The World Cup begins with a magnificent opener on South Africa's day of pride

The mood-reflecting, sun shone brightly down on ‘Soccer City’ in this illustrious day for the proud nation of South Africa. The delightful opening ceremony’s essence of Africa and celebration was as refreshing as any previous tournament’s attempts and despite the unfortunate absence of the iconic Nelson Mandela due to his great granddaughter’s shocking death, the display still managed to emit the positive message of diversity and prosperity amongst the proud continent of Africa on a colossal scale.
The first game of the tournament which saw the hosts, South Africa take on a Mexico team recently beaten by England was of little disappointment. Conveniently, it was the Africans who took the lead as the rather comically named, Siphiwe Tshabalala blasted an astounding bullet beyond the grasps of the Mexican keeper. The Kaizer Chiefs’ (a South African football team in case you were thinking the team had some kind of rock star) winger will have attracted European interest, which will come as a nightmare to John Motsen, with a performance which made him a constant threat to the opponents as he constantly advanced within Mexican territory with genuine pace and quality. The slightly embarrassing, yet meaningful, patriotic celebration involving a choreographed dance which followed is likely to be a cult image to be carried through generations and a famous picture resembling the moment Africa really, finally put it‘s stamp on the world of football on a global basis.
Moments of quick, quality, fluid football from the, so-called “Bafana Bafanas” will have pleasantly shocked viewers who considered South Africa’s presence in the tournament a mere convenience on a geographical level. However, the emphatic, monotonous drone of the controversial vuvuzelas was unexpectedly drowned out by disappointment when Barcelona defender, Rafael Marquez spoilt the party by equalising for the Mexicans. A late chance for South Africa agonizingly hit the post, but overall it was an encouraging, positive, commendable start to a tournament which has attracted such negative speculation.
France versus Uruguay, on the other hand, was much more of a disappointment. Arguably two giants of world football; despite the Uruguayan’s severe loss of stature in modern times, an exciting strike partnership of Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan threatened to regain the South Americans’ respect and pride in the world of football and act as a catalyst in catapulting the team into an unexpected contender to enter the latter stages. Nothing of the sort. Tipped by many to overturn the French, a rather pathetic couple of shots from Forlan was all Uruguay could muster and France contributed little into making this the spectacle it had the potential to be.
The France manager, Raymond Domenech went some way to proving why he is so unpopular in his native country with a lack of tactical awareness, poor substitutions and a generally negative approach to “the greatest show on earth”. Florent Malouda’s introduction was far too late and after the Frenchman’s superb performances for Chelsea in attack this year, he should have been employed in a more advanced role. The straight swap of Thierry Henry for Nicholas Anelka lacked ambition as last year’s finalists cautiously, unimaginatively decided not to convert to a formation sporting a front two. Henry’s performance was nothing like the magical, majestic displays of his time at Arsenal and this once, world-class act appeared isolated as the lone striker and his physical attributes are slowly, pitifully withering away. His desperation for an impact even forced him to appeal for a handball, an extremely hypocritical and audacious action with regards to his Irish shame. It’s unlikely Henry will agree to David Sullivan’s bold attempts to sign him for West Ham as his legendry status in England would drop further down the drain with poor performances, a financially rewarding transfer to the USA would probably be the most sensible move at this stage of his career. Unless he sincerely believes, in his unquestionable yet rather admirable arrogance, he can still have a crack at the big time.
A late sending-off for an irresponsible, reckless, Uruguayan substitute was the only controversial action of the game, on a day when referees made some fantastic decisions in both matches. The much awaited 11th of June is finally over and the world cup is well and truly underway with the anticipation increasingly growing ahead of England’s game tomorrow evening. Despite a tedious match to finish the night, it would be acceptable to say that South Africa can be very pleased with their soccer introduction to the world.

