The naysayers were out in force over the last couple of years, doubting that South Africa could host a World Cup in an efficient, organised manner.

So far, however, we have encountered no problems whatsoever – accommodation, ticketing and transportation, the three main concerns of most fans attending the tournament, have been absolutely first class.

And so has the welcome from South Africans in restaurants, bars, stores, at the stadiums, at our guest house, and everywhere else we have been. Football is predominantly a black sport in this country, a remnant from the apartheid years that saw football played in black schools, and cricket and rugby played in white schools. Some 95 percent of the players in the South African Premiership are black, too.

While black South Africans seem particularly proud that their country is hosting the World Cup – football is their sport – people of all races here have embraced the tournament.

Opa, who works at the Friendly Supermarket 7/11 near where we are staying said: "This tournament is uniting our nation – this is what Mandela wanted when we went after the World Cup. We are all one people now."

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In a week where we saw Brazil, Spain and Germany play, the best match we witnessed was Slovakia 3 Italy 2.

The Slovakians were full value in an entertaining match that turned into a track meet in the second half as both teams opened up in a bid to stave off elimination.

With Slovakia safely through, we were waiting for the bus to take us back to our car service. A South African man, wearing an Italy shirt, evoked much laughter when he turned to his friends, all of them wearing colourful Italy tattoos on their cheeks, and said: "So, who do we support now?"

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Of course, not everyone is happy with FIFA's handling of the issues surrounding the World Cup.

A columnist for the Saturday Star newspaper, Brendan Seery wrote: "FIFA has turned this country into its private little fiefdom and we've been quite happy to put aside the constitutional freedoms we are known for to satisfy those money-grabbing Europeans."

Seery, and others, are unhappy that FIFA and its president, Sepp Blatter, have gone to great lengths to protect its tournament sponsors, including preventing Kulula Airlines from declaring itself as the "Unofficial Carrier of You-Know-What".

Kulula, in a charm offensive, offered FIFA's president a free ticket to anywhere that Kulula flies – but then allowed a Cape Town dog owner to claim the seat on behalf of his hastily-renamed Boston terrier, Sepp Blatter.

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The plastic trumpet known as a vuvuzela is one of the stories of this World Cup. They are mostly made in China – one factory is reported to have shipped more than one million units, and is pushing out another 20,000 units daily for export around the world.

The trumpets were first marketed here in 2001 by businessman Neil Van Schalkwyk, who still owns the rights to the vuvuzela name. His latest innovation is to sell each with a pair of ear plugs.

A Sydney, Australia manufacturer of vuvuzelas has enjoyed a 10-fold rise in sales since the World Cup began, including shipments to Japan, Singapore, and Fiji.

Bafana Bafana fan, 40-year-old Sizwe Baart from Philippi near Cape Town, blew his vuvuzela day and night – and developed huge blisters on his lips. He has been advised by a doctor to give it a rest. "I have now decided to stop blowing the horn for fear that I will injure myself further," he told the Daily Sun newspaper.

"The absurd thing is that everyone hates vuvuzelas, but everyone wants them," said a spokeswoman for the South African tourism board in Italy.

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The England-Slovenia match appeared to be a vuvuzela-free zone on Wednesday, with the Three Lions' support providing atmosphere with their non-stop singing. For some, it was a welcome respite from the drone of the vuvuzela.

England's travelling support at major tournaments is impressive; no band of travelling supporters deserves to see their team succeed more than England's, although given their history of losing two World Cup finals, Holland's supporters give them a close run.

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Bermuda's Bobby Keil and Dave Carruthers have done another stellar job of organising a World Cup trip for themselves, Bobby's son, Fraser, and former Bermuda Football Association referee Rex Osborne.

Our group ran into the foursome at the Brazil-Ivory Coast and Spain-Honduras matches. Bobby, David and Rex have been attending World Cups since 1994, and have not missed a European Championship since 1996.

They are seeing nine matches in South Africa.

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We shared the car service earlier this week with a father and son from Frankfurt, who flew into Johannesburg (10 hours) on Wednesday, watched that evening's match between Germany and Ghana, and then flew home the next day.

The trip was a birthday present for the son, a university student. They bought the tickets last year, before the World Cup draw was made, and were fortunate that Germany ended up playing in the match they had tickets for. A bonus was Germany's 1-0 victory.

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We are off to Rustenburg, some two and a half hours by road from Johannesburg, on Saturday to see the United States v Ghana, and then it's Argentina v Mexico at Soccer City in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Monday-Tuesday, we have the two crossover matches in Groups G and H.

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Former Royal Gazette sportswriter Chris Young left Bermuda some 20 years ago, but continues to cover football. Young is here representing the Toronto Star, and is blogging daily on the paper's sports website, www.waymoresports.com

Veteran Cup observer Duncan Hall is reporting exclusively from South Africa for The Royal Gazette.