With just 90 days separating us from the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, preparations for the biggest sporting event of the year are in the final stage. The tournament’s stadiums seem to be getting ready on time despite the initial concerns and worker strikes that slowed down the procedures. The 10 World Cup stadiums have been tested with different local league matches and various events, and organizers say there will be absolutely no issues to accommodate the 32 football teams.
The biggest problem that still comes out often is the security of the visitors and football players during the event, and the local government has spent over 200 million Euro to ensure things go smoothly. The World Cup organizers are reassuring everyone that there will be no problems whatsoever, with over 40 thousand new police officers on the street - that were hired just for the tournament, and the army on stand by for emergencies. Despite all that the press is still criticising heavily the safety of the event, saying that there are around 50 murders a day in the country, the fact that almost half of the total population is still living below the poverty line and one quarter is unemployed. All these issues make almost impossible the target that South Africa set with half a million visitors coming to the country for the World Cup, especially with ticket sales soaring. There are still over 650 thousand magic papers that have yet to be sold, out of 3 million total tickets for the 64 games of the World Cup. FIFA is now increasing the number of category 4 tickets that are more economical and target mostly South African citizens, costing around 15 Euro each.
I am personally confident that everything will be great for the World Cup in South Africa despite all problems. Usually when big events like that come to a small or poor country the patriotism of the people kicks in and everyone wants to make sure that the country’s image around the world will not be damaged. For sure there are people everywhere in the world that do not think that way but in the end most the incidents will be minor if any. All football games are occurring in big cities already flooded with tourists almost every year, and if visitors stay within city limits or make sure they visit the various attractions of South Africa within organized tours and expeditions, probably nothing will happen except maybe too much fun.
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