Crime struck the World Cup today when gunmen held up journalists after Spain proved their favourites' status with a 6-0 friendly win.
Two days before kickoff for the first World Cup on African soil, locals are pumping up the atmosphere with "vuvuzela" trumpets and multi-coloured South African flags everywhere to be seen.
However, robbers marred the party mood and sent a reminder of South African crime levels by raiding journalists from Portugal and Spain in a lodge at scenic Magaliesburg town, north of Johannesburg.
They rifled through rooms of sleeping reporters to steal equipment and cash. "It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me," said Portuguese photographer Antonio Simoes, who woke up and was held at gunpoint.
Elsewhere, with hooligans from England and Argentina already thwarted, and a stampede injuring 15 people at a weekend match, the hosts are praying for calm off the pitch as well as success on it.
"The government will not tolerate any unruly, disruptive and unsafe behaviour," South African government spokesman Themba Maseko said in a statement yesterday. Authorities, who are particularly worried about illegal tickets, have deployed more than 40,000 police to keep order.
Africa's most famous son, Nelson Mandela (91), is expected to join the party at Soccer City tomorrow. His presence spurred South Africa to Rugby World Cup glory in 1995 and the political prisoner-turned-president is the living symbol of the nation's transformation into the modern era from its past of apartheid and international isolation.
Africa's six competing teams will hope to draw inspiration from Mandela to break Europe and South America's stranglehold on the World Cup, or at least go further than Cameroon and Senegal's quarter-final showings in 1990 and 2002.
English bookmaker William Hill has Ivory Coast as Africa's best hope at 50/1 odds, way behind Spain at 4/1 and Brazil at 9/2. Argentina, England and the Netherlands are next in betting.
Hosts South Africa are rated 150/1.
Reuters