Argentina leads the way in World Cup hotel demands
By Brooks Peck
Final preparations are being made at the hotels and other temporary South African residences for the visiting teams ahead of next month's World Cup. For the University of Pretoria's High Performance Center, that means coming up with a whole lot of salad varieties and tearing up bathrooms to meet Argentina manager Diego Maradona's high toilet standards.
According to the South African Times, the Argentine Football Association's requests start out simple enough. All the rooms are to be painted white and six PlayStations are required for the players. The decadence starts to show when it comes to the food requests, though. They include:
On top of that, the center also had to frantically replace the standard sinks and toilets in the two bathrooms reserved for Maradona last Thursday at the request of the AFA.
For comparison's sake, the Times says that the Brazilian team requires "hot hot coffee, hot hot coffee and hot hot coffee," plus "a lot" of cookies and no chocolate where they're staying.
The Slovakians and North Koreans are keeping the requests simple, too:
I'm sure that once everyone hears about those Maradona toilets, they're all going to want them, though.
By Brooks Peck
Final preparations are being made at the hotels and other temporary South African residences for the visiting teams ahead of next month's World Cup. For the University of Pretoria's High Performance Center, that means coming up with a whole lot of salad varieties and tearing up bathrooms to meet Argentina manager Diego Maradona's high toilet standards.
According to the South African Times, the Argentine Football Association's requests start out simple enough. All the rooms are to be painted white and six PlayStations are required for the players. The decadence starts to show when it comes to the food requests, though. They include:
— Ten hot dishes a day as well as 14 different salads for every meal;
— Three different pasta sauces with each meal and at least three puddings;
— A braai once in three days; and
— Ice cream available all day.
I'm assuming the 24-hour ice cream is for Maradona, but why would they possibly need 14 different salads for every single meal?! I don't think I could even name 14 different salads. — Three different pasta sauces with each meal and at least three puddings;
— A braai once in three days; and
— Ice cream available all day.
On top of that, the center also had to frantically replace the standard sinks and toilets in the two bathrooms reserved for Maradona last Thursday at the request of the AFA.
The Pretoria center's chief operations officer, Colin Stier, said: "They felt that it (the basins and toilet bowls) were not up to Maradona's standards."
And those standards are apparently very high. The Telegraph shares details on Maradona's new toilet seat of the future:
The E-Bidet features a heated seat, a warm air blow-dryer and front and rear bidet wands. It sells for 450 dollars (358 euros) at online retailer sandman.com, which bills it as "the world's best toilet seat".
How could you ever endure a cold, wandless toilet seat again after you've experienced that?
For comparison's sake, the Times says that the Brazilian team requires "hot hot coffee, hot hot coffee and hot hot coffee," plus "a lot" of cookies and no chocolate where they're staying.
The Slovakians and North Koreans are keeping the requests simple, too:
Only two items feature on the Slovakians' wish list — two table tennis tables and an electronic dartboard.[...]
The North Koreans had only two simple requests — Korean rice with all meals, and the exclusive use of an entire floor of the Protea hotel in Midrand.
Meanwhile, the Italians are bringing their own pasta, of course, and the Mexicans are bringing their own priest. The North Koreans had only two simple requests — Korean rice with all meals, and the exclusive use of an entire floor of the Protea hotel in Midrand.
I'm sure that once everyone hears about those Maradona toilets, they're all going to want them, though.
