the Bundesliga and failed to make the grade on every occasion. Freddy Adu was hailed as the first American global soccer star and although he is still only 20, his career so far in Europe has stuttered along.

Rather than vent fury at Rossi, American fans would do better to ask themselves whether Rossi would be the player he is now if he had chosen to stay in the United States and spend his formative years with a junior club here and then join a Major League Soccer team?

The sad truth is that if Rossi had stayed in the U.S, we probably wouldn’t be arguing about him now — he’d be just another no-name in the MLS, getting the occasional outing in the national side, playing with the anonymous lack of flair and style that is unfortunately typical of players coached in the U.S system.

PHOTO: Italy’s Giuseppe Rossi celebrates after scoring against the U.S during their Confederations Cup match at the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria, June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

The new Premier League season kicks off on August 15 and the first real eye-catching fixture is at Old Trafford a fortnight later when Arsenal visit champions Manchester United for the first twist in the title race.

United manager Alex Ferguson will clash with new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti at Stamford Bridge on November 7, two weeks after visiting rivals Liverpool at Anfield.

After the all-important Christmas period, the pick of the reverse fixtures see United visiting Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium on January 30 and then hosting last season’s Premier League runners-up Liverpool on March 20.

United’s last match against one of the other members of the leading quartet comes when Chelsea visit Old Trafford* on April 3.

Other dates for the diary:

Oct. 3/May 1: Chelsea v Liverpool

Dec. 12/Feb. 9: Liverpool v Arsenal

Nov. 28/Feb. 6: Arsenal v Chelsea

Nov. 28/Feb. 6: Everton v Liverpool

Oct. 31/Apr. 10: Arsenal v Tottenham

PHOTO: Alex Ferguson lifts the Premier League trophy at Old Trafford. May 16, 2009. REUTERS/Phil Noble

* corrected (see comments below)

Matthew Booth stands out in the South African side. At 1,98m, he towers over his team mates and is also the only white player in the home team’s starting line-up at the Confederations Cup.

He is also very popular with the fans, the majority of whom are black, and who remember with particular affection the role he played as captain of the South African under-23 side when they beat Brazil at the Olympic Games nine years ago.

Booth has only just made it back to the national side after a long hiatus. His club career in Russia had cost him a place in the Bafana Bafana team, as he disappeared out of the local consciousness and was ignored by a succession of coaches.

Every time he touches the ball, both for Bafana Bafana and for his club Mamelodi Sundowns, the crowd chant, “Boooooootttt”.

Few favoured players get such reverence from South Africans fans.

Lucas Radebe, a predecessor in the heart of the South African defence, elicited a chorus of “Rhooooo” every time he played a pass or cleared an attack. Mark Fish was “Feeeesh” and another favourite, John Moshoeu, “Shooooes”.

When the German defender Robert Huth played at Chelsea, a similar sound used to echo from the Stamford Bridge fans whenever he touched the ball.

To the uninitiated, when Booth touches the ball, the chorus of approval sounds like a wall of derision. Given the racial history of South Africa, it could be misconstrued as negative barracking and because he is white and the majority of the crowd black, it takes on an even more negative connotation.

Booth patiently explained to confused foreign journalists at some length after the match against Iraq on Sunday about the chant. Almost all wanted to know why the crowd were on his back. Was it because he was white?

But some missed the explanation, including the Spanish daily El Pais who wrote of the “sadness” of a white player being derided by the majority black crowd. The irony is that it could not be further from the truth.

PHOTO: South Africa’s Matthew Booth (L) challenges Iraq’s Nashat Akram during their Confederations Cup soccer match at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg June 14, 2009. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen

Pau Gasol's triumph with the LA Lakers has prompted more articles in the Spanish media celebrating the country's incredible run of sporting success.

Gasol was a vital cog in the Lakers machine this season and joins a long list of Spanish champions in individual and team sports.

