WC flight prices crashing

Two weeks today the World Cup starts in South Africa. For some months now in the lead up to the tournament I have considered starting my first-ever blog to record and report the oft-mad, frequently obsessive thoughts of a fanatic England football fan holed up in Afghanistan working for an international organisation. So boosted by the confidence instilled by my cricket-loving French friend and colleague, Monsieur, here's setting out on the adventure, virtually now then physically in less than a fortnight.

Besides learning that the Colombia team was robbed of a considerable sum of cash from their hotel while playing a friendly match against the hosts yesterday, South Africa media report the German team hotel has paperwork problems. Are these the usual pre-World Cup scaremongering stories? Or will the chaos of the continent be visited upon its most developed country and its image left in tatters? Clearly Germany 2006 it isn't. But as a South African-resident colleague wryly observed, "You live and work in Afghanistan so SA will be a cinch!"

How many fans will turn up? How empty will the stadia be? If flights to South Africa are anything to go by, I noticed this week that a ticket on my Emirates flight from Dubai to J'burg
now costs a whopping $572 less, or 38%, than when I purchased it two months ago.

Concluding thought for day one: France were today confirmed as the host of Euro 2016 by none other than a certain les bleus maestro, M. Platini. Was his the decisive vote in the 7-6 nail-biting vote against Turkey? Quite possibly the most impartial sporting decision since Juan Antonio Samaranch presided over the IOC's decision to give the 1992 Olympic Games to a Barcelona, non?