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Durban - South Africa breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday after passing the first major test of its World Cup security credentials as day three of the competition saw Germany enter the fray.
Matches on Saturday between Nigeria and Argentina, and England versus the United States, which were both deemed as potential flashpoints, passed off without incident and with only a handful of arrests reported by police.
As the country patted itself on the back for the smooth running so far, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the opening stages had been a triumph for the whole of Africa. It is the first time the tournament is being staged on the continent.
Sunday's matches see the main eastern coastal city of Durban host a match between Germany and Australia after Algeria play Slovenia in northern Polokwane and Serbia play Ghana in Pretoria.
Fans feel at home
While fans of the three-times champions Germany got into the spirit of things by grilling South Africa's famous boerewors sausages, the Australian fans soon felt at home as they plunged into the Indian Ocean.
"I have been swimming and surfing all morning, the waves here are awesome and the water is incredibly warm," said 26-year-old Queenslander Nick Johnson.
"I even have a little tan."
Johnson is part of the 1 200 self-styled Socceroo Fanatics who have erected their tents on a cricket pitch in the city centre ringed by barbed wire.
"We chose Durban because it has the same kind of climate as Australia. Of course there were safety concerns, but nothing can stop the Fanatics," said fans' spokesperson Rob Brooks.
Massive security operation
England supporters meanwhile trooped away dejectedly from the northwestern backwater of Rustenburg after a howler from goalkeeper Robert Green allowed the Americans to clinch a 1-1 draw.
Given the two countries' leading roles in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts, Saturday's match was the subject of a massive security operation involving anti-terror police who swept the stand for bombs.
And the England fans' reputation for hooliganism also ensured a heavy police presence on the streets around the ground.
While there had been one report of a theft at a hotel in the town, "there was no sort of incident at the stadium itself or between people," said police spokesperson Colonel Leon Engelbrecht.
"We're surprised by all the spectators', and everybody's co-operation."
All goes smoothly
An earlier match between Nigeria and Argentina next to a Johannesburg suburb notorious for gangland violence also passed off smoothly.
Less than two decades since shedding its status as an international pariah as a racially segregated state under apartheid, South Africa is riding a wave of euphoria at hosting the world's most popular sporting event.
Writing in the Sunday Independent newspaper, the journalist John Carlin said the World Cup allowed South Africa to project a new image.
"The World Cup, if all goes along smoothly enough, will give South Africa the opportunity to project itself instead as a country capable of organising a vast and complex international event and, as such, capable of doing an awful lot of other things competitively and well on the global stage," said Carlin.
"It's also a chance to show the world that, in the main, black and white people get on just fine, thanks very much indeed," added Carlin, the author of a book about South Africa's victory in the 1995 rugby World Cup on which Clint Eastwood's Invictus movie is based.
National pride
The sense of national pride has been swelled by the unexpected upturn in form of South Africa's Bafana Bafana team which managed to draw 1-1 with Mexico at the opening match despite being 66 places behind them in the world rankings.
The opening ceremony at Johannesburg's Soccer City on Friday also drew plaudits both at home and abroad.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who was among the guests, told the Independent that "it was really a moment of triumph for South Africans and in a broader sense for Africans because they have never hosted such a world-class event."
