The shocking quarterfinal defeats of Argentina and Brazil have dealt a crushing blow to businesses in South Africa. Hotels, restaurants, betting houses, bars and taxi drivers have been taken aback by the sudden dip in flow of income as fans from the Latin American powerhouses — two the best-supported teams at the World Cup — are now heading home.
There have been a spate of cancellations in hotels at Cape Town, which is a tourist haven. Many Brazilian fans had booked rooms, expecting that the team would take their appointed place in the first semi-final on Tuesday. But the Netherlands have wrecked the plans of fans, and hotel owners.
City Lodge, a budget hotel with branches all over South Africa, is not seeing the mad rush that it was bracing up to meet. The hotel has thrown its doors open for spot check-ins two days ahead of the semi-final between the Netherlands and Uruguay.
Punters, too, are reeling from the results of the quarterfinals. A sports betting bar in the heart of Cape Town was deserted during peak hours on Sunday. Only two brave souls were seen drowning their sorrows at the spacious bar.
Yojow, a massive South African, rued the ouster of the big guns. “The World Cup has gone sour for me. Everybody was rooting for Argentina and Brazil. And I followed the mob and lost heavily. I think Uruguay are going to win the Cup,” he added sarcastically.
Like a true punter, Yojow drew some inference from an event that wasn’t vaguely related to football. His inspiration came from the trophy ceremony of Wimbledon 2010.
“See, Rafael Nadal has won the title. So, the World Cup belongs to Spain. When Nadal became a Wimbledon champion in 2008, Spain won the European football championship. Do you understand what I mean?” he added.