Spain's soccer team, after winning Euro 2008, has cemented its hold on the number one ranking by extending its unbeaten run to 33 matches, Barcelona strolled to the Champions League title last month with a humbling of holders Manchester United, Rafael Nadal is the top-ranked men's tennis player and Spain Davis Cup champions, Jorge Lorenzo is joint leader in the MotoGP world championships and Carlos Sastre won the 2008 Tour de France, the third Spanish victory in a row.

"Another success for Spanish sport," Nadal wrote of Gasol on his website on Tuesday. "It's hard to take in everything that we are achieving," he added. "We should be very proud."

"Gasol has passed a new milestone for Spanish sport, even if there are not that many goals left to achieve," said sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky.

Writing in Marca newspaper on Tuesday, columnist Santiago Segurola said the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 were a turning point for the country, changing the way people outside Spain viewed the nation and laying the foundations for today's sporting achievements.

While Spain might not be the strongest sporting nation overall, it was among those that produced the widest variety of champions, almost all in sports with huge media impact, he added.

However, the recent success of athletes like Gasol and Nadal could be a mixed blessing for the team bidding to bring the Olympic Games to Madrid in 2016.

It helps raise the nation's global profile but also serves to underline the relative weakness of Spain in the key Olympic sports of athletics and swimming.

"We are enjoying the luxury but lacking in the basics," Segurola wrote.

Spain's performance at the last Olympics in Beijing, where they came 14th in the medals table behind the likes of Jamaica, Netherlands and Ukraine, underscored their athletes' deficiencies, Juan Bautista Martinez wrote in Tuesday's La Vanguardia.

But at a time of economic crisis, with unemployment soaring and firms closing down, sport had become a kind of motor of society that had helped lift damp spirits, he said. "When everything is going down the tubes, sport comes to the rescue."

Whether or not Madrid pips Chicago, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro to win the right to host the 2016 summer Games, the elusive dream for many Spaniards remains winning the soccer World Cup for the first time.

If Fernando Torres, David Villa, Xavi and Andres Iniesta maintain anything like their current form, South Africa next year could well be the icing on the cake for this over-achieving nation of 40 million people.

PAU: Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol reaches for a rebound in the 3rd quarter during Game 4 of their NBA Finals series against the Orlando Magic in Orlando, Florida June 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Kolczynski

INIESTA: Barcelona's Andres Iniesta holds the trophy after their Champions League final victory against Manchester United at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, May 27, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

For fans seeking ticket information for the Confederation Cup, a number is listed on the FIFA site for a helpdesk with appropriate information.

The site, however, has inserted an extra 0 into the number so instead of dialing the correct number, calls go to the private line of the chief organiser, Danny Jordaan, increasingly bemused at the number of calls he is taking from the public about ticket availability and prices.

“Yes, there have been a lot,” he said laconically when Reuters called the alleged helpline number to check price information and got the big boss on the line instead.

Jordaan said he had asked for the number to be corrected, but in the meantime was happy to provide a personal touch to potential customers.

There is nothing new about putting expensively assembled football teams into the hands of former players with glorious on-field pasts and little coaching experience. But I think it’s fair to say that Pep Guardiola’s remarkable success in his maiden season in the Barcelona dugout contributed to AC Milan and Juventus recently appointing novice managers Leonardo and Ciro Ferrara.

Juve’s Italy defender Nicola Legrottaglie said he sees Ferrara as “the Italian response to Guardiola”. Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani, meanwhile, preferred to compare Leonardo to the precedent they set with Fabio Capello, who like the Brazilian was a club director before his 1991-96 stint in charge that produced four Serie A titles and a Champions League.

Leonardo’s apparent weakness is that he is absolutely new to coaching. Guardiola had been successful with Barcelona B before he got the first-team job at the Camp Nou. Ferrara can count on his experience at the helm of Juve’s youth team and at Marcello Lippi’s side in the Italy coaching staff, as well as the two matches he won in Serie A to clinch automatic Champions League qualification after Claudio Ranieri was sacked.

