Source: Liverpool_Echo
Everton FC’s Steven Pienaar ready to take centre stage for South Africa at World Cup 2010
Everton FC's Steven Pienaar is ready to take centre stage on home soil[LNB]WHEN the whistle goes and the speculation stops - Steven Pienaar is ready to thrill the world this summer.[LNB]The South African might be at the centre of an increasingly fraught contract dispute with Everton, but it is his sublime skills which make the prospect of his Merseyside departure so unwelcome.[LNB]Those skills have long been predicted to make the midfielder a star as he leads his country's quest for glory on home soil.[LNB]Pienaar takes the biggest stage in global football after a sensational season for the Toffees, during which his ability to change close games single-handedly sparkled.[LNB] Denied the creative artistry of Mikel Arteta for so long, Pienaar's mercurial feet and ceaseless workrate fired Everton's form.[LNB]The South African's goals against Manchester City and Arsenal finally caused the rest of the Premier League to sit up and take notice of a talent which had long been admired at Goodison Park.[LNB]Pienaar arrived on loan from Borussia Dortmund for the 2007-08 season and later signed a three-year contract for a pre-agreed bargain fee of £2m.[LNB]He scored his first Everton goal in a 2-0 home victory over Middlesbrough in September 2007, and soon began to win over the Goodison crowd providing a threat on the left-flank, later intensified by his link-up play with full-back Leighton Baines, himself unfortunate not to make Fabio Capello's England squad.
