Africa kicks off World Cup Fever
By: Peter de Guzman
Hundreds of millions of people all over the world were estimated to have tuned in to watch the first match of the tournament between South Africa and Mexico. Prior to the kickoff, the showcase Johannesburg Soccer City Stadium was treated to a spectacular opening ceremony with tribal themes. Dancers in traditional costumes performed along with Grammy Award winning R Kelly who serenaded more than 94,000 spectators.
Right before the match, the leaders of the countries who were going to play, South African President Jacob Zuma and Mexican President Felipe Calderon were introduced to the football players of both teams, along with FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Former South African President Nelson Mandela was supposed to attend, but could not due to the tragic death of his great-grandchild, Zenani Mandela, in a car-crash in the early hours of Friday as he was heading home after attending a pre-tournament concert. "A dream came true even if he's not here tonight, but the spirit of Mandela is in SoccerCity," said Blatter, in tribute to Mandela who played an instrumental role in earning South Africa the right to host the globally popular sporting tournament.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we as a country are humbled by this honor to host one of the biggest tournaments of the world," Zuma said. " Africa is indeed happy. This is the African World Cup. I declare the 2010 FIFA World Cup open." The South African fans responded with a deafening roar of their vuvuzelas – the plastic horn that has become the symbol of South African football.
The game itself was exciting and served as a great way to start the tournament. The highlight came when South African striker Sipiwhe Tshabalala scored the first goalof the 2010 World Cup at the start of the second half. The South African supporters who made up the vast majority of the crowd went wild with his goal. Unfortunately for the home side, Mexico’s Rafael Marquez equaled the score near the end of the match by beating goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune from close range.
The tournament will host teams from 32 countries, with 2006 champions Italy among the favorites to win, along with European champions Spain and five-time winner Brazil. The tournament is organized into eight groups of four teams each, and the top two teams from each group will advance to the 2nd round knockout of 16 teams. Representing the hopes of Africa are Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria along with hosts South Africa. South Africa, ranked 83rd in the world, is facing a huge challenge to avoid being the first host nation in the Cup’s history to be eliminated in the first round.
What’s arguably the world’s greatest sporting spectacle, the World Cup, opened on Friday with an exciting match between the home team South Africa and Mexico. The World Cup is considered the world’s biggest sporting event, with 26 billion cumulative audience. This is the first time in the history of the World Cup that the tournament is being held on the continent of Africa.
Key Words:
1. kickoff: (football) a kick from the center of the field to start a football game or to resume it after a score.
2. tournament: a sporting competition in which contestants play a series of games to decide the winner.
3. goal: game equipment consisting of the place toward which players of a game try to advance a ball or puck in order to score points.
