DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA—Several World Cup matches will be rescheduled following the Friday afternoon theft of Moses Mabhida Stadium by Somali pirates, who used chains attached to a makeshift flotilla of armed skiffs to tow the arena through Durban Bay and out into the Indian Ocean during opening ceremonies. "Our officers were taken completely by surprise," said South African national police commissioner Bheki Cele, adding that by the time law enforcement officers heard the building's steel girders scraping across the highway's asphalt it was far too late to rescue the 800,000-ton sports facility. "One minute the stadium was hosting Durban's opening festivities, and the next there was only an empty parking lot and the fading sound of 50,000 vuvuzela horns as the structure disappeared over the horizon." The pirates have yet to issue ransom demands, leading to police speculation that they may have already been overwhelmed and shot by combat-hardened, heavily armed soccer fans.
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