Holland 2 Slovakia 1... who will pick the Oranges now they're through to the last eight?

AH the Dutch. So clinical, so perfect, so bloody Orange.

Four games, four wins, seven goals for, two against—and through they go to a quarterfinal against Brazil in Port Elizabeth on July 2.

Dunga's dynamos have to favourites after their emphatic 3-0 win over Chile tonight but with Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder clicking, these Dutch could yet drive Brazil nuts.

Robben, proving he’s completely recovered from a dodgy hamstring, made his first start, and scored the opener after just 18 minutes. Sneijder played him in, and his low shot from 25 yards was pretty unstoppable.

With courageous Slovakia trying to find an equaliser, Sneijder clinched it seven minutes from time by slotting home Dirk Kuyt’s pull-back.

Robert Vittek was left to score a penalty with the very last kick of the match, but that was it from Slovakia, playing in their first World Cup finals since Czechoslovakia split in 1993.

It’s not like the Dutch aren’t in good form. They were unbeaten in qualifying, and are currently on a record-run of 23 games unbeaten.

Just twice Slovakia threatened to upset the orange apple cart in front of 62,000 at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium. Maarten Stekelenburg was needed to tip over a Miroslav Stoch effort, and then he was called in to action from close range to deny Vittek.

Strange then that the ever-increasing orange army here are complaining about their form. Though England, France, and Italy would give anything to be in the last eight, the Dutch feel their side lacks flair.

They have never won the World Cup before, but there is a hankering after the “total football” of the sides that reached the finals in Germany '74 and Argentina '78.

Still, with Sneijder, Robben, and Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie beginning to fire, this could yet be a uniquely orange World Cup.

For an inside look at Soccer City, the World Cup final venue, see action from last night’s Argentina win over Mexico: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOzgJ5i6LkA

Neal Collins is in South Africa to marvel at the South Americans, mourn England... and promote his first novel A GAME APART, the real story behind this World Cup. For more information see www.nealcollins.co.uk.

Ronaldo fury over Kaka ban as FIFA let South Africa down again

Cristiano Ronaldo is furious he won’t be lining up opposite Real Madrid team-mate Kaka when Portugal face Brazil tomorrow in the biggest game of the World Cup so far.

The presence of the world’s two most expensive players was expected at the magnificent Moses Mabhida Stadium as Group G comes down to the wire. But a ridiculous red card during Brazil’s 3-1 win over the Ivory Coast means Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (his younger brother could only manage “Kaka”) is suspended.

With over a million Portuguese-speaking people in the Rainbow Nation, this was the second game sold out at South African 2010 – after the final at Soccer City on July 11.

Though both sides should qualify comfortably for the last 16, the clash between the nations ranked first and third in the world is expected to draw the highest global audience of an absorbing tournament.

Ronaldo, who moved to the Bernebeu from Manchester United for £80m, and Kaka, who joined from AC Milan for £56m, would have lit up the arched stadium. Like so many others, Ronaldo fumes: "It's not fair because Kaka did nothing in my opinion, and now he won't play against us.

"He didn't deserve that red card. I saw the game and I spoke with him about it afterwards. He was angry at the time but after the game he's cool, he understands it's part of the game."

Kaka dismissal rates as the worst of several appalling sendings off in the tournament so far. He was given a second yellow card when Kader Keita ran into him and fell down, clutching his face. Though Didier Drogba and Kaka were chatting amiably while the referee sorted out the mess, he was summoned and given his marching orders.

Having made the first and third goals on Sunday night at Soccer City – and had a good effort well saved – Kaka looked like he was just returning to form after a winter marred by a serious groin injury.

Brazil boss Dunga called in an “unjustified dismissal” and FIFA were expected to over-turn the decision. But, as normal, the global football body let South Africa down and Kaka is ruled out.

Dunga said: “The player who commits the foul escapes the yellow card, I have to congratulate him for that. It was a totally wrong, Kaka was fouled and yet he was punished.”

Ronaldo, man of the match in Portugal’s first two games here, will hope to add to his goal in the 7-0 win over North Korea on Monday – a strike which ended an international drought going back to his effort against the Czech Republic in the 2008 European Championship.

His goal, the sixth against the so-called Democratic People’s Republic scored three minutes from time, owed a little to a flukey touch with the back of his perfectly gelled hair. Ronaldo grins: "I knew the goal would come eventually. I smiled when I scored because it was a funny goal, the way it hit me on the neck. I am under no pressure."

Neal Collins is in South Africa to complain about England's performance and promote his first novel A GAME APART. See www.nealcollins.co.uk.

