JOHANNESBURG – From a mile away, a full hour before the match, you could hear them loud and clear.
And by the time Wednesday’s crucial match between Italy and Slovakia started, the sound of the vuvuzuelas filled the air at the Ellis Park, that was packed with 53,412 fans, all screaming, passionate, patriotic and crazy.
The match ended in a 3-2 decision in favor of Slovakia, and left the Italians, the World Cup champion of 2006, singing the blues.
The Italians ended up at the bottom of Group F and will go home empty-handed.
They hardly showed creativity in the field, often relying on breaking-up plays, and in the process breaking all their chances of getting past the first round for the 11th straight time.
Even before coming in for this month-long competition that crosses all the boundaries in sports, in the eyes of many, Marcello Lippi’s boys in blue carried little hopes of hoisting the Jules Rimet Trophy for a second straight time.
They were winners in 1934, 1938 and 1982. This year certainly wasn’t their year.
“We deserved to lose. Rightfully,” said an Italian fan inside the bus that carried a pack of journalists from different countries, all brought in by the Emirates as part of its World Cup Media Tour, and its sponsorship of this year’s World Cup.
“I am sad, but I’m trying to be happy. I am happy because France went out ahead of us,” said the Italian.
She was among the horde of Italians that left the Ellis Park trying to forget everything that had transpired over the last two weeks, where they practically drowned in the sound of the vuvuzuelas, the African horn that’s made a lot of noise here.
It’s the instrument that was hated during the opening days of this year’s World Cup, but now being loved so well that even the Italians, in defeat, on their way home, kept on blowing to the sound of a swarm of bees.
They are to keep it, and use it if they intend to stay, and bring them home afterwards.
Italy is out. And so is France..
But the vuvuzuelas, yes, those well-loved vuvuzuelas, they’ll be here to stay.