Ferrara’s challenge may be how to stamp his authority in the locker room. He now finds himself in charge of the team’s so-called senators, such as Alessandro Del Piero, Mauro Camoranesi and David Trezeguet, after playing alongside them before retiring in 2005. This could complicate matters if he wants to drop one of his old team mates. But if he is seen to favour them it could create rifts.

It might be easier for Leonardo to be the tough guy when necessary as, although he is younger than Ferrara, his playing days are further behind him.

Lippi, however, is confident Ferrara has what it takes to overcome these hurdles: “He has the charisma, personality, intelligence, wisdom and charm to establish a relationship with top level professionals and construct something important with them.”

The pair’s ability to match the success of Guardiola and Capello will also depend on the raw materials the clubs give them to work with in the transfer market.

Kaka’s sale to Real Madrid should give Milan the money for much needed squad rejuvenation, while one of Leonardo’s challenges will be to restore Ronaldinho to his best so his playmaker compatriot is not missed. It will also be interesting to see if he is better than his predecessor Carlo Ancelotti at convincing the club to buy the players he wants rather than big names who are easy to land.

Ancelotti wanted someone like Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor or Palermo’s Amauri, who was snapped up by Juve, for his attack last year. Instead he ended up with Ronaldinho and Andriy Shevchenko, both of whom had poor seasons.

Ferrara will be able to base his attack on new signing Diego and Fabio Cannavaro’s return will bolster the backline. But with Pavel Nedved gone, the Turin side still look a couple of good signings short of being able to topple Inter Milan in Serie A and go all the way in Europe.

PHOTO: AC Milan’s Leonardo poses for photographers with club chief executive Adriano Galliani (R) after replacing Carlo Ancelotti as coach, June 1, 2009. REUTERS/Paolo Bona

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, World Cup organiser Danny Jordaan and just about everyone else involved in the 2010 finals have been playing down the risk of violence and crime in South Africa and in hundreds of reports over the last five years I have always been prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

That was until last night when I was effectively “mugged” by two uniformed police officers who demanded “pounds or dollars” before they would let me go on my way. In the end I handed over 200 rand (about 15 pounds) — and they showed their “gratitude” in the most astonishing way.

I covered the Spain-New Zealand match for Reuters in Rustenburg on Sunday evening and drove the 120-miles back to my hotel in Sandton City after the game.

I left Rustenburg at midnight, made good time without incident, dropped off my travelling companion at his hotel and was nearing Sandton when I saw a flashing light about 200 metres ahead and realised a policeman was indicating by torchlight for me to stop. I did.

After the usual pleasantries of, “How are you tonight sir,” and a check of my driving licence and passport, they quickly cut to the quick, ordered me out of the car and asked me where I had been and if I had been drinking.

I told them “Rustenburg” and no I hadn’t been drinking as I was driving. Seeing my Confederations Cup accreditation tag around my neck they asked me what I thought of the game which Spain won 5-0.

I thought we might have a plesant discussion about Fernando Torres’ 17-minute hat-trick, but they didn’t seem too bothered about that. They then asked me where I was going.

When I told them the name of my hotel, which was only about five minutes drive away, they told me I would never find it.

I told them I had a very reliable SatNav. They told me it was useless and I would get lost. Only they knew where my hotel was and after giving me directions asked me for their money.

“Where are our dollars or pounds, sir ?” they asked in a more threatening manner.

I gave them their cash and they let me go.

A minute later I saw their blue light flashing in my mirror again. This time I was rather more concerned.

They pulled me over again and the younger of the two said: “You will get lost sir,” and in no uncertain terms indicated I follow them again.

Bizarrely, they took me directly to the hotel — blue lights flashing all the way.

“Good night sir,” they shouted as the car park barrier raised, “and be careful, it is very dangerous on the roads in South Africa at night.”

You can say that again.

PHOTO: Dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the Confederations Cup at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg, June 14, 2009. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings