Many said it could not been done.
But, South Africa did it and the African country did it in style.
Bravo to South Africa.
South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela crowned his country’s World Cup with an appearance on the field at the closing ceremony as 700 million viewers tuned to watch Spain’s 1-0 victory over Netherlands.
Some of the world’s top soccer nations were eliminated.
Among those were Brazil, Argentina, Britain and Portugal.
Spain had never won the World Cup.
Mandela has cancelled on the June 11 opener when his 13-year-old granddaughter was killed in a car crash.
The closing ceremony was a treat.
The moment inevitably recalled South Africa’s 1995 rugby World Cup victory when Mandela donned the jersey of the nation’s mainly white Springboks, in a moment now seen as a symbol of national healing.
The Nobel laureate’s spirit loomed large over Africa’s first World Cup, which has been repeatedly compared to the national euphoria that greeted his release from an apartheid prison more than 20 years ago.
According to statistics, the overall attendance at all World Cup matches topped 3,000,000, only the third tournament to do so.
The World Cup was a triumph for South Africa.
Soccer fans around the world won’t forget about the soccer matches in South Africa will be the blaring sound of vuvuzelas.
Vuvuzela was voted the word of the World Cup by global linguists who agreed the tournament will best be remembered for the name of South Africa’s deafening trumpet.
Vuvuzela was chosen by 75 per cent of more than 320 linguists from over 60 countries, who were asked to choose the world with the biggest impact on the tournament.
Vuvuzela is the tuneless plastic horn blown by fans.
Many had warned it could damage hearing.
This remains to be seen.
After watching many soccer games, my ears still ring of vuvuvela.
The constant drone of cheap and tuneless plastic horns was annoying to many soccer fans including me.
Now that the month-long tournament, the world’s most-watched sporting event, is over attention has been drawn to ever-rising crime.
The absence of any serious crime, the tournament’s smooth operation and the publicity given to South Africa, did help the country shed its reputation for murder and racial tension.
To cap it all, Louis Oosthuizen, a South African, won the famed Claret Jug after capturing the British Open Championships.
The eyes of the world were sharply focused on South Africa during the tournament.
This is the first time South Africa hosted World Cup soccer.
No other sporting event galvanizes the globe as the world Cup.
Soccer is played in more countries than any other sport.
Almost half the plant or three billion people watched the last World Cup soccer final.
South Africa has already spent more than $5-billion to host the soccer World Cup, including building 10 world-class stadiums.
The just-ended World Cup was a spectacular event.
No other country in Africa had all the facilities to host this event.
