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Ramatsiyi Moholoa

Ramatsiyi Moholoa

All eyes will be on South Africa tomorrow when the draw for the 2009 Confederations Cup takes place at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The eight-nation tournament known as the "Festival of Champions" will serve as a dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup.

Five of the eight coaches willattend the draw, starting at 5pm.

They are Joel Santana (SA), Jordan Vieira (Iraq), Bob Bradley (United States of America), Shehata Hassan (Egypt) and Vicente Del Bosque (Spain).

Delia Fischer, Fifa media officer, said: "Not all the coaches will be here for the draw, but we will have representatives of all the participating countries."

Local Organising Committee chairman Irvin Khoza said the draw will help showcase South Africa's readiness for the 2010 World Cup.

"There is tremendous progress at all the venues and on the streets of major South African cities - signs that there is something happening towards 2010," he said.

"People will not [have to] rely on the information they get, but will see for themselves that South Africa and the rest of Africa are more than ready."

Khoza said they were ready to put on an even greater show than the World Cup preliminary draw in Durban last November, which left Fifa highly impressed.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter is in Chile for the Fifa Women's Under-20 Cup.

In his absence, the Fifa executive committee will be led by general secretary Jerome Valcke. Other top brass who will be in Sandton include the 2010 World Cup Organising Committee chairman Issa Hayatou and Jack Wagner, Fifa executive member.

Khoza, Valcke, Hayatou and Danny Jordaan, the LOC's chief executive, will brief the media this morning on the sale of the Confederations Cup tickets, which go on sale on Sunday.

There will also be briefings on matters relating to security, transport infrastructure, and energy and information technology this weekend and on Monday.

l The draw will be televised live on SABC 1 and SuperSport 4 at 5pm.

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