Sharing the dream

Marco Monteverde
From: Sunday Herald Sun May 30, 2010 12:00AM

THE Socceroos have taken time out from their hectic World Cup training schedule to share their experiences with a host of under-privileged children who now have a new team to support at South Africa 2010.
Led by Mark Schwarzer, several Socceroos passed on their football knowledge to students from the Monash University Saturday School program.

The Australian university's South African campus runs the program, a community engagement initiative that involves 120 students from Grade 6 to Grade 12 attending classes, including academic support, chess, computer literacy, sport and life orientation.

With football fever sweeping South Africa ahead of the World Cup, which starts on June 11, the youngsters jumped at the chance to meet the likes of Schwarzer, Luke Wilkshire and 18-year-old Tommy Oar, who is not much older than some of the kids he was passing on advice to yesterday at St Stithians.

"It's been a great experience," Oar said.

"All the kids are excited about it and it also makes me realise just how lucky I am to be in my position."

Australia's High Commissioner to South Africa, Ann Harrap, said the children's excitement was obvious from the looks on their faces.

"Mark Schwarzer told me the children might not have known exactly who the guys were, but I think they were really touched that someone famous, someone well known, had come to spend some time with them," Harrap said.

"The team was pretty impressed with some of the skills they saw, particularly from some of the girls. They have obviously been going to the clinics and been learning what they've been taught."

Monash University South Africa community outreach officer William Moore, who can't get enough of his adopted country after moving from Melbourne in 2008, praised the Socceroos for their generosity.

"Sometimes these kids see what's happening with soccer on the television, but never get to interact. So, for us, it's great that we're giving them the opportunity," Moore said.

Several of the children will venture to Ruimsig Stadium on Tuesday to support Australia in their World Cup warm-up clash against Denmark.

THE Socceroos have almost a 45 per cent chance of progressing from their group at the World Cup, but are only a 1.6 per cent hope of winning the tournament, according to a Swiss mathematician.

Roger Kaufmann has generated probabilities for every team in South Africa using his "dynamic sport analysis" system, which takes in data, including each team's world ranking, goals scored at home and away and upcoming matches.

His system predicts Spain and Brazil are most likely to meet each other in the final of the tournament.

According to the latest update on his website, the mathematician calculates that Brazil has a 15.4 per cent chance of becoming world champion, slightly edging out Spain, which has 15.2 per cent possibility of winning.

Kaufmann says Australia has a 44.9 per cent chance of finishing top two in Group D and progressing to the last 16, as they did in Germany in 2006.

- with agencies
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/sharing-the-dream/story-e6frf9if-1225872972033