Cup comment: Rainbow Nation arrives with incessant sound of the beehive

A day into the tournament, 180 minutes of football under our belts, and already it feels like that time has been spent with our heads in a beehive.

The constant humming is going to be something that sticks with us from this World Cup, an iconic sound like Nessun Dorma at Italia 90, or the spine-tingling chant of the South Korea fans eight years ago.

So we had better get used to the vuvuzela, which will provide the soundtrack to the next 62 games, particularly when the host nation are in action. And after yesterday's opening game when they came within the width of a post of defeating perennial group-stage qualifiers Mexico, the chance of South Africa prolonging their stay beyond their scheduled three Group A games has increased.

Bafana Bafana hoping that the entire country was willing them on.

For this is a tournament that is about more than football for the host nation. It could unite a South Africa that for too long has been divided.

Much like the rugby union World Cup of 1995 moved the country away from its apartheid roots, so the round-ball game can build on those foundations and alter external perceptions of the country and the continent as a whole.

South Africa won the rugby union World Cup, but few are expecting the football team to follow suit.

Merely qualifying from a tricky opening group that includes two former winners in Uruguay and France will be considered a success for Bafana Bafana.

But after the show they put on yesterday, with the vuvuzelas providing the musical backdrop, let us hope they achieve their goal. For as France in 1998, South Korea in 2002 and Germany four years later showed, a World Cup prospers with the success of its hosts.

The French journey to their first World Cup triumph enraptured everyone and had people dancing in the streets from Caen to Cannes.

Korea's unexpected run to the semi-finals eight years ago electrified a nation and gave the tournament a magical, fairytale storyline.

Germany, who ended Korea's run in the last four that year, then put on a celebration of football in 2006, their own achievement in reaching the semi-final applauded rather than criticised despite their proud record in major tournaments.

For a football fan it can be enjoyable to watch a nation come together to celebrate their sporting team's achievements.

Perhaps it is with envy that we look on as these uplifting storylines hold our interest long after the tears at England's exit have been wiped away.

England begin shaping their own destiny this evening, accompanied no doubt by the huge expectation of a nation starved of success, and the cacophony of the vuvuzela that will undoubtedly reverberate around the 42,000-capacity Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg.

For it is that noise that we will have to get used to, the constant hum of the South African vuvuzela that tells us just how much the host nation is relishing hosting the biggest football tournament in the world.