SA Rocks

Found this video on Youtube from a fans perspective at Soccer City at the final game after Spain were crowned champions of the world.

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Yes, Bafana Bafana is out of the Fifa 2010 World Cup. Yes we are the only host nation in the history of the World Cup to not make it through to the 2nd round of the tournament but it just isn’t that simple now is it? Bafana blew out of the tournament bit did not crash and burn as they did this, they climbed the ranks of football in a rising fireball.

My friend Prudence sums it up perfectly:

Yes, let’s just run through that again shall we; Bafana did not qualify for this World Cup and competed on the basis that we were the hosts. We are ranked 83rd in the World right now. We drew with Mexico, ranked 17th. We lost to Uruguay who are ranked 16th and we beat, yes that is correct, we beat the French who are World Cup winners and currently ranked 9th in the world.

I am extremely proud of Bafana Bafana and must say that they played world class football yesterday against the French. The deserved a win and proved that they can compete with the best in the world and come out on top. I also believe that Frances internal politics cannot be an excuse for the French. They are a world class team with world class players and should be able to rise above their own rubbish and win. Their fans must be bitterly dissapointed and they owe their fans an apology.

I’ll still be pulling for the African teams along the way and hope that a few of them manage to make it through and give us Africans something to cheer for.

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I am suitably impressed with a news article that I was emailed by a South African friend of mine (Thanks Courts) living in Australia. The article is fair, just and doesn’t bounce about the fact that SA has problems. But it is well-balanced and positive too.

Let me just specify however, that this article was not written by a journalist but an Australian living in SA.

Here’s a little excerpt:

Is South Africa up to hosting an event of this size? Until about a month ago, many locals would have said “no”.

Spookily reminiscent of Sydney immediately before the 2000 Olympics, the locals seem to have passed through an arc of emotions ranging from “no one is going to come” to “the transport is going to be a disaster” to their current mind-set: “This is going to be a hell of a jol [party].”

If Sydney is any guide, the South Africans will spend the latter stages of the tournament putting their case that they hosted “the best World Cup ever” and be properly morose when it is all over.

Do yourself (and me) a favour and go and read this short and interesting article. It’s worth the read.

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