World Cup hosts SAfrica to prepare in Brazil, Germany

Johannesburg: World Cup hosts South Africa will hold training camps in Brazil and Germany to prepare for the 2010 tournament, the South African Football Association (SAFA) said on Thursday.

A total of four training camps have been planned for South Africa, with the side heading to Brazil in March and Germany in April.The arrangements had been made before the appointment of Carlos Alberto Parreira as coach last Friday but he would be allowed to give some input, national team general manager Sipho Nkumane said. South Africa`s league will shut down in January for the first training camp, expected to be at altitude somewhere in the country. The season is also finishing early to allow Parreira time to work with the home-based players, who form about half of the expected squad for the 2010 finals. South Africa will train in Brazil for four weeks from March 6 and then go to Germany for a camp from April 13-28. The team will be based in Herzogenaurach in Germany but the Brazilian venue has yet to be fixed. A final training camp will start on May 6 before the World Cup kicks off on June 11, SAFA added.The team have four international warm-up games fixed over the next six months with matches against Japan (Nov. 14), Jamaica (Nov. 17) and away games in Chile (March 3) and Jamaica (April 10). Nkumane said negotiations were ongoing with North and South Korea for possible friendly internationals in January and with Argentina, Costa Rica and Paraguay for games in March. Bureau Report