To see Neal at the National Arts Festival on July 4, go to http://www.computicket.com/web/event/neal_collins_a_game_apart/148367625.

For Ordinary Joe, this World Cup may be spent in FIFAland, not South Africa

Dumela is 28. He wears dreadlocks, never stops moving, and provides instant beer with a smile at the Keg & Spear pub next to the sparkling new Moses Mabhida Stadium.

You’d expect this father of four from KwaMashu to be looking forward to the World Cup and the crowds of foreign tourists arriving to eat, drink and be merrily tipping waiters next month. He isn’t. FIFA have decreed that the Keg & Spear, doing a roaring trade before the Sharks beat the Force at the neighbouring ABSA Stadium on Friday night, will be closed from this weekend – until after the World Cup finishes on July 14.

Dumela’s not keen on a picture being taken. Or on giving his full name. He’s hoping, desperately, that he will find a job in the Fan Zone during the World Cup, selling licensed FIFA beers and trinkets in the tent village soon to emerge on the concourse outside the Keg.

Otherwise he will earn nothing during Durban’s high profile hosting of the greatest footballing event on earth.

“Seven weeks out of work, I can’t do that,” he told me, “FIFA say we are not one of their licensed outlets, so we must close. But this pub is in a perfect place for the World Cup. I have applied to FIFA but I’ve heard nothing. I have my family to think of.”

Dumela is not alone. When City Manager Andy Sutcliffe signed Durban’s contract with FIFA in 2006, he might not have full appreciated the powers he was giving away. Until the middle of July, EThekwini may feel like a colony of FIFAland rather than a municipality in South Africa.

The local vendors around the two magnificent stadiums (Durban is a future Olympic venue if ever I saw one) are in the same boat as the 30 staff at the Keg. Unlicensed, they have been told to pay R25,000 or leave the vicinity during the five World Cup qualifiers and two knock-out matches at the Moses Mabhida.

Sipho Nkwane (I hope I got his name right) sells anything from shirts to sweat bands in team colours every week when Amazulu are playing, as they were in the rain on Friday night against Sundowns. He too faces a bleak World Cup: “My stuff is not licensed by FIFA. I have some cheap South Africa shirts and flags, but I will not be allowed to sell them during the tournament.”

And the sky car and bungee jumping at the Moses Mabhida, so popular since they opened last November, must also close until after the tournament. The lady selling tickets there on Friday night told me: “It’s such a shame. Only FIFA people can use these facilities now. And it would be so good to run the Sky Car for visitors during the World Cup.”

Local taxi drivers have been put through the mill too. They have been forced to get “World Cup roadworthy certificates” from the local transport authority before they get their “FIFA accredited” sticker. Their cars must be dent-free with no rips in the seats. Immaculate taxis only for FIFA. But they are likely to be kept two kilometres away from the ground in a FIFA-stipulated exclusion zone.

Joe, my driver in a splendid cap after Amazulu’s extra ordinary penalty shoot-out win over Sundowns on Saturday night, said: “We really don’t know how it’s going to work. Nobody has really explained. But I think FIFA have the power to shut any of the roads. There are people talking of a taxi strike, we are all worried.”

The general perception, speaking to those hundreds of working class folk who make their lives from fans and tourists around what I once knew as Kings Park, is pretty bleak. For a city about to welcome a huge influx of tourists, the shocking question is: “How are we going to survive for the next seven weeks?”

For Dumela, Sipho and Joe, as an experienced journalist who has travelled the world covering World Cups and Olympics from Sydney to Athens, I can offer no answer other than a couple of British pounds as a tip. Pathetic. But at least they get to glimpse a foreign tourist before the big kick-off.

When the situation was put to FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke at the recent Media Face Off at the Moses Mabhida - part of the huge Indaba 2010 conference – he quickly ruled out compromise.

The otherwise smooth Frenchman said simply: “This is the way we operate. Not all of our tournaments are commercial. We have to protect our licensed products, our sponsors, our reputation. I’m sorry, that’s how it is.

“People don't understand that, for FIFA, the World Cup is the only way to finance all that we are doing. We must protect the World Cup and people thought that we were bullying people or were policing the system.”

It’s not as if there won’t be enough people about. Valcke dreamily assured us tickets for all matches at the Moses Mabhida were “95 percent sold”. With 13,000 temporary seats added to the 56,000 permanent places in the arched edifice, there will be nearly 70,000 attending the seven games. I make that nearly half a million people heading to the ground in the space of a month.

