South Africa looks extremely excited to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Though the Wanderers and Centurian Park grounds are all set to stage the Champions Trophy, also known as cricket’s mini world cup, from today, the excitement is higher here for next year’s biggest sporting event.
The entire route from the airport to my hotel in Sandton was lined with hoardings welcoming the soccer World Cup. One can sense the big build up for the event.
The taxi driver wanted to know if I had visited Johannesburg before and when I told him I had been here for the 2003 World Cup, he quickly asked: “How do you find our airport? Isn’t it much bigger and nicer than in 2003?" It was only then I noticed that everything looked new and fancy and facilities were also better.
“We are doing all this for the 2010 World Cup,” he remarked proudly as he pointed at the new metro rail service construction work.
“When you come for soccer World Cup, you will not have to hire a taxi. You can take a metro train straight from airport to Sandton,” he boasted.
The 4am Emirates Flight from Dubai to Johannesburg was full, thanks to Eid holidays in the UAE. One of my co-passengers Robert Owen works in the UAE. Owen has decided to watch at least two matches of the Champions Trophy before returning to Dubai. Fortunately for him, his sister managed to get tickets for the matches.
The lady at the supermarket next to my hotel is from Gujarat in India. “Is India still the world champion? she wanted to know. When I said no she expressed surprise and said: “Just two years back when they became world champions many Indians came to my shop and celebrated!”
Her statement only revealed that with so many cricket World Cups being held these days, the winner hardly gets a chance to retain the 'world-beater' tag for long. The mini world cup, Twenty20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup are all held every two years making it hard for the not-so-eager cricket fans to really understand who the world champions are and in which form of the game.
The entire route from the airport to my hotel in Sandton was lined with hoardings welcoming the soccer World Cup. One can sense the big build up for the event.
The taxi driver wanted to know if I had visited Johannesburg before and when I told him I had been here for the 2003 World Cup, he quickly asked: “How do you find our airport? Isn’t it much bigger and nicer than in 2003?" It was only then I noticed that everything looked new and fancy and facilities were also better.
“We are doing all this for the 2010 World Cup,” he remarked proudly as he pointed at the new metro rail service construction work.
“When you come for soccer World Cup, you will not have to hire a taxi. You can take a metro train straight from airport to Sandton,” he boasted.
The 4am Emirates Flight from Dubai to Johannesburg was full, thanks to Eid holidays in the UAE. One of my co-passengers Robert Owen works in the UAE. Owen has decided to watch at least two matches of the Champions Trophy before returning to Dubai. Fortunately for him, his sister managed to get tickets for the matches.
The lady at the supermarket next to my hotel is from Gujarat in India. “Is India still the world champion? she wanted to know. When I said no she expressed surprise and said: “Just two years back when they became world champions many Indians came to my shop and celebrated!”
Her statement only revealed that with so many cricket World Cups being held these days, the winner hardly gets a chance to retain the 'world-beater' tag for long. The mini world cup, Twenty20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup are all held every two years making it hard for the not-so-eager cricket fans to really understand who the world champions are and in which form of the game.
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