南非世界杯揭幕 有人欢喜有人忧

举世瞩目的第19届南非世界杯于北京时间昨晚在约翰内斯堡足球城体育场正式揭幕，这是世界杯比赛首次在非洲大陆举办，91岁的南非前总统曼德拉因曾孙女遭遇车祸身亡而未能现身开幕式现场。在揭幕战中，被称为世界杯历史上最弱东道主的南非队与世界排名第17位的墨西哥队战成1比1平，使无数南非球迷倍感自豪。非洲被认为是人类最初起源的地方。南非政府希望通过本届世界杯能够让全世界的人们看到非洲大陆奇美的风景、优质的基础设施以及非洲各国人民自上世纪90年代中期结束种族隔离以来取得的巨大成就。不过，本次世界杯展现在人们面前的不仅是非洲大陆的进步，还有让很多人担忧的安全隐患。据报道，南非平均每天有50起谋杀案件发生，是全世界杀人案件最高发的地区之一，抢劫案件则更加频繁。本周已有几位外国记者在街头被持枪抢劫，另有希腊球员称旅馆房间内的财物被盗。另外，比赛场馆的安全问题也不容忽视，上周末尼日利亚对朝鲜世界杯热身赛前便发生球迷踩踏事件，造成至少10人受伤。

South Africa kicked off the soccer World Cup with a tense 1-1 draw with Mexico in a brand-new stadium designed to resemble a traditional African cooking pot.

“Welcome home world,” was the message of an opening ceremony which emphasized that Africa is widely recognized by scientists as the continent that was home to the first humans.

The ceremony took place without 91-year-old Nelson Mandela, who was grieving the death of his 13-year-old great-granddaughter in a car accident the night before.

In the opening game, South Africa did their supporters proud and more than held their own in the draw against much better ranked Mexico.

The month-long tournament is the most watched sporting competition in the world, and this is the first time Africa, more publicized for its conflicts, epidemics and poverty, has been entrusted to organize an event of such magnitude.

South Africa hopes the World Cup will showcase the best the country has to offer: spectacular scenery, the continent’s highest-quality infrastructure and a diverse people that has made remarkable progress toward unity since the end of apartheid in the mid-1990s.

“Africa is showing the world that it is capable of handling any matter of the world like all other regions,” said President Jacob Zuma at a World Cup-affiliated concert Thursday in Soweto.

South Africa has Africa's largest economy by far with a GDP of $280 billion and it is counting on the images broadcast around the world by thousands of cameras to entice investors and tourists to visit the country for years to come, but those cameras are also likely to cast a spotlight on the numerous challenges that still face South Africa.

Top of visitors’ concerns is security. Organizers say everything has been done to ensure fans’ safety, including training 40,000 police officers specifically for the event. But South Africa’s average of 50 murders a day — one of the highest murder rates in the world — and frequent robberies are hard to ignore.

Already this week several foreign journalists in the country for the World Cup were robbed at gunpoint in at least two separate incidents. Greek soccer players also reported money stolen from their hotel rooms, and goods were found missing from a tourist bus near Cape Town.

An often-ignored statistic reveals that almost as many people die each day on South African roads as are murdered. A grim reminder of that fact was the death in a car accident Thursday of Mandela’s 13-year-old great-granddaughter as she was coming back from the World Cup concert.

At football venues security is also likely to face intense scrutiny after a stampede at a warm-up match in Johannesburg between Nigeria and North Korea left a dozen spectators wounded last weekend and six people were injured in a similar event Thursday at a fan zone in Cape Town. Such incidents are not common at soccer games here but have happened in the past. In 2001, more than 40 people were killed in a stampede at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park stadium.