World Cup 2010: Australia The First Team To Arrive In South Africa

The World Cup Organising Committee have welcomed Australia's Socceroos as the first participating team to arrive in South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Australia landed at 18:35 local time yesterday evening (Wednesday) at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.

“We are pleased to welcome Australia as the first team to arrive in our country,” said Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan in a statement. "We all know that the stadiums are all ready, everything is in place and now the teams are finally here. More importantly though, our people are ready. From now, we have to concentrate on the kick-off match in a few days' time."

SAFA president, Kirsten Nematandani, was there to welcome the team as the representative of the host team. “As the host association, we feel excited to welcome all the teams to our country. It’s important that all the teams should feel at home and enjoy the best that our country has to

Australia coach, Pim Verbeek, said his team was excited to be in South Africa.

“First of all I want to say that we are very excited to be here in South Africa. I have been to this country about eight or nine times already and I have always enjoyed my stay here. It’s a great country and they have some of the best hotels. However, now we are here for a different reason, we are here to compete. But, I know it’s not going to be easy. We have a tough group with some quality teams.

“The most important thing for us is to win our first game. We have given ourselves plenty of time to prepare and acclimatise to the local conditions. The players will have to get used to the altitude and the few warm-up matches will help us a lot in achieving this. When playing in the World Cup, you have to prepare yourself and make sure the team is in good condition,” said Verbeek in a press statement.

Australia will open their 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign against Germany in Durban on June 13, moving to Rustenburg to play Ghana on June 19 and ending their group matches against Serbia in Nelspruit on June 23.

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