Artificial grass to make debut when Slovenia play Algeria

It will be the first ever World Cup match to be played on a surface partly consisting of artificial grass when Slovenia meet Algeria in a Group C game....

It will be the first ever World Cup match to be played on a surface partly consisting of artificial grass when Slovenia meet Algeria in a Group C game. The Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane has millions of threads of synthetic grass fibers woven in between and beneath the natural grass.

Slovenia and Algeria will already be playing for World Cup survival. After reaching South Africa 2010 via continental playoffs,Slovenia and Algeria are underdogs in a group which also contains England and the United States.

If anything,that favors Slovenia,which had to overcome European heavyweight Russia to earn a spot in the World Cup for the second time and has recently beaten Qatar and New Zealand in friendlies.

Stankovic set for treble

Serbia will make its World Cup debut Sunday as an independent nation when it faces a Ghana. Its a special moment for team captain Dejan Stankovic. After Ghana,he will have participated in three World Cups each for a different nation. Its going to be a historic match for Serb football, the midfielder said Saturday. We will be very emotional. Stankovic played for Yugoslavia in the 1998 and for Serbia and Montenegro four years ago.