Snippets: Education on the sidelines, and more

The Brazilian referee and assistants taking charge of the England v United States World Cup match have been learning English-language obscenities the players might use. Carlos Simon will referee tomorrow's match in Rustenburg, assisted by Roberto Braatz and Altemir Hausmann, and wants to ensure players cannot get away with abuse. Hausmann told Globo Sport, the Brazilian broadcaster, that "we have to learn what kind of words the players say. All players swear and we know we will hear a few." Wayne Rooney was booked during England's warm-up match against Platinum Stars, the South African side, on Monday for swearing at the referee.

Gregory van der Wiel, the Holland defender, says his squad is banned from using Twitter during the World Cup, one day after a teammate used a Dutch term insulting to Moroccans on a live streaming video. Eljero Elia appeared to make the remark on Tuesday in response to a jesting insult made by a Moroccan friend on a chat forum connected with the video. De Telegraaf, the Dutch newspaper, reported that Elia apologised and will not be punished after saying he used the term without racist intent. Van der Wiel wrote on his Twitter page: "We are not allowed to tweet anymore. So I end it now, speak to you after the World Cup, sorry." The English and Spanish squads are also banned from using Twitter.

Morten Olsen, the Denmark coach, was unable to conduct his press conference yesterday as he battles a virus. The 60-year-old is back on his feet after missing training for the past two days because of illness, but was not well enough to carry out his media duties at the Loerie Park Stadium in Krysna. Lars Berendt, the Danish Football Association's communications director, said: "Morten Olsen is up from bed, but he is not healthy. He reluctantly did not meet with the press in case he infected any of you [journalists]."

Mesi Ramushaba, a top South African witch doctor has predicted England will do well in this year's World Cup. The Daily Star quoted Ramushaba, who is said to have magical powers that allow her to contact spirits, as saying that England have a very good chance of lifting the trophy. She conducted a ritual in which she laid an England flag over an animal skin and tossed a mix of sacred animal bones on to it. She told the newspaper: "England will go far in the World Cup. I predict England will get to the semi-finals or even further." Ramushaba, 37, concocted a potion called muti made from ash, animal skins and poisonous plants to boost England's chances. She said the team must add the potion to a face cream and put it on before each match to get extra powers.

South Africa's rugby union team will play their first home Test of the season in the midst of World Cup football fever when they take on France in Cape Town tomorrow. The match at Newlands sees the world and tri-nations champions host the Six Nations winners in a mouth-watering southern hemisphere-versus-northern hemisphere showdown, yet the game is sure to be overshadowed by Africa's first football World Cup. "It's not often that a Springbok Test will take a back seat to something else," John Smit, the South Africa captain, said. "But this certainly is the case with the football World Cup and we gladly accept that."

Australia has pulled out of bidding to host the 2018 World Cup and will instead focus on hosting the 2022 tournament, the country's football federation (FFA) said yesterday. Frank Lowy, the FFA chairman, said that following months of discussions with Fifa it had decided to "leave the field for 2018 to European contenders." Earlier this week the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) failed to back Australia's bid. "I want to assure Europe on behalf of AFC that we recognise and support their desire to host the 2018 edition," Mohamed Bin Hammam, the AFC president, said at an AFC extraordinary meeting on Tuesday.

The legions of Mexicans that have travelled to Johannesburg for today's World Cup curtain-raiser against the hosts are hungry for victory. But, thanks to the South African food chain Nando's, even if El Tri lose, their fans will have their appetites quenched. The popular restaurant is offering every passport-carrying Mexican a free lunch if Bafana Bafana beat the Central Americans at Soccer City Stadium this afternoon. It gives a whole new meaning to the term "tasting defeat".