How the World Cup saved South Africa
There has been better football at previous World Cups. There have been better matches. There have been better crowds.
But there has never been a World Cup that has done so much to change perceptions of a nation and a continent, and bring benefits where they are most needed as South Africa 2010.
The last four weeks have routed the cynics who prophesied that an African World Cup would be a festival of mugging and murder.
The battalions of armed guards and paramedics employed by a host of tourist agencies to protect visitors all seem rather unnecessary now.
The smooth progress of the tournament has also embarrassed those who said Africa could never organise the biggest sporting show on earth to the same standards as the developed nations of the West.
The stadia in South Africa were not only ready on time; they were stunningly beautiful, too.
The communications worked perfectly and, aside from the opening game at Soccer City, the road network stood up to the test.
There are, of course, legitimate questions to be asked about the wisdom of spending £3.6billion on a football tournament when much of South Africa languishes in abject poverty.
But if the World Cup has altered the outside view of the country and the continent, then the benefits will flow and it will have been money well spent.
"This World Cup has provided an image makeover of the country," Danny Jordaan, the man who masterminded the bid for the tournament and its staging, said yesterday. "It has provided a rebranding of the country, a demonstration of the capability of the country."
Even if few township residents could afford to watch the matches at the stadia, the tournament touched everyone in the country.
The fact that it went so well, that it passed off without any security incidents, that the superstars of the game converged on the nation, brought
immense pride.
There have already been economic benefits. The approach of the tournament was the catalyst for the construction of the Gautrain, the first high-speed rail link between O R Tambo Airport and Johannesburg.
The Bus Rapid Transit System was also introduced before the tournament in an attempt to improve the mobility of Johannesburg workers and give them access to better housing.
The system has encountered fierce and often violent resistance from the taxi firms that had a stranglehold on travel between Soweto and downtown Johannesburg but that resistance is waning.
Those visitors who made the effort to travel to Soweto may have been surprised by what they saw there. Tourist buses, the enthralling Hector Pieterson Museum, a black middle class.
It was all part of the process of breaking down barriers and making inroads into the ignorance and fear that dominates the European view of Africa.
The main problem the tournament had to deal with was caused by a western sportswear company.
If Adidas had been able to manufacture a ball that the players could control properly, then maybe the standard of play would have been better.
The fact that that was the biggest controversy the tournament had to deal with showed just what a success its staging was.
Football explored its final frontier this summer. Fifa made a massive profit out of it, like it always does, but for once, it felt as if it had done the right thing, too.
MY BEST AND WORST OF THE TOURNAMENT
Best goal: Frank Lampard, England against Germany.
Team of the tournament: Kingson (Ghana): Lahm (Germany), Puyol (Spain), Fuentes (Chile) Van Bronckhorst (Holland), Muller (Germany), Xavi (Spain), Van Bommel (Holland) Sneijder (Holland), Forlan (Uruguay), David Villa (Spain).
Best press conference: John Terry
Best atmosphere: South Africa v Mexico
Worst captain: Patrice Evra
Best stadium: Soccer City
Best fans: Dutch
Best TV pundit: Lee Dixon
Best player: Thomas Muller
Worst sound: Europeans blowing vuvuzelas
Best sound: South Africans blowing vuvuzelas
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