Africa is a country that has been cast out for many years now. We hear of the news, mostly bad, and we see the commercials of poverty stricken children every day. But is this all the Africa has to offer? Well, now they have the World Cup to showcase on their homeland, and though it is the world cup for us, it is much more for them. Being able to host the World Cup on Africa’s soils allows them to show the world the side of their country that we do not see in the media. It allows them to show the world just what they are made of and what they have to offer the rest of the world. Being a country often left out and portrayed as needy, this is a lot bigger than just the World Cup. This is growth in the making!
World Cup gives South Africa chance to show it’s got game
BY LORI RACKL Travel Editor
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — It might be hard for Chicagoans to believe right now, but there is another cup besides the Stanley one.
The FIFA World Cup — the biggest sporting event on the planet — kicks off Friday in South Africa. The tournament, which runs through July 11, marks the first time soccer’s showcase showdown will take place on African soil. This fact probably had more than a little to do with the 2010 World Cup’s official slogan, “Ke Nako,” meaning “It’s time.”
More than 300,000 fans are expected to travel here for a month’s worth of matches spread among nine cities. A good chunk of visitors are coming from the United States, which snapped up more World Cup tickets — FIFA estimates 132,000 — than any country besides South Africa. Hundreds of millions more will be tuning in on TV.
South African government, business and tourism officials are acutely aware that all of these eyes will be watching more than a little black and white ball get kicked around a field. Eyes also will be focused on South Africa itself, a country that’s spent two painful decades struggling to shake the ugly shackles of apartheid and is saddled with one of the highest crime rates in the world, averaging roughly 50 murders a day.
Sounds scary, right?
That’s the mind-set of a lot of foreigners. South Africa hopes the World Cup will provide a high-profile window of opportunity to topple these negative perceptions Read More
