Until last night, Sepp Blatter ending the agony by confirming us for 2010 had been the World Cup moment to provide a genuine surge of excitement; since then, it's been a simmering sense of anticipation, rising when pictures of a new (if usually unnecessary) stadium showed a soaring new monument to 2010, dipping when Bafana produced a lacklustre display, but always there in steady anticipation.

But by the time Europe's carnival of qualifying games drew to a close, I was bouncing off the walls: with so many quality teams confirmed already, the sense of the football planet converging on South Africa has never been more real.

SuperSport fuelled it all, turning my remote into a Gameboy console as I raced furiously from channel to channel: France chasing a fading dream, Italy trying to maintain 2006's momentum, a slick Netherlands out to compound the eternal misery that is Scottish football, and England in something of a grudge match with Croatia. Late last night, there was even a Uruguay-Colombia game somewhere on SuperSport, only underlining just how desperately the whole world is focused on getting to South Africa next year.

The channel surfing eventually gave way to a focus on the game at Wembley, and a rare sight: the country that's home to Europe's strongest league providing a national performance to match. Under Fabio Capello, this England side is taking menacing shape, and will now head confidently for South Africa has a team to keep a very close eye on. England teams of late have leant towards the underwhelming; today's British papers are going berserk, but for once, not entirely without justification.

And Dutch and Spanish media will be doing likewise, I'd imagine, the two countries having qualified with unblemished records; not so good for Portugal and France, who have much work to do (and fortune to befall them in other results) if Christiano Ronaldo and Frank Ribery are not to be watching the World Cup from bar television sets of Caribbean holiday resorts. But then that's the inherent joy of the World Cup: big names missing out, small names sneaking in, David and Goliath battles, and the best team emerging at the top of the pile.

Not that it's gutting not to be there ? Scots will be drearier than usual this morning after the Dutch defeat ruled them out, even if football hasn't been a source of great Scottish joy for as long as anyone can remember. (When I was in Scotland a couple of months ago, plenty of locals were enthusiastically looking forward to coming out to South Africa for the tournament; their own team might not be there, but at least now they can come along to support whoever's playing against England.)

But that's something South Africans don't have to worry about until 2014; for now, we can simply revel in the immediacy of a tournament that last night's football brought sharply into focus. And it's not just that Spain, England, the Netherlands and Brazil are already confirmed (along with Australia, unfortunately, as well as both Koreas, Japan and Ghana so far). Sure, some dazzling footballers are en route for our part of the world, but it's the combined spectacle that both they and their fans will create that gets the spirit dancing. Yes, you'll need to lock up your children and hide the family silver when England fans descend in a cloud of lager and sunburn, but they'll form part of the fabric of 2010's rich tapestry, joining the South American samba, the Dutch bonhomie, the Spanish passion and the blaze of Asian camera flashes as the greatest party on earth kicks in.

The sense that that party is now just around the corner is tangible, and as more teams qualify and the make-up of 2010 takes greater shape, that sense will only grow. And come December, and the draw in Cape Town (rumour has it Charlize Theron will be hosting that particular event), South Africa will be nearing fever pitch. There's the minor issue of Bafana, and how we do in the competition, to temper delight when the actual football kicks off ? but after last night's high just watching the qualifying, I'm counting on the atmosphere in South Africa being infectious, and the home team catching fire as a result. Right now, though, just the thought of the World Cup is enough to keep me beaming: the football world is coming to town, and we're in for a hell of a ride.

  • If the World Cup offers a shimmering attraction on an ever nearing horizon, then a night in a boma under African skies around a fire, with abundant Miravel cabernet sauvignon, is a vivid reminder that there are certainly worse places to call home... Audi's Quattro Cup draws to a close at Euphoria today, with the national winners heading for the world final later this year at the New South Wales in Sydney, along with Royal Melbourne probably Australia's finest course. It's a splendid prize, but just making the Euphoria final and playing Annika Sorenstam's maiden African design is an achievement itself; still, some very nervous golfers will be trying not to daydream of Sydney, and focus on the golf. Results tomorrow, at which stage two golfers will be cheerfully nursing hangovers most severe.

  • Contact Dan at dan@metropolis.co.za