South Africa is likely to do better than Poland and Ukraine, which will jointly host football’s European Championship in 2012; Ukraine’s preparations have been singled out as shoddy.

I am a defender of the German national team, a team of young and promising footballers, with whom I want to win the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

Mr Tusk had pledged to complete the highway before next summer's European soccer championships, which Poland is co-hosting with Ukraine.