But Valcke, who admitted he had learned lessons from South Africa to take to Brazil in four years time, insisted: “The situation will not change.”

With angry street vendors around Ellis Park and Soccer City quoted over the weekend quoted as saying “We shall make the World Cup unmanageable if they ban us,” that’s an answer Mr Valcke may live to regret – especially with FIFA (a non-profit making organisation) announcing this week they made a $196m surplus in 2009 with revenue up to a record $1.06 billion.

Tim Cahill and Australia have something special to off the Group of Death

WORLD CUP fever isn’t limited to South Africa. Australia, who open their campaign at the magnificent Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban against Germany on June 13, are ready to “do something special” according to Tim Cahill.

Cahill, who missed out to South Africa’s Steven Pienaar in the battle to be Everton’s Player of the Season, said: "For the last World Cup the nation stopped and there hasn't been a bigger event since that. It’s massive.”

In a nation where Rugby League, Rugby Union and the paradoxically-named Aussie Rules vie with Association Football for winter attention, Cahill insists: “Soccer is where it should be, up there fighting with the best. It is an honour and a privilege to play for Australia, to fly the flag.

“I’m fit and part of a squad fighting to do something special for Australia. I have been waiting for this for a long time."

The Socceroos were once a rare sight in the World Cup Finals – but since they were allowed to avoid a final play-off as Oceania’s champions against Latin America’s fifth-best nation, they are heading for a second successive tournament as Asian qualifiers, having impressed in Germany four years ago.

The 30-year-old, who made his international debut for Samoa aged 14 after being born in Sydney to an English father and a Samoan mother, said: “As a team we have improved one hell of a lot. The Asian group has been so difficult, playing against teams like Japan, Qatar and Bahrain - it has been as hard as when we last played Brazil."

Not sure about that one Tim. Qatar and Bahrain as hard as Brazil? Given the Aussies have been drawn the ‘Group of Death” with Germany, Ghana and Serbia, a bit of hyperbole is understandable. The former Millwall striker, so good in the air despite standing just 5ft 10in high, is getting the jitters as the greatest footballing event in the universe draws near.

He said: "It’s weird. We’re finally there and the domestic season is over. To have the World Cup finally here is a great feeling. My first expectation would be to get through the group.

“After that, we saw in the last World Cup that anything can happen. It is a World Cup final every game you play, it is 90 minutes of football and whoever is better on the day wins. Everyone is starting at level par and for me the aim will be to get through the group and hopefully make a few surprises.

"The statistics show Germany are always there or thereabouts. We know how strong they are as a team, so for us it is about concentrating on our strengths and trying to break them down slowly. They are slow starters in most competitions they play so hopefully we can catch them cold.

"Ghana are dangerous, being one of the strongest teams in Africa and having the powerhouses of Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah and a few other Premier League players. And the dark horses would have to be Serbia, I think they are strong as well."

So Tim. Break them down slowly – and catch them cold. There’s a plan. He adds: “It has been really hard but the players have improved domestically playing for their clubs. They are doing better and a lot more boys are coming overseas.”

True, they’ve got quite a collection of players from around the world gathering to join Dutch boss Pim Verbeek’s Soccceroos. In a nation where Australia’s cricketers and rugby players are generally in the shake up for the other World Cups, goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer (Fulham), diminutive stiker Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough) and Blackburn’s Brett Emerton are among 11 British based players who intend to give the Germans a run for their money in their opening game in Durban.

With the veteran Harry Kewell carrying an injury as the former Liverpool star arrives to join up with the squad from Galatasary in Turkey, Australia will be hard-pushed to improve on their performance in 2006, when they narrowly missed out on the quarter-finals in a last-gasp defeat to eventual champions Italy.

But Cahill, who has scored 19 goals in 37 games since being allowed to play for Australia after his junior appearances for Samoa, insists: "Our experiences in Germany will definitely help. We get the chance now to do it again. We are more experienced and have more game time under our belt, so maybe we can do something special."

In just 24 hours, with a little help from Lucas Radebe, Durban destroys the World Cup doom mongers

There are days when this job is all worthwhile. The last 24 hours are highlighted by my picture today and in my latest video, posted from the 18th floor of the Elangeni Hotel overlooking the crashing Indian Ocean in tropical Durban. Here, you sweat in winter.

And in 24 hours, this seaside city has proved itself ready for the World Cup - and an Olympics at some stage in the future.

Don't stop reading, it's a real option. Last night I went with former Springbok captain Bob Skinstad (we met on Twitter, I do radio stuff with him, hopefully Supersport football during the World Cup) to watch Super 14 rugby.

