Johannesburg - FIFA announced at a media briefing in Johannesburg this week that two million of the approximately three million tickets for the South African-hosted World Cup tournament had been sold, prompting an aura of optimism and satisfaction over the overall progress made towards organising the event.
But, at the same time, after an emotional Jerome Valcke had condemned the continued negative attitude towards the staging of the World Cup in South Africa -- emanating from European countries like Great Britain and Germany in particular -- Fifa's secretary-general Valcke was asked: "If everything is going so smoothly, why do you sound so worried?"
The latest count was made at the conclusion of the third of the five phases for ticket sales, with World Cup Local Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan revealing there had been an encouraging improvement in the number of tickets purchased by South Africans - now numbering in the vicinity of 50 percent of the total number.
And six of the 64 matches, including the Cup Final at Soccer City in Johannesburg on July 11, the semi-finals in Cape Town and Durban and the preliminary group game in Durban between Brazil and Portugal had already been over-subscribed.
The next ticketing phase will be launched on February 9 and end on April 7 when a further 400 000 tickets will be made available by Fifa on a first serve basis over the internet or at one of FNB branches.
And from April 15 over the counter tickets will go on sale for the first time when Fifa hope the overall purchases will come close to the capacity figure of three-million.
"I'm happy over the progress," said Jordaan, "but not satisfied until the last ticket is sold."
What is of concern to Fifa and the LOC is that while the demand for tickets at many of the games will probably exceed the supply, a number of the less attractive fixtures might lag well behind and result in empty spaces on the terraces.
"If we had a 180 000-capacity stadium for the final," said Valcke, "we would probably be able to fill it to the rafters."
On the other hand, games like the one between Chile and Honduras in Nelspruit, for example, are clearly not doing so well, while ticket sales in some of the traditional major World Cup drawcards have also dropped below expectations.
Valcke said if one wanted to book an air ticket from Europe to South Africa during the World Cup, it would be impossible as they've all been fully booked.
" We are negotiaiting for additional planes as well as extra spectators."
