It`s been a disappointing world cup, and I don`t just mean for England. The 2004 announcement of South Africa winning the bid to host led to predictions of a massive leap forward for the whole continent, as the World Cup was expected to raise Africa`s profile, increase levels of tourism, bring in revenue in prize money and foreign currency, provide investment and give it a greater sense of pride and identity.

Six years and sixty (?) matches later we have two anthems sung by a Somali-Canadian and a Columbian, a tournament dominated by European teams with Ghana the sole African representative past the group stage, inter-African xenophobia in Johannesburg… Time will tell but I think it`s already safe to say that hosting the World Cup was not South Africa`s holy grail.

Suzy