When South Africa hosted Thailand last week in a friendly match, the coach of the Asian team said that the noise the 30 000 people made at Mbombela Stadium made it seem like there were many more fans in the Nelspruit venue.
When South Africa hosted Thailand last week in a friendly match, the coach of the Asian team said that the noise the 30 000 people made at Mbombela Stadium made it seem like there were many more fans in the Nelspruit venue.
He reckons a noise like that could play a part in South Africa succeeding in the World Cup. The noise may have been caused by relentless vuvuzelas but it is hard to deny the equally relentless spirit of the people blowing them.
More-over, we need a little more of it. Cynics point out that South Africa, ranked 90th in the world, has little chance of advancing to the second round facing teams in their group who are all in the top 20 of Fifa’s rankings.
However, even the biggest cynics will be wary of writing off the national team completely because of the advantages home support, national spirit and expectation provides.
Few could have predicted that South Korea, hosting the World Cup for the first time in 2002, would reach the semifinals or that France, as hosts in 1998, would triumph over a more-fancied Brazilian side to win the World Cup.
In 2001, months before the World Cup in South Korea, the hosts were ranked 43rd, while before their victory in 1998, France had never managed to reach the final.
In 1994 the USA, who were hardly a footballing nation (the country only started a domestic league two years later), managed to get to the second round.
It has been well-publicised that the host nations of the previous tournaments have all managed to reach the knockout round a statistic which gloomily looms over the head of our national team.
This history shouldn’t be so depressing because it points to the fact that home support and advantage definitely counts for something – often much more than Fifa rankings or betting odds.
The fever and the spirit that we’re seeing in South Africa at the moment whether it be the sporting of flags on side-mirrors or wearing anything with the word “Bafana” on it is exactly the fuel the national team needs.
Football has never been a game that has been decided during the 90 minutes of play on the pitch, but a game that is based also on all that happens around it before and during the match.
Leaving aside depictions of national unity and pride in television advertisements that make use of viewership surveys and demographical studies, the South African nation truly has something special to offer the home team in spirit and support.
South Africa has for a long time shown that it possesses this relentless spirit at the toughest of times and when the country has demanded it most, this spirit has become imbibed in its people.
Getting behind the South African team doesn’t mean that you support the politics of the country, the politics of Fifa or even the politics of the game itself.
It will, however, mean that for a period of time, South Africans can be unanimous in their support of our team.
In two weeks time, when South Africa take on Mexico in what could prove to be a decisive match in the group, it will take all of this relentless spirit to propel Bafana into the second round. So in true national spirit, keep those vuvuzelas blowing!