Things were looking bleak for the South Coast after no World Cup team decided to set up a base camp there. But officials in the Ugu District Municipality were still feverishly working behind the scenes, and with the support of the provincial government pulled off a last-minute coup on Friday. The South Coast managed to secure the powerful Algerian football team's 2010 base camp at its Mondazur Hotel at the luxurious San Lameer resort in a dramatic twist that saw the North Coast's lavish five-star Fairmont Zimbali Resort lose out. Zimbali seemed a sure bet, and even Fifa's original list last week showed Algeria were going there. But Algeria reportedly complained that Zimbali was too pricey, and were even talking to potential Eastern Cape base camp sites.

The Ugu District and South Coast Tourism bosses had ambitious plans to even get Portugal to be based down the coast, aiming to capitalise on the region's rich historical links with Portugal. It was also arguably the best organised and most determined region in KZN in terms of campaigning for team base camps, hosting several team scouts and even appointing agents to market its new multimillion-rand Ugu High Performance Centre sports complex in Port Shepstone. But, despite building new modern training facilities and having a self-contained hotel base at San Lameer, the region was fighting a daunting battle to get a team to be based more than 70km away from the closest host city, Durban. They have done it, and are still celebrating securing Algeria's Desert Foxes, one of the strongest African teams taking part in the World Cup.

The KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Sports and Recreation, Weziwe Thusi, witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by the Algerian ambassador to South Africa, Mourad Ben Gheikh, the president of the Algeria Football Federation, Mohammed Rouraoua, and Ugu Mayor Sthembiso Cele. "We are very excited to have Algeria based on the South Coast for 2010. We've managed to pull off a last-minute World Cup coup," said an elated Cele. "Algeria are a football powerhouse in Africa and it is an honour to be hosting their 2010 base camp in the Ugu District... We really have to thank the premier's office and provincial 2010 co-ordination team for the role that they played in a joint effort to get a 2010 team to be based here. "We've got one of the strongest African teams. We can't wait, and now that the Algerian football team has signed we will be ironing out the finer details." South Coast Tourism chief executive Michael Bertram said that getting the Algerian 2010 base camp was a godsend. "We are really chuffed that we've delivered on becoming one of the few 2010 base camp sites in South Africa - IOL