World Cup news

It seems that FIFA's phase four ticket sale yesterday did not go so well.

Stop me if you have heard this before, but it looks like they were not ready for the overwhelming demand. This demand ended up crashing FIFA's website.

The sale was suppose to start at noon, but by 4pm, it was only working in Germany and all the tickets were gone.

Diego Maradona has been invited to Germany as a "guest of honor." Franz Beckenbauer, head of the 2006 World Cup organizing committee, said yesterday that, "In any world championship, the best have to be on hand, and Maradona is one of them."

Maradona has not decided if he is going to attend the Cup or not. By the way, Maradona also made news the couple of days ago when a car he was in injured two pedestrians. He says he was not driving at the time.

Pele is advising 24-year-old England midfielder Joe Cole to use his tricks wisely during the Cup.

More good words about Landon Donovan, but this time they come from the Canadian national team coach. Canada coach Frank Yallop said of him, "With Landon you've probably got one of the best attacking midfielders in the world, if not the best."

Finally, some World Cup 2010 news. South Africa has set a R8.5 billion ($800 million US) budget for improvements and preparations for the Cup. About 2/3rds of this amount will be spent in the next three years.