World Cup 2010

Siem was on hand in Parow Park to present the winners with the NFD trophy as well as a cheque for R300 000.00 to Vasco, after their 2-1 win over Black Leopards on Sunday. A 1-1 draw away at Thohoyandou a few days earlier saw Vasco through 3-2 on aggregate.

"Vasco's promotion is richly deserved," said Siem. "They've shown during the last two seasons that they have a sound administrative unit and have proven that professionalism off the field has its rewards on it.

"I'm satisfied that they will adapt to life in the top league especially coming to terms with our various manuals."

Bafana head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira announced a squad without key players on Thursday, ahead of the side’s international friendly against Namibia on Wednesday.

The return of veteran defender Bradley Carnell will probably raise eyebrows, while Bevan Fransman and Bryce Moon also return for another opportunity to impress as the clock winds down.

The Bafana squad of 22 is:

Goalkeepers: Emile Baron (SuperSport United), Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs).

"I'm really happy, we checked everything yesterday," he told Sky Sports. "It's improved a lot since the last day we were here.

"The business is good and the pitches will be better by June, the hotel is really nice and the other facilities for the team like the medical centre will be ready in the next two months."

He added: "We're really happy we'll be staying here, the facilities are fantastic."

Reports about crime, doubts about the country's ability to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, disappointed FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke told The Telegraph, that opportunistic pricing by travel operators and airlines are also to blame as this may have discouraged many supporters to apply for tickets.

"It is clear that people have decided that because it is the World Cup they ask the highest amount possible to maximise income, but it doesn't work today," explained Valcke.

Erasmus - who is currently on loan at Excelsior Rotterdam from Feyenoord Rotterdam - had a good showing for the South African Under-20 team at the FIFA U20 World Cup last year, but they couldn't find a way past eventual champions Ghana.

He has to Ghana's equally exciting midfielder Dominic Adiyiah of AC Milan and Nigeria's U17 stalwart Sani Emmanuel of Bodens BK to contend with for the young player award.

The confirmations are expected to be sent by the beginning of next week. This second-last sales phase will run until 7 April 2010.

“We have already had more than 200,000 tickets requested within 100 hours, a number we are truly happy with,” said Horst R. Schmidt, Chairman of the FIFA World Cup Ticketing Sub-Committee.

“The fans understand that time is crucial now, as the tickets are allocated on a first come, first served basis, and that they should not wait for the last minute sales over the counter.”

How did it come about that you became a Bafana player? “It’s a long story, it was about a half year before the 1998 World Cup in France and South Africa had qualified. It was around December 1997 and I think they were searching around the world for players with a South African background and I was one of them.