Despite the Bafana Bafana damp squib against Iraq, the Confederations Cup has got off to a cracking start with fans being treated to some scintillating football — thanks to the tournament’s big guns.
World champions Spain, Brazil, Italy and the African representatives, Egypt, have turned on a world-class show that has somewhat made up for the early disappointment dished up by the hosts.
Fernando Torres justified the hype around his trip to Africa with a fantastic 11-minute hattrick as Spain demolished New Zealand 5-0 in the other opening match on Sunday.
Fans who had left Ellis Park disillusioned with the lacklustre performance of Bafana arrived home to a football feast televised live from Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
While some might say that La Roja had it easy against the All Whites, who are the lowest ranked team in the tournament, nothing can detract from their attacking flair on the night.
It is unfortunate that this match was played in a virtually empty stadium — Rustenburg inexplicably chose to boycott a match that paraded Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas, Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, Barcelona captain Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Àlvaro Arbeloa, Albert Reira, Xavi Hernández and Pepe Reina, to name just a few.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter publicly chastised the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for failing to market the match — and his anger was understandable. While selling Confederations Cup tickets has been a tough task, the LOC could have invited schoolchildren and disadvantaged members of society to fill up the embarrassingly empty stands of the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
But the tournament does have a history of being difficult to market, and the tally of 30 000 fans at Royal Bafokeng matches the kinds of crowd numbers that the last two tournaments, held in France and Germany respectively, notched up.
As to the quality of the play, Spain may have been the only team to light up Group A, but both Group B matches have been out of the top drawer. Brazil and Egypt played out a 4-3 thriller in Bloemfontein that could easily rate as one of the greatest football games of all time. And the Free State supporters, who have been the backbone of Bloemfontein Celtics, did not disappoint. They came out in droves and created a carnival atmosphere for a game that deserved no less.
A Kaka-fired Brazil raced to a 3-1 half-time lead but the African champions refused to throw in the towel. Egypt returned from the breather to level the scores with two quick goals. For long periods The Pharaohs capitalised on the weariness of the Samba Kings who were returning from two energy-sapping World Cup qualifiers to dominate the exchanges.
However, class finally prevailed over determination when Kaka sealed a late victory from the penalty spot after Ahmed El Mohamadi had handled Lucio’s goal-bound shot on the goal line.
The drama of Group B carried on to the second match, pitting world champions Italy against the United States. The Americans appeared destined for a massacre when Ricardo Clark received a red card for a foul on Gennaro Gattuso in the first half. However, the US kept their heads up and took the lead in 40 minutes when captain Landon Donovan converted a penalty. Italy fought back for a 3-1 victory in the second half, thanks to a brace from US-born Giuseppe Rossi and Daniele de Rossi’s strike.
The big guns have come out blazing and laid the foundation for an exciting tournament. Now that Bafana have stepped up their game, with a 2-0 domination of New Zealand on Wednesday, this could be the best World Cup dress rehearsal yet.