Tea time kickoff links

July 9, 5:36 PMSoccer ExaminerNicholas Richards

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Protests outside Soccer City Stadium in Soweto. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) 

Here are a few links in a weekly feature I'll call "Tea Time Kickoff." If you're having that light meal between 3-5, here's some much-needed reading material. Just don't spoil your dinner! 

Mandon! (AP Photo/Paul Thomas)

A potential shadow is being cast over the 2010 World Cup. Protests over stadium worker wages entered a second day in South Africa. Five stadiums were set to be upgraded, with another five set to be newly-built for next summer's tournament. In addition, seveal cities are undergoing an upgrade in infrastructure, including airport work in Durban and Cape Town. Now these stadiums are under threat of not being finished by the December deadline set by FIFA. Today's protests even led to an outburst of violence in Cape Town, as workers suddenly began pelting cars with rocks. As someone who has travelled to South Africa in March and hopes to make it back for 2010, this is disconcerting. This could be an embarrassment for a country that has had more than their share of them in their history. This is the last thing the people of South Africa need.   

Davies scoring against an awful Grenada side (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) 

The crazy guys at bigsoccer.com - a fantastic site, by the way - published this short little diddy on the death of Landycakes (Landon Donovan's not-so-flattering nickname as a softy), the birth of MANDON, and if he can possibly end up in England in the January transfer window. They lead the story with a photo of Donovan clutching the American flag with a winner's medal around his neck from the 2007 Gold Cup. They declare he's now the Clint Eastwood of US soccer. They cry from the rooftops that Donovan's play in South Africa was mannish. If another manly player, Oguchi Onyewu, can play and possibly thrive at AC Milan, then surely Mandon can make it in England - a view I agree with. This is an article dripping with masculinity. Well done. I love it. So I'm linking it. 

Lastly, some news from goal.com (another great site for all things football - proper terminology, please). Charlie Davies, who scored against Egypt in the Confederations Cup and Grenada in the Gold Cup, looks set to sign a four-year deal with French club Sochaux. As I stated in my article on Onyewu's big move to AC Milan, this can only be a positive for the USMNT. Sochaux need a striker, and Davies had a prolific strike rate in the Swedish league. With Sochaux's need for a striker, Davies will get games. The US has looked a more threatening side with him in it, so the more playing time he gets, the better for the USMNT.