Soundoff: Was World Cup 2010 a Success or Failure?

July 13th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

success-and-failure-sign

There are many many ways to measure the success or failure of World Cup 2010:

We could judge it on the quality of the football played and the excitement of the games: Was it enjoyable? We could judge it financially: How much did FIFA and/or South Africa make/lose? What were the TV ratings like? How many Twitter followers did Sepp Blatter get? We could judge the tournament in terms of organization and infrastructure: Did all the matches take place without any logistical hiccups, could all the fans get to the games? We could judge the tournament based on how it affected the image of South Africa as a country or soccer as a sport. We could take any and all of these factors into account, and many more.

I don’t want to define the terms of success or failure for the World Cup, but I do want to know what you think about the tournament now it’s over. So based on any criteria you want to use: Do you think World Cup 2010 in South Africa was a success or a failure? And, as always, why?

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Stuart

The World Cup is always a success, it's just a measure of degrees. This wasn't a classic, the football was too tame, and the stadium noise (sorry SA) was just lame, but I loved it like I always do. I've even lured my wife into loving it too. Can't wait for Brasil, too bad we all have to.
Julian

I'd say failure but what do you think Daryl?
http://twitter.com/seetohthesexy seetoh

Success. Based on the number of hiccups of the organization, and the unprecedented matches results that got the whole world's attention on it, which without, would be just another tournament that suck the most money out of us and into the welcoming arms of bookies.
cocolover

hii
http://www.facebook.com/people/Julian-Tako/742462563 Julian Tako

Oh… the comments here will be the same as always. For the fans that their team made them proud, WC would be a success and for others who their team failed to live up to the expectations the WC was a failure.
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

I say success because there was a point in 2008 and 2009 where some football fans were talking about moving the tournament and how South Africa wasn't capable of hosting it. If those people had been right then this World Cup would have been an absolute disaster.

Why do you say failure Julian?
LaMar

I agree Daryl, I was extremely pleased that an African nation was getting such a tremendous chance to host this type of international event but became worried as more talk arose of building stoppages and infrastructural problems in SA. So I say thanks to SA, I'm excited about Brazil and maybe 2018 will see USA as the humble hosts??
Julian

South Africa was definitely a success in terms of hosting. The empty seats and poor pitches were a shame, but the actual stadiums and security seemed to be top notch. The actual football on display, on the other hand, was really poor. In that sense I think it was a failure.
capedoc

Having experienced the games live, I am extremely proud of the way my nation hosted the World Cup. There was little more we, as a country, could have done to make it better from a hosting point of view.
FIFA on the other hand seems to have had their hand in most of the wobbles or disappointments. Ticketing was a nightmare, with the local demand for tickets being extremely high….how there were empty seats baffles me. I can only attribute it to poor ticket administration. There is no way it was from lack of local interest. The flight debacle in Durban was also largely FIFA's fault in my opinion.
As for the soccer, ball, team performances, finances…..well that is another matter.

For me, from a hosting perspective, it was an overwhelming success!
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/3MANXHCGJ3ZXLGURRE6LFW5WLQ Ernie Vasquez

Host nation was a success..the football on display was a failure