JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Brief stories from the World Cup in South Africa yesterday:

Greaves expects USA to wind up Rooney

LONDON, England: England’s short-tempered striker Wayne Rooney will be wound up “something shocking” by the United States in their World Cup opener in Rustenburg on Saturday, according to Jimmy Greaves.

“The Americans have said they are not going to wind him up, but I’m sure they’re lying,” said Greaves, the best goalscoring England striker of his generation.

“The first thing they are going to do is wind him up something shocking and see if he loses it.”

Greaves couldn’t resist a bit of teasing himself, insisting “the Yanks are not particularly interested in soccer anyway”. (AFP)

Denmark fund football in township

KNYSNA, South Africa: Denmark are aiming to leave a lasting impression in South Africa by financing the construction of two football pitches and salaries for a year for two coaches in the township of Bongani, near the team’s training base in Knysna.

“This project is a way of thanking the people here for their welcome and it matches our vision of sport — training coaches to learn about social skills and respect through football,” said Denmark’s ambassador Dan Frederiksen.

Findley the US X-box king

IRENE, South Africa: Fleet-footed forward Robbie Findley is the X-box video game king of the US World Cup side, according to striker Jozy Altidore, who adds that defender Oguchi Onyewu seldom plays the popular time-killer while midfield veteran Landon Donovan “plays a little bit, not that good.”

Donovan figures US will get some Toffee support

IRENE, South Africa: US star midfielder Landon Donovan, who spent three months on loan this year at English Premier League side Everton, has not heard from Toffees manager David Moyes ahead of the US-England World Cup showdown tomorrow.

But Donovan figures the Scotsman might just be on his side for the match.

“Learning a little bit of how the English and the Scottish are, my guess is he’ll be rooting for us,” Donovan said.

All quiet on Japan’s World Cup front

GEORGE, South Africa: Japan coach Takeshi Okada believes his charges, with an average age of 27, are doing fine after he ordered them to stay firmly inside their luxurious hotel at their base camp of George to avoid any brushes with trouble.

“After meals, they hold meetings and play table tennis, billiards or video games. I don’t think there is any problem,” said their bespectacled 53-year-old mentor.

English World Cup failure would be ‘PR disaster’

LONDON, England: England’s Football Association will be “attacked on all fronts” should Fabio Capello’s men fail to produce the goods in South Africa.

Who says so? None other than Fiona McLachlan, the head of sport at PR firm Weber Shandwick who leads the international communications team supporting the England bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

McLachlan told PR Week magazine: “The FA has managed to deliver a warm, friendly exterior with a focused football mindset. The reality is — as history proves — that a poor tournament for England means the FA will be attacked on all fronts.”