It was probably the kind of performance we better get used to in this first African World Cup but it may just take a little time. It is not often that you see a great city paralyse itself twice in one day.
First, Johannesburg produced a traffic gridlock that might have been borrowed from some Doomsday novel about where life is heading in the 21st century. Then, one of the township heroes launched the great tournament with a goal that would have graced any age of the football planet.
Africa being Africa, the sweep of emotion was not likely to stop there – and nor did it. When Simphiwe Tshabalala sent the beloved Bafana Bafana national team into the lead in the opening match with Mexico yesterday the cheers were so loud they might have been heard down in the Cape.
You thought maybe, finally, all the doubt about bringing the World Cup to such a tumultuous, and precarious place, might just be paralysed – permanently – by the force of sheer joy.
