World Cup opening ceremony with happy noise

The first World Cup ever held in Africa opened Friday in a dazzling burst of joy, color and noise — and just a tinge of sadness.

Before a jubilant, horn-blowing crowd in Soccer City, the spectacular stadium between Johannesburg and Soweto, hundreds of African dancers in vivid greens, reds and yellows paraded onto the field for the opening ceremony of the monthlong tournament.
Most of the fans were in the yellow jerseys of Bafana Bafana, the host country's team, with a few pockets of green — fans of Mexico, South Africa's foe in the opening match.

The elation was tempered by news that Nelson Mandela, the revered anti-apartheid leader and former South African president, would not attend the ceremony. The 91-year-old Mandela is frail, and decided not to come after his 13-year-old great-granddaughter was killed in a car crash on the way home from Thursday night's World Cup concert.