FIFA World Cup

This is the first time in soccer’s history that the FIFA World Cup is going to be held on the continent of Africa. This will take place in the Republic of South Africa in the summer of 2010! Average Africans do not see it as being hosted only by South Africa but by the whole African continent. They are very optimistic that with the World Cup coming to African soil that Africa could win its first ever World Cup. They are hosting to win. The World Cup is promising to be the world’s biggest sports event ever. All of the African participating teams have started setting their sights on the cup even though most of them know that they do not have the type of team to lift the world cup. They still are hoping to at least get to the semi finals of the competition, which will be the first time an African team will reach that stage in the senior competition.

The rest of Africa is hoping that South Africa will put up a spectacular tournament that will meet FIFA standards and so pave the way for other African countries to be considered to be granted hosting rights for the world cup in the future. If South Africa does not get it right, it might take a long time for FIFA to consider another African country as a host. If South Africa fails, the whole of Africa fails! So how is South Africa preparing for the World Cup? People from all over the world will arrive in Johannesburg to cheer for their favorite team. It is estimated that 450,000 visitors will come to the month long tournament. Johannesburg has the highest crime rate in the world! What is President Jacob Zuma doing to curb the high crime to make these visitors feel safe? For years the former president Thabo Mbeki denied that South Africa had a crime problem and said that “only racists perceived crime as a problem and that poverty forced South Africans to beg, rob and murder!” Seems like Mr. Zuma is really trying to make Johannesburg as safe as possible for he has increased the police budget by 10% and hired more officers.

The excitement is in the air for Africa! It is her time to shine and show off her beauty. I do hope that everything goes well and another African country will be considered as a host country soon!