It ain’t easy to say which one, of the several things we’ve saw in the first day of World cup, has been the best: we may point at the Tshabalala’s goal, or at the Elephant who stopped the Usa’s team street way, or at the (incredible) Henry’s request for a hand foul penalty. Finally, the real pearl of day 1 is something that didn’t happened: the choice not to go to Joburg stadium made by Nelson Mandela, who showed once again to be the man of the Nation, but the man of his family too, deeply hurt by the death of his little granddaughter. Big Madiba, every day more.

Non è facile indicare la migliore tra le cose viste nel primo giorno di Mondiali in Sudafrica : il gol di Tshabalala, l’elefante che sbarra la strada alla nazionale Usa o, per paradosso, Henry che reclama un rigore per fallo di…mano! Alla fine però la vera perla del giorno è un non-fatto: l’assenza dallo stadio di Johanesburg, di Mandela. L’uomo-nazione è (ancora) anche un uomo di famiglia, che merita ancora più rispetto dopo la scelta di osservare il lutto per la scomparsa della sua piccola pronipote.

While italians supporters are still diverted by the “Serie A” and the Campions League, last weeks more than one italian magazine has shown the story of football in Robben island, when it was a prison. The African film Festival in Milan presented two weeks ago “More than just a game”, a movie based on the Chuck Norr and Marvin Close’s book who tells about the island prisoners and their struggle for the right to play soccer. (more…)