On Friday the 11th of June 2010 the whole of africa will join the many soccer fans the world over as the day an African has the honor to host the FIFA World Cup. For eighty years now the FIFA World Cup host countries have revolved around Europe and the Americas. Exactly how is the venue for the cup decided upon?The latest selection policy is that any country can bid for the world cup as long as their continental confederation hasn’t hosted it in the past two years which makes a Africa very eligible. South Africa nearly won the 2006 bidding against Germany with a final tally of 12 votes to 11. For this years World Cup though, all bidding countries were African the top three-South Africa, Morocco and Egypt. South Africa beat Morocco by 4 votes leading to this memorable event. Those are the ‘technical’ reasons why this years World Cup is being held in South Africa but is the country itself capable of holding such an event? If you’d ask me, I’d say they surely are, here are my reasons:
* They’ve got a great team- that simple fact makes them deserving to have the great privilege of hosting the cup.If you’d ask me, having a World Cup in a country whose team isn’t even above average would be a disgrace. Look back at the countries that held the Cup-1950 (Brazil), 1978 (Argentina), and 1990 (Italy), some of the best teams in the world. It would make sense to have South Africa join the list.
* Awesome stadiums-South Africa constructed four brand new stadiums just for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. There’s a jungle-inspired stadium with zebra like stripes, another with mind-blowing lighting, one with a detractable glass roof and yet another that was constructed to look like the South African flag. What more could you ask for?
* Great Weather- wildlife aside, South Africa is renowned for it’s weather. The World Football Tournament will be held during South Africa’s winter season. South Africa’s winter temperature at midday is warmer than most countries daily summer temperature so no need to worry that your favorite players will get frozen. Lower temperatures have been proved to be better for athlete’s bodies so the average expected temperature of 20 degrees Celsius at 12pm noon will be great. With good weather, we can expect better performance..
* The continent alone- soccer is no doubt in every African’s heart and Africa is known to be the place where civilization begun. So what better place to have countries from the four corners of the earth meet? More so since South Africa has used soccer as a means of unity and force against apartheid in the Mandela era. Holding the finals in Soweto, the center of South African soccer will make this even more than a sporting one but more importantly a very historical one.
In my opinion, no controversy in the past four years can change the fact that South Africa is the best place for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and everyone should be proud that for the first time in history, Africa is holidng a sporting event this big.
Tags: entertainment, football, recreation and sports, soccer