Maradona's SA 2010 scorecard

Monday, January 18, 2010

Pretoria - Argentine national soccer team coach and arguably the best footballer of all time, Diego Maradona, has landed in South Africa to assess sporting facilities ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Maradona, 49, and a delegation from the Argentine Football Association are in the country for a five-day visit to inspect the facilities to be used by the Argentine team in the host city of Tshwane during the tournament.

Maradona is scheduled to hold a session with students from the High Performance Centre sports academy in Pretoria later this afternoon.

On Tuesday, he will visit Lowe Middle School in Ga-Rankuwa, which has represented Argentina at the annual Group of Latin and Caribbean countries football tournament since 2000.

Over the years, the Argentine embassy has facilitated football coaching clinics by Argentine coaches at the school, exchange programmes and supplying the school with computers, equipment and funding.

On Thursday afternoon, Maradona will also visit Soccer City Stadium, outside Soweto, the host of the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World as well as the final.

The Argentine team has twice won the FIFA World Cup, in 1978 and 1986.