“That Africa is a unique continent will never be in doubt anymore”
The recently concluded world cup n African soil as said it all in terms of setting landmarks and proving beyond reasonable doubt that there is something unique about this continent.
How else can you describe a world cup where not only humans had their say, but ‘Paul’ the octopus was a front runner in given us correct and precise predictions about all the matches involving the German national team and the eventual winner of the tournament. This as never happened before in the history of thee world cup or any other tournament for that matter.
The first world cup to be hosted by the African continent left us with a whole lot of first that it can not be described as a mere co-incidence.
This is the first time in the history of the world cup when the host nation did not get past the first round of the tournament (South Africa).
The very first time the two previous finalists will get eliminated in the first round (Italy and France).
The first time a European nation will win the competition outside their shores (Spain).
The very first time the official ball for the competition will be named by the manufacturers (Jabulani).
The very first time the team of the MVP of the tournament did not make it to the podium (Diego Forlan of Uruguay).
After several attempts at the competition, the Greek national team got their very first goal, point and win at this African world cup.
Let’s not forget that this is the very first time all the representative of a continent will make it to the second round of the tournament (South America with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay).
Finally, this is the very first time the host continent will have only one representative scale through the first round (Ghana).
If you are still not satisfied with these facts, how can you explain the fact that the only nation not to loose a match in this Africa world cup could not make it past the first round (New Zealand), while the eventual winner of the competition lost its very first match (Spain 0 – Switzerland 1).
In conclusion, all these facts points to one thing i.e. Africa is the first continent on earth without a doubt so setting standards of first is just natural when on the soil.
July 2010; PHLAMES
