What I love best about soccer is that I can work out the score by myself – one ball through the goals is one point - even though there were no goals in Sunday’s Confederation Cup opening game.....

When watching rugby I feel a bit of a twit asking if that was a three or a five (and sometimes the five becomes a seven) scored. And in cricket, you have to work out if the ball travelled far enough to warrant a four, or perhaps even a six. Soccer, on the other hand, is fast, slick, skillful and it’s easy to keep score!

I still don’t understand the off side rule but a corner seems to make sense now and playing hockey at school helps to understand some of the rules in a soccer game.

You didn't have to be a soccer fan to enjoy the atmosphere

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We were guests of sponsor Continental Tyre at Sunday’s opening game between South Africa and Iraq and even if you weren’t a soccer fan, the opening ceremony and the electric atmosphere at Joburg's Coca-Cola Park were reason enough to be there.

700 children dipped brushes into pots and painted their white sweat shirts a selection of reds, greens, blues, yellows or blacks – and regrouped to form a perfect South African flag. A white sheet then covered them and they painted it from beneath to reveal the Confederation Cup flag – spectacular to see!

World class soccer on our home ground

The game was spectacular too – world class soccer and some great passes. Bafana Bafana dominated the game and almost managed a goal. (Felt sorry for the chap who accidently blocked his own team player’s goal – bet he kicked himself afterwards – ‘scuse the pun!)

But the fans were there to support their team, Jacob Zuma demonstrated his charisma in his short but heartfelt speech and bear hugs for the little soccer mascots fronting each player, and vuvuzelas and waving flags made for a riot of noisy colour.

As Shosholoza rang out across a stadium gilded by the setting sun and South Africans rose together in a Mexican wave, for those 48 000 fans, this was the only place to be...

Bafana Bafana needs our support

I couldn’t help but notice the empty corporate suites (normally packed for rugby matches) though. When is our nation going to fully merge and put our cultural differences aside for world class events like this? Bafana Bafana, just like the Springboks, needs our support.

When a World Cup takes place in other countries, the entire nation is there to support them; it’s about sport not colour. Come on South Africa, let’s show the rest of the world that we’re ALL behind our national team! Ke Nako! The time is now!

Confederation Cup matches for the next two weeks:
Day     Date        Time       Match
Wed    17-Jun    16h00    Spain vs Iraq
Wed    17-Jun    20h30    South Africa vs New Zealand
Thur    18-Jun    16h00    USA vs Brazil
Thur    18-Jun    20h30    Egypt vs Italy
Sat    20-Jun    20h30    Spain vs South Africa
Sun    21-Jun    20h30    Italy vs Brazil
Wed    24-Jun    20h30    1st A vs 2nd B
Thur    25-Jun    20h30    1st B vs 2nd A
Sun    28-Jun    15h00    L13 vs L14
Sun    28-Jun    20h30    W13 vs W14