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舉世矚目的第19屆南非世界杯于北京時間昨晚在約翰內斯堡足球城體育場正式揭幕，這是世界杯比賽首次在非洲大陸舉辦，91歲的南非前總統曼德拉因曾孫女遭遇車禍身亡而未能現身開幕式現場。在揭幕戰中，被稱為世界杯歷史上最弱東道主的南非隊與世界排名第17位的墨西哥隊戰成1比1平，使無數南非球迷倍感自豪。非洲被認為是人類最初起源的地方。南非政府希望通過本屆世界杯能夠讓全世界的人們看到非洲大陸奇美的風景、優質的基礎設施以及非洲各國人民自上世紀90年代中期結束種族隔離以來取得的巨大成就。不過，本次世界杯展現在人們面前的不僅是非洲大陸的進步，還有讓很多人擔憂的安全隱患。據報道，南非平均每天有50起謀殺案件發生，是全世界殺人案件最高發的地區之一，搶劫案件則更加頻繁。本周已有幾位外國記者在街頭被持槍搶劫，另有希臘球員稱旅館房間內的財物被盜。另外，比賽場館的安全問題也不容忽視，上周末尼日利亞對朝鮮世界杯熱身賽前便發生球迷踩踏事件，造成至少10人受傷。
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South Africa kicked off the soccer World Cup with a tense 1-1 draw with Mexico in a brand-new stadium designed to resemble a traditional African cooking pot. |
South Africa kicked off the soccer World Cup with a tense 1-1 draw with Mexico in a brand-new stadium designed to resemble a traditional African cooking pot.
“Welcome home world,” was the message of an opening ceremony which emphasized that Africa is widely recognized by scientists as the continent that was home to the first humans.
The ceremony took place without 91-year-old Nelson Mandela, who was grieving the death of his 13-year-old great-granddaughter in a car accident the night before.
In the opening game, South Africa did their supporters proud and more than held their own in the draw against much better ranked Mexico.
The month-long tournament is the most watched sporting competition in the world, and this is the first time Africa, more publicized for its conflicts, epidemics and poverty, has been entrusted to organize an event of such magnitude.
South Africa hopes the World Cup will showcase the best the country has to offer: spectacular scenery, the continent’s highest-quality infrastructure and a diverse people that has made remarkable progress toward unity since the end of apartheid in the mid-1990s.
“Africa is showing the world that it is capable of handling any matter of the world like all other regions,” said President Jacob Zuma at a World Cup-affiliated concert Thursday in Soweto.
South Africa has Africa's largest economy by far with a GDP of $280 billion and it is counting on the images broadcast around the world by thousands of cameras to entice investors and tourists to visit the country for years to come, but those cameras are also likely to cast a spotlight on the numerous challenges that still face South Africa.
Top of visitors’ concerns is security. Organizers say everything has been done to ensure fans’ safety, including training 40,000 police officers specifically for the event. But South Africa’s average of 50 murders a day — one of the highest murder rates in the world — and frequent robberies are hard to ignore.
Already this week several foreign journalists in the country for the World Cup were robbed at gunpoint in at least two separate incidents. Greek soccer players also reported money stolen from their hotel rooms, and goods were found missing from a tourist bus near Cape Town.
An often-ignored statistic reveals that almost as many people die each day on South African roads as are murdered. A grim reminder of that fact was the death in a car accident Thursday of Mandela’s 13-year-old great-granddaughter as she was coming back from the World Cup concert.
At football venues security is also likely to face intense scrutiny after a stampede at a warm-up match in Johannesburg between Nigeria and North Korea left a dozen spectators wounded last weekend and six people were injured in a similar event Thursday at a fan zone in Cape Town. Such incidents are not common at soccer games here but have happened in the past. In 2001, more than 40 people were killed in a stampede at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park stadium.
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(Agencies)
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
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