There were 35,000 fans there to see the big grudge match, Durban's Sharks against Cape Town's title-chasing Stormers. And the Sharks, to roars which echoed across the golden beaches, won it 20-14.

The Stormers should still be able to reach the semi-finals but they'll need to beat the table-topping Pretoria Bulls first. If they don't, there's a chance they could play eachother in an all-South African semi - and that will have to be played in Soweto!

It's true. With Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld now deemed a World Cup stadium, the traditionally conservative Bulls fans live in the heartland of post-Apartheid Afrikanerdom. Now they have to go to the Super Stadium in Orlando. Traditionally a soccer stadium, it's a real sign of change in South Africa.

Football has always been the No1 game here. Now they know it! There's a famous old Boer song "We are marching to Pretoria", which will have to be changed to "We are marching to Soweto"... but Durban know they'll always have an option.

In essence, last night with the rugby journalists was about assessing the mood of the non-footballing media before the World Cup. And to my surprise, it's extremely positive.

This was also about tasting Durban's sporting facilities. As my video shows, the 55,000-capacity rugby stadium - once called Kings Park, now the sponsored Absa Stadium - is just across the road from the magnificent new 65,000-capacity Moses Mabhida Stadium, built for the World Cup.

Quite apart from the fact that the huge domed football stadium has been built with little fuss (and a Wembleyesque arch where people can ride a cable car and bungy jump - see the video!) what strikes me is what a great Olympic venue Durban will make.

Here, next to the Indian Ocean, it's never truly winter. And with Kings Park used for football and the Moses Mabhida as the main stadium, they've got a massive swimming pool complex just down the road, not to mention an athletics track and velodrome for cyclists.

About a mile away stands the Kingsmead Test cricket stadium for events like the Pentathlon, archery, softball and the like. And of course, in the harbour, there's room for the yachting events. It's a natural selection. The Olympic bid must come.

The real reason I'm here in Durban a month before the World Cup is Indaba 2010. South African tourism have flown me out for this vast tourism conference at the impressive Durban ICC, which could also house Olympic events.

Today we decamped to the Moses Mabhida Stadium for a "Global Media Face-off". That was an eye-opener. We had the ministers for tourism and airports - two very impressive women - plus Danny Jordaan, the local World Cup chief, and Jerome Valcke, the FIFA man on the spot.

Valcke, revealing impressive ticket sales, appears to be relishing what was initially a tough role before Africa's first World Cup.

He smoothly talked his way out of any difficult questions - including why FIFA will charge local vendors R25,000 to sell their cheap wares near the stadia - and a general air of optimism pervades an event which once looked improbable.

With Europe worried by the collapse of the Greek economy, South Africa appear ready to take the role of sports supernation. And Valcke confirmed: "We never considered taking the World Cup away from South Africa. There was no Plan B. On the heads of my children I promise you this."

And standing just down from him another impressive bloke. General Bheki Cele, head of police and the man assigned to keep England fans on their best behaviour.

I got to speak to him - I hate to name drop but he joined my conversation with local footballing God Lucas Radebe, formerly of Leeds (he's the guy they named the Kaiser Chiefs pop group after).

I wouldn't mess with Cele. He's been all over the world from India to England, Germany to Holland, talking to "football police". Amid all this talk about South African crime rates, he seems unfazed by the reputation of English football fans, warning: "We have powers. Depending on the crime we will issue a life-sentence or send them home if they step out of line. We are ready."

And indeed they are. The Moses Mabhida Stadium, like Soccer City near Soweto, added to the new airport at King Shaka, cannot be ignored.

The only problem? South Africa's ailing football team. When Radebe was playing in the 1990s, South Africa were African Nations Cup champions and they qualified for two World Cups.

Now they are the lowest ranked host nation in the history of the World Cup. If they'd been asked to qualify they would have failed dismally.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Radebe said to me: "We have Steven Pienaar, he's just been voted Everton's player of the year. And even if Benni McCarthy isn't fully fit, he can get the goals.

"I'd play our veteran Siyabonga Nomvete straight down the middle with McCarthy lying off him. And at the back, Aaron Mokoena has got an FA Cup final coming up next week for Portsmouth. We might be okay. We may get out of the group."

With Mexico, Uruguay and France also in Group A, that will be no mean feat. But Radebe, like all the locals, is getting behind Bafana Bafana.

And amid the plethora of negative publicity overseas, you can't help feeling this may just be a very special World Cup.