Why England's first game in South Africa must be considered a success

England’s first game in South Africa against local side, Platinum Stars will probably be deemed unconvincing by the British media, but, when you put the situation into perspective, the game was nothing more than a training session to the England squad and we’ve escaped with a reasonable, 3-0 win and, vitally, no injuries.
You could generously describe Platinum Stars as the equivalent of a lower league side in England, so imagine their delight and excitement at the task of facing an international side filled with stars of the calibre and stature of John Terry, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney, especially as the nation is currently overwhelmed with the buzz of soccer pandemonium. With those men playing the game of their lives, England would’ve been happy to take a back-seat and gain a morale boosting winning whilst not loosing any more players to the curse of injury, which so cruelly stole Rio Ferdinand’s chance to lift the trophy.
Jermain Defoe’s early goal would’ve quietened moans fighting Darren Bent’s case for a space in the 23-man squad and reassured the public that despite his rather reserved end to the season, Defoe is a natural goal scorer and should disaster strike in the form of an injury to the talismanic Wayne Rooney, he is a suitable replacement. The game was encouraging for Rooney who ended a, for his standards, moderate goal-scoring drought for his country. Emile Heskey, on the other hand, knocked an opportunity, with his head, wide of the mark. No surprise there. As top-level international matches tend to be extremely tight, tense occasions, you must be efficient in the manner of taking your chances if you’re going to succeed. If England’s golden chance falls to Heskey, it’s unlikely they’ll be advancing to the next round and the Aston Villa target man’s low popularity in this country will decrease even further. However; it would be great for Heskey if he could defy the critics in his reserved, unselfish manner by allowing Rooney more freedom to play his game and finally gaining some recognition of his own.
An attacking, solo-run from Glen Johnson was promising in terms of his offensive ability but this has never really been in doubt for the pacey full-back. His defensive credibility, however, was again a dilemma for England as a misjudged header forced him to into conceding a penalty, which the local side, fortunately, failed to convert. You can be sure a player of the stature of Didier Drogba, Kaka or Fernando Torres would not have been so forgiving and Johnson’s unreliable performances in the defensive sector will be an increasing worry for Fabio Capello, enhancing the chances of Jamie Carragher adopting the right side of the back four for himself.
The expeditious break from England in aid of Joe Cole’s goal was hopefully an advert for the expansive play we will look to employ during the tournament and was the real highlight of an otherwise, dull and modest game. The fact Cole was the only player to complete the whole game means his fitness must now be unquestionable to Capello and that can only be good news for England who, with Cole, have a genuine footballer made for the big stage. His undeniable skill, technique and ability to produce a moment of unthinkable magic makes him one of our squad’s most naturally gifted players and his disappointing domestic season at Chelsea will be quickly forgotten if he proves to be the major asset to England he has the potential to be.
Whether the vacancy of David James meant he has nothing to prove to Capello or that he’s a non-starter will certainly be up for debate, but, the lack of Gareth Barry will be a genuine worry for England and the question as to why their seems to have been a lack of recognition towards Scott Parker in the 30-man squad will yet again be raised. The enthusiastic midfielder was said to have been the outstanding trainer in the Austrian camp and would certainly have installed his passion, determination and typically English spirit into the rest of the team, not to mention his conclusive talent and decisive, defensive ability. Capello will also be labelled a hypocrite after he began his reign as the national manager stressing the importance of fitness and form, a comment he may live to regret as he continually ignores it.
The reason for Rio Ferdinand and David Beckham’s presence is ambiguous to the outsider but seeing them sign shirts and converse with the natives during this warm-up game suggests they will be able to remove some of the untenable pressure provided by the obsessive media from the players and perhaps allow the playing squad to be fully focused on winning football matches alone. The fact Capello now feel they require this particular role reflects badly on our national media as they continue to convince us our world cup dreams will finally come true, only to send our hopes crashing back down to earth in a whirlpool of cynical stories and scandal. As the most powerful voice in our country, we must take it upon ourselves to support our team patriotically in the sincere belief that this really can be our year.

Fans already suffer injuries in South Africa; why they should never have got the world cup and England must host the 2018 tournament

Worrying news from South Africa’s warm-up game consists of 14 fans being injured in another crowd crushing incident. Suggestions of another potential tragedy, reminiscent of the Hillsborough disaster will soon rise to the surface of the media and yet again South Africa’s ability to host a successful, and most importantly, safe world cup is yet again cast in doubt.
Terrorist attacks are a distinct possibility in this particular world cup and following the attack on Togo’s team bus during the African Cup Of Nations recently, it appears it’s not only the fans who are in danger. Fans are being advised on where not to go during hours of darkness due to car theft and shootings; clearly this world cup has the potential to be an absolute disaster.
Admittedly it’s refreshing for an African nation to host the world cup, and if you had to choose one it would have to be South Africa. They’re certainly the more developed country of the continent and have experience in hosting sporting events from the 1995 rugby world cup and the 2003 cricket world cup but the football world cup is on a whole different level and FIFA have taken a major gamble in allowing it to be held in a politically unstable, economically weak, third world country.
I’m sure the tournament will help to bring in large amounts of money for South Africa to develop into a prosperous region, but remarkably slow ticket sales in terms of a tournament as distinguished as the world cup due to inflated prices will certainly be worrying the organisers. Before their bid was successful, the country was in absolutely no position, in terms of hotels, roads, airports and most importantly stadiums to host an event of the FIFA World Cup’s monstrous nature and so billions of dollars have been pumped into the country making this the most expensive world cup to date.
The harsh reality of this glamorous tournament is, it could destroy the profile of South Africa as a tourist attraction rather than raise it if some form of disaster did take place (and that is certainly not out of the question). And, as the sporting world gracefully drifts on with another world cup under it’s belt it could leave the country further crippled in financial mess. This inconsiderate risk taken by FIFA may pay off for South Africa, and hopefully it does, but it’s one that should not be taken again and that’s why England should defiantly be considered for the next world cup.
London could probably get away with hosting a world cup as a city, let alone the entire nation. With glamorous stadiums such as Wembley, Old Trafford and the Emirates already in place, the tournament would be of minimal cost to the country in comparison to it’s predecessors and has the potential to be one of the best ever.
Although the slanderous antics of Lord Triesman have hindered England’s chances I’m sure that FIFA president, Sepp Blatter will look beyond this fault and see how England is perfect as a host nation. Blatter has previously indicated he considers England as “the motherland of football” and suggested that World Cup 2018 will return to a European country. Along with this advantage England have the benefit of the prestigious face of David Beckham heading the campaign as well as the international appeal of our Premier League, it’s certainly a substantial offer and we have a great chance of winning the bid. Crowd-violence is unjustly, still associated with this country and the disgrace of the F.A. cup clash between West Ham and Millwall may have worsened England’s argument, but, if an appropriate degree of research is employed into England, the outsider will surely realise that hooliganism is practically non-existent in British football and is certainly a lesser threat to the tournament in comparison to South Africa’s general crime rate.
Russia, Holland and Spain are worthy opponents to England amongst other Asian countries but it must be obvious to everyone that England is defiantly a better option than South Africa ever was. With the infrastructure firmly in place, our country is waiting for an opportunity like this to help rebuild it’s economy, carry it out of recession and solidify England’s position amongst the elite in the world of football.