After a highly successful World Cup in Germany in 2006, there has always been an enormous pressure on South Africa to raise the bar above what happened three years ago. With the apparent delays in construction of the stadia, the ever-growing crime rate and other protocol related problems, the skeptics grew by the day of whether South Africa can host the FIFA World Cup.
However, if the Confederations Cup, which serves as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup is anything to go by, then all is set for the world to converge and enjoy the Mundial in Africa. Known as the ‘Festival of Champions’, the eighth Confederations Cup held in South Africa served as a befitting prelude to what soccer fans should expect next year.
Even though the four stadia (Coca Cola Park, Loftus Versfeld, Free State Stadium and Royal Bafokeng Stadium) used in the competition also hosted matches during the British and Irish Lions rugby tour simultaneously, the sometimes bad nature of these pitches did not overshadow the football brilliance and surprises displayed by the competitors.
This free-scoring tournament will also go down as one with many surprises. All the odds were against Egypt to beat World Champions Italy. Nobody gave the United States of America any chance of progressing past the group stage going into the last group games and yet they found themselves in the finals. This odyssey by the ‘Stars and Stripes’ country included stinging favourites, Spain, in the semis and nearly causing the biggest upset of the Confederations Cup by going up two goals against Brazil in the finals before the ‘Samba Boys’ came back to win in the dying minutes.
The FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 also offered soccer fans a glimpse of budding stars to look out for at the 2010 World Cup. Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo announced his presence to the soccer world in grand style at the tournament and compatriot Andre Santos didn’t disappoint either in his first tournament for the Selecao. South Africa had a prospect in left back Tsepo Masilela and American big defender Oguchi Onyewu and his goalkeeper Tim Howard were part of the brightest at the tournament.
Nice football was played at the tournament: Kaka justified his huge price tag and Brazil proved to the world once again that football runs in their blood as they won the competition back-to-back. However, for me, what grabbed the attention and headlines at this tournament were the Vuvuzelas (for the wrong reasons though). This legendary horn synonymous with South African football is a vociferous air horn that reverberates around arenas with rare energy.
Many of the European players who are not accustomed to this kind of noise complained bitterly about its distraction to the players and one of such strong critiques was Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso and called for its ban in the stadia. However, the man who made sure the World Cup is staged in Africa for the first time, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, thinks otherwise. He said, “It’s an African culture and we are in Africa and we have to allow them to practice their culture as much as they want to.”
Attendance at football matches in Africa has been a problem over the years and was one of the strong points of the doubters of whether South Africa can host the World Cup. However, the enthusiastic patronage at the various stadia by local fans, indeed, goes on to say: Africa is ready for the world! Another perennial problem of the African game, power outages, during matches played at night, was a rarity at this tournament and television transmission was also great.
Despite Egypt’s failure to reach the semis and hosts South Africa’s inabilities to play in the final and possibly annex the trophy, chances are brighter for African teams who will be representing at next year’s football festival, to excel. The ‘Festival of Champions’ has stepped up the World Cup fever not only in South Africa but the world at large and I have no doubt in my mind that South Africa will not only make Africa proud but also all those who helped in bringing the World Cup to Africa by staging the FIFA World Cup the African way.
However, if the Confederations Cup, which serves as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup is anything to go by, then all is set for the world to converge and enjoy the Mundial in Africa. Known as the ‘Festival of Champions’, the eighth Confederations Cup held in South Africa served as a befitting prelude to what soccer fans should expect next year.
Even though the four stadia (Coca Cola Park, Loftus Versfeld, Free State Stadium and Royal Bafokeng Stadium) used in the competition also hosted matches during the British and Irish Lions rugby tour simultaneously, the sometimes bad nature of these pitches did not overshadow the football brilliance and surprises displayed by the competitors.
This free-scoring tournament will also go down as one with many surprises. All the odds were against Egypt to beat World Champions Italy. Nobody gave the United States of America any chance of progressing past the group stage going into the last group games and yet they found themselves in the finals. This odyssey by the ‘Stars and Stripes’ country included stinging favourites, Spain, in the semis and nearly causing the biggest upset of the Confederations Cup by going up two goals against Brazil in the finals before the ‘Samba Boys’ came back to win in the dying minutes.
The FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 also offered soccer fans a glimpse of budding stars to look out for at the 2010 World Cup. Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo announced his presence to the soccer world in grand style at the tournament and compatriot Andre Santos didn’t disappoint either in his first tournament for the Selecao. South Africa had a prospect in left back Tsepo Masilela and American big defender Oguchi Onyewu and his goalkeeper Tim Howard were part of the brightest at the tournament.
Nice football was played at the tournament: Kaka justified his huge price tag and Brazil proved to the world once again that football runs in their blood as they won the competition back-to-back. However, for me, what grabbed the attention and headlines at this tournament were the Vuvuzelas (for the wrong reasons though). This legendary horn synonymous with South African football is a vociferous air horn that reverberates around arenas with rare energy.
Many of the European players who are not accustomed to this kind of noise complained bitterly about its distraction to the players and one of such strong critiques was Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso and called for its ban in the stadia. However, the man who made sure the World Cup is staged in Africa for the first time, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, thinks otherwise. He said, “It’s an African culture and we are in Africa and we have to allow them to practice their culture as much as they want to.”
Attendance at football matches in Africa has been a problem over the years and was one of the strong points of the doubters of whether South Africa can host the World Cup. However, the enthusiastic patronage at the various stadia by local fans, indeed, goes on to say: Africa is ready for the world! Another perennial problem of the African game, power outages, during matches played at night, was a rarity at this tournament and television transmission was also great.
Despite Egypt’s failure to reach the semis and hosts South Africa’s inabilities to play in the final and possibly annex the trophy, chances are brighter for African teams who will be representing at next year’s football festival, to excel. The ‘Festival of Champions’ has stepped up the World Cup fever not only in South Africa but the world at large and I have no doubt in my mind that South Africa will not only make Africa proud but also all those who helped in bringing the World Cup to Africa by staging the FIFA World Cup the African way.
No comments:
Post a Comment