Tunis - South Africa hope England skipper David Beckham, or at least the image of him, can help propel them to success when the vote to decide the hosts of the 2010 World Cup is taken in May.
The South Africans pulled off a huge publicity coup when the England team, with Beckham to the fore, played a friendly in the country last year and gained even wider recognition when former president Nelson Mandela was pictured receiving a shirt from the Real Madrid star.
Now, Danny Jordaan, the head of the South African bid is off on a Beckham hunt once again.
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"I will go to Madrid straight from here," said Jordaan who is pushing his country's case during the African Nations Cup.
During his presentation at a luxury beachfront Tunis hotel, Jordaan played a video clip of Beckham's meeting with Mandela.
"It's not a central issue but it's important to bid and host at the same time."
Jordaan hopes that the kudos of welcoming the Spanish giants to play a friendly in South Africa will go a long way to influencing the FIFA executive committee which will decide the host for 2010 at a meeting in May.
In the recent past, France, Germany, Brazil and Argentina have all sampled the country's potential World Cup infrastructure.
"You can't just not host anything and then have a World Cup," said Jordaan.
"England are one of the most demanding teams in the world and dealing with their players and their fans was a great experience. You have to show that their comfort is important."
The memory of South Africa's last World Cup bid still burns deep after they lost the 2006 tournament to Germany by just one vote and Jordaan, who was also in charge then, is prepared for all eventualities.
"It can happen again," he said. "But on the day the vote is taken, 24 members of FIFA will drop their papers into a box, that's democracy."
Jordaan added that he was keen not to price the tournament out of the reach of fans in South Africa and has been working on a deal with banks in the country to set up special saving schemes so the poorly paid can put money aside to afford the tickets.
"We don't want to have a World Cup in Africa where all the African fans are standing outside because they can't afford to get in," he said.
South Africa are facing opposition from Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt for the right to host the 2010 tournament but only Morocco are serious contenders.
World football chief Sepp Blatter has already ruled out a joint bid from Libya and Tunisia and both nations conspicuously failed to mount any presentation here this week.
Egypt is regarded as a non-starter because of ongoing worries over the security situation in the region, leaving South Africa and Morocco, themselves three-time losers in the bidding process, to fight it out.
Jordaan believes if the World Cup is staged at its traditional time, then South Africa will have another advantage - the weather.
"The temperature in June and July in South Africa is ideal for football."
However, earlier in the day, Blatter hinted that the traditional June-July date could be changed if necessary.
"Should we have to change the dates we have in mind, the international calendar will be looked into," he said. - Sapa-AFP
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