David Smith in Johannesburg, 11 July 2010
No one died. No one was stabbed, no one was kidnapped and no one took a wrong turn into the clutches of a gang of garrotters. One American tourist did get shot - in the arm - but he wasn't here to watch the World Cup.
History will show that South Africa defied fears of violent chaos to host one of the best-attended World Cups ever. It has put Africa on the global sporting map in a way which seemed unthinkable only six months ago when Togo's footballers were ambushed by machine-gun fire before the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. Afro-pessimism spiked, with a prophet of doom in the unlikely shape of then Hull City manager Phil Brown questioning whether South Africa was up to the job.
Dr Nikolaus Eberl, author of BrandOvation: How Germany won the World Cup of Nation Branding, said: "Everyone got very anxious before this World Cup started, but there was a collective energy, including the media, and everyone wanted it to succeed. I would say the vuvuzela is possibly the key ingredient.
"It introduced a tool for all fans to be at the centre of the experience. I was astonished by the way all the foreign fans embraced it. It made the tournament truly fan-centric."
The full article is at http://www.guardian.co.uk/
The full article is at http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Eberl awarded the tournament a score of nine out of 10. "The only thing missing was the host team, who went out in the first round, which did deflate things a bit for a while."
Bafana Bafana, who embarked on an open-top bus parade before the tournament, became the first hosts to be knocked out in the first round. Continental disappointment was shared by Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Africans rallied around Ghana, only to be denied by a very professional foul.
But the momentum kept going. Danny Jordaan, who today ends a 16-year journey as chief advocate and organiser of Africa's first World Cup, said: "This is something special, that people came not only to support the South African team, they came to support the event. This has been an incredible experiencefor our country."
Asked what he now had to say to the Afro-pessimists, Jordaan replied: "The only thing we must tell them is they are now in a very small minority. They missed an incredible experience, they missed an incredible World Cup. Just stay in your corner and sulk."
The cost of it all? About 38bn rand ($3.3bn), the government says, roughly the equivalent of four Millennium Domes and shackled by similar doubts over white elephant stadiums. The economic benefits? With elegant symmetry, also about R38bn, say the government. Fifa, meanwhile, walk away with a reported profit of $2bn, tax free.
Sepp Blatter, Fifa's president, threw his weight behind a South African Olympic bid, likely to come from Cape Town or Durban.
As for the World Cup, the baton is now passed to Brazil, with concerns already raised over crime, transport and whether stadiums will be ready on time. Sound familiar?
To see the full story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/
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