The first round of matches is almost played....

The first round of matches is almost played and only Brazil and Spain of the most favorite teams for winning the World Cup still have to start into the tournament (the Brazilians do at the very moment). And just as I predicted, especially Germany, but also the Netherlands did very well in their first games and only need one further victory to reach the round of the last 16. The world cup is here, but if you walk around in Joburg’s City Centre you wouldn’t recognize it, beside some few traders who sell the much wanted Bafana Bafana jerseys and flags of different countries. And while at the opening match of their “boys”, the Public Viewings as the one at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown were packed and full of supporters of the South African team, there is almost no attendance at matches of other teams and you can find only a few fans of other teams.

A reason for this is probably not only the missing interest of people in other nations teams, but also the cold weather in Johannesburg, which makes it almost impossible to watch the late matches in the evening. At least, Dutch fans are everywhere you go: At Public Viewings such as Newtown or the official FIFA Fan Fest in Sandton, but also at matches in stadiums, where you would not expect it. In Pretoria at the match between Ghana and Serbia last Sunday, some Dutch fans taught the Ghanaians the epic “Ole, Ole” and at least tried to win against the ongoing sound of the Vuvuzleas. Beside, also the Dutch already adopted South African fan culture and you meet them with Makarapa and Vuvuzelas.

Some find the ongoing discussions about the Vuvuzelas in the European media more annoying than the plastic trumpets themselves and while some newspapers wrote about “chaos in South Africa” after demonstrations of stewarts and bus drivers, things go just well in Johannesburg. The image that still is constantly produced in European media of an African country not being able to organize such an event as the World Cup, an image of chaos and high criminality rates cannot be approved in place.