Keeping the home fires burning
So imagine how they’re feeling in Soweto.
The most important thing about the inaugural game of the 2010 World Cup was that South Africa didn’t become the first host nation to lose on opening day. And their nail-biting draw with Mexico means they still have a decent chance of avoiding the ignominy of becoming the first host nation not to qualify from the group stages.
When they get a bit of perspective on yesterday’s game, the Bafana Bafana will reflect that it could have been a whole lot better but it could just as easily have been a whole lot worse.
As it was, they found an unlikely crock of gold at the foot of their rainbow when Siphiwe Tshabalala supplied the explosive finish to one of the few sweeping moves they managed in a display which was often riddled with nervousness and error.
And never more so than when their hapless attempt to play offside gifted Marquez an equaliser for a Mexican side that probably deserved a share of the spoils.
Yet, it could have been a transcendent day for South Africa, had Katlego Mphela not been denied by the butt of the upright as the game moved into time added on.
But we can park the detail for now. From the perspective of the host nation, all that matters is that they got a result. And, Mexicans apart, the world should be happy about that. Especially, that part of the world which has currently relocated to South Africa.
People wrongly believe that there is one World Cup every four years. In fact, there are two. There’s the one watched around the globe by a record-breaking television audience – insert Namaesque figure of your choice – and then there’s the very different one which unfolds in the grounds and on the ground.
The defining characteristics of the former, especially for citizens of those countries not involved, are solitary, even isolationist: drawn curtains, takeaway food and drink and an increasingly dog-eared wallchart stuck above the sofa. The defining characteristics of the latter are communal: cross-cultural exchange, vibrant 24/7 street life and in ideal circumstances, the thrilling sense, as George Clinton would have it, of one nation under a groove.
The television World Cup doesn’t need a successful performance on the pitch by the host nation to give it life; the World Cup on the ground, if not absolutely dependent on it, is certainly diminished in its absence.
I was lucky enough to see the proof of this phenomenon first-hand in the last two World Cups.
In 2002, South Korea’s remarkable run – aided by some generous refereeing, as Giovanni Trapattoni won’t be slow to remind you – galvanised the whole country and, as millions of red-shirted fans took to the streets, for a few weeks turned Seoul into what felt like the most exciting capital city on earth.
But, in some ways, the transformation which the World Cup wrought on Germany four years later was even more remarkable.
Where Korea’s national outpouring of joy sprang from a well of innocence, Germany ‘s came from a very different source and was all the more uplifting for it.
Expectations of the nationalmannschaft were not high going into the finals of 2006 but, from the moment they defied the historical form-book by scoring four in the opening game against Costa Rica in Munich, the atmosphere in the country became instantly super-charged.
And the longer the team’s run went on, the more joyous and inclusive the national mood became – for native and visitor alike. This went way beyond mere success on the pitch: it was about a country, so burdened with the baggage of the ages, finally learning to fall in love with itself. It actually felt like a kind of liberation. I well remember one local telling me that it was the first time since the collapse of the Berlin Wall that he felt the country of his birth was truly united.
Another confided that, previously, he’d never felt comfortable about waving the national flag. But, suddenly, the red, yellow and black seemed like the colours of the rainbow. No matter that the national team had won the trophy on home soil as far back as 1974; 32 years on, this was a new Germany, a new generation and a World Cup experience which felt as novel as it was refreshing.
There are signs that the 2010 version will have long-term benefits for the game in South Africa. With the hosting of the tournament boosting the sport’s already high profile in the country, the lucrative sale of television rights for the country’s domestic league – a deal now in its second of five years – means that more money will be available to import talent and improve the standard of players and coaches, while the availability of the training complexes built for the World Cup will ensure top-class facilities for local football in the years to come.
But all that is for the future. What matters now, is that South Africa build on the modest promise of their opening draw yesterday. And if you’re not already feeling a bit more South African, just wait until June 22 when they come face to face with France.
