Many South Africans move to Plan B (Feature)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Jun 24, 2010, 7:01 GMT

Johannesburg - When hosts South Africa were eliminated from the World Cup on Tuesday night in Bloemfontein, many local football fans simply moved to Plan B.

Plan B is to shift support from Bafana to another - more successful - African team. Unfortunately, South Africa is not the only African team that has failed to live up to expectations.

Cameroon was the first team to crash out of the competition. Nigeria followed a few hours after the hosts, and Ivory Coast will need a miracle if they want to stay in the competition beyond Friday, when they play North Korea in their final group game.

Of the two African teams in action Wednesday, only the Black Stars managed to go through despite losing 1-0 to Germany, while Algeria were beaten 1-0 through a last-gasp Landon Donovan goal for the US and went out.

With just one African team to support, many white South African football fans are going back to their roots, while black supporters are choosing the team they believe plays the most attractive football.

Marco Eggermann is a Swiss-German who has been living in South Africa for 'longer than I can remember.' He arrives at the International Football Village to see Switzerland take on Chile, wearing a Swiss jersey and a huge traditional cowbell hanging around his neck.

'I plan to be a serious contender against the vuvuzelas,' he explains. 'Of course I support the Swiss. Once a Swiss, always a Swiss,' he says, but admits that there is a part of his heart that beats for South Africa.

'Look, of course you want to see South Africa do well, but they were unlucky because they got a difficult group and then they also do not have a very strong team. I think they did as well as can be expected.'

Shaun Baker watches South Africa's final game against France at a fan park with his family. He is wearing a Bafana shirt, while his daughter wears a Germany one. Her half-sister is dressed in an Italy jersey, while his wife wears an English jersey.

'We are spreading our bets,' he jokes. 'With that, we are bound to get at least one or two teams into the next round.

'No, seriously though, the Bafana jersey because we are South African, the English one because of our roots. Heather likes the way Germany plays and Louise thinks she is Italian.'

He says that following the World Cup is not only about one's own team. 'It is a global event and it is much nicer to support a team than to watch the games and be like a simple observer.'

For Ace Ndlovu there was no question whom to support once Bafana had been knocked out. 'Brazil is the team,' he pronounces with a huge smile on his face.

'Look how they played against Ivory Coast. They are just brilliant and I think they can go all the way. They are the best and have very good players.'

He admits that the player he most admires is Argentine Lionel Messi, but his team is Brazil. 'I have to find a jersey for their next game.'

Spokesman of the local organising committee Jermaine Craig was happy that at least Ghana kept the African flag flying.

'From a parochial perspective there is still an African team,' he said. 'Not that the Ghanaians are through to the next round, they should be all of South Africa's second team.'

Craig, however, is aware that South Africa has massive Italian and Portuguese communities. 'They will follow those teams and support them as long as they can.'

As the tournament progresses, South African fans will lose more and more of their second teams and it would then not be surprising to find out that many of them even have a Plan C and Plan D in place.

And that, no doubt, is something that will make the street hawkers selling fake replica jerseys very happy.