Numbers' game

2-0 For Bafana Bafana's last German training camp game against Jamaica.

90th Spot-drop for Bafana Bafana on FIFA's world ranking list.

1. That's the new position for Brazil on that same FIFA list. They've overtaken Spain from the poleposition.

1-0 Victory for Barca but not good enough to overcome their 3-1 defeat in Milan last week. Inter will now face Bayern Munich in a classic champions league final next month in Madrid.

2 Goals. That's what Liverpool needs tonight against Atletico Madrid. If they get that and keep the visitors from scoring, then the Reds will play the Europa Cup final in Hamburg next month against either Fulham or Hamburg.

21 Degrees in Joburg today. That's what's promised. We need some sun to dry up the humidity.

42 Days to go to world cup kick off.

85th

So FIFA has just released its new world ranking of national teams. Spain remains on top and is obviously a serious contender to grab the world cup next July 11.

Brazil and the Netherlands follow in second and third place. First African nation is Cameroon on the 11th spot. The highest climber is Algeria, now 26th. Ivory Coast is on 16 and host Bafana Bafana can be traced way back down on the 85th spot. One up from the previous FIFA ranking. One spot after southern African brothers Zambia.

Last; that’s on place 203; is Papa New Guinea.

To the rhythm of the music

To start the world cup with a loud bang and in swinging African tradition, FIFA has announced that on the eve of the kick off there will be a big concert at Orlando stadium in Soweto. So that’s on June 10th. And in the brand new Orlando stadium!

The list of the performing artists is not known yet. The international events company Control Room (they organised for instance the Live Earth gig) has been appointed to make this show a memorable blast. And the hunt for big names is on. Beyonce and Jay-Z are already in the rumour mill.

And the proceeds from the concert tickets will go to the “20 Centres for 2010” campaign. That’s a FIFA project to build 20 centres in disadvantaged communities across Africa to deliver education, health services as well as football/soccer training. Nice one.

Music and football/soccer. Nice mix. South Africa will be big time on the world map next year!

Blk Jks

The talk of the town, to some degree, is about BLK JKS. And that is not a new crime syndicate nor a new radio program on Y-FM. It’s a new local band. Short for Black Jacks apparently.

The four members of BLK JKS have different musical backgrounds, from jazz to rock, what makes their mix fresh, reasonably original and worth the talk of Jozi. In attempt to describe their sound I’ve seen a cocktail of indie, dub, psychedelic and rock terminologies being used.

The 4 Jacks, Lindani Buthelezi, Mpumi Mcata, Molefi Makananise and Tshepang Ramoba are taking on the fever step by step. “Every gig, everything’s at stake” their site says is their philosophy.

BLK JKS is currently touring in the US of A to promote their freshly grounded, debut, full length album “After Robots”.

Check them out:
www.myspace.com/blkjks
www.blkjks.com



Also. The world’s football organisation/federation FIFA has released the new ranking for women’s football/soccer. To probably many fans’ surprise, the US ladies are in pole position, ahead of more traditionally football crazy nations like Germany and Brazil. South Africa’s Banyana Banyana is on 55th place. That’s ahead of Ivory Coast and Cameroon, but behind the likes of Pap New Guinea (yes indeed) and the ladies from Ghana.

You can find the whole FIFA list here: http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=f/fullranking.html



Finally. The other day I had to find a guest house in Joburg’s Melville district that I had not heard of before. The 7th Street Guesthouse at number 22 on, yes indeed, 7th Street. But to make things a bit complex and also annoying is that 7th Street in Melville has two number 22s. The one I firstly discovered is on the main stretch of the street, which goes from the bit with all the restaurants down to Auckland Park. But that number 22 is just an ordinary house. No sleeping guests welcome here. At least not on a daily basis I guess. After a u-turn I end up at the upper part of 7th Street, where you are facing a T-junction with 5th Avenue. After a brief cell phone call, I discovered that 7th Street continues around the block. So if you are looking for the above mentioned guest house start with 7th Avenue till you turn into 7th Street. That’s the hidden part of 7th Street. Mystery solved. End of confusion.

www.sleeping-out.co.za/member_details-MemberID-12511.html