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CT game goes off smoothly

Cape Town - The first World Cup match held in Cape Town went off smoothly without any security glitches, a city spokesperson said on Saturday.

"No major incidents were reported and fans came out in true South African and Cape Town style and had a good jol," said Pieter Cronje.

Cape Town Stadium hosted the match between France and Uruguay on Friday night, with 64 100 people in attendance - the largest event at the stadium yet.

"There were no major incidents reported at any city venues, despite the fact that approximately 350 000 people visited the city centre," he said.

Fan park celebrations continued into the early hours of Saturday morning and no major incidents or disruptions were reported.

Fan Fest full

The official FIFA Fan Fest and four "fan jols" all reached capacity, and part of Long Street was closed to traffic to accommodate the crowds gathered there.

About 100 000 people gathered at the V&A Waterfront.

The City said the event provided an ideal opportunity to test the public transport infrastructure. The Transport Information Centre (0800 65 64 63) took 12 000 calls during the day.

About 20 000 fans came into the city on trains and the bus-based Park-and-Ride service.

"Over 11 000 spectators used the MyCiTi shuttle to get to the stadium, while the City's fan walk also proved popular with 20 000 eager fans walking to the stadium on this route," said Cronje.

Cronje said there was still more improvements to be made to Cape Town's public transport system, but lessons were learnt from the event.

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