“We have always said that this is an African World Cup, and in the spirit of that statement we are appealing to South Africans to support an African team. We are indeed very proud of Ghana.”

- Rich Mkhondo, World Cup Organising Committee

“South Africa has always been divided, but the World Cup and our own team has managed to unite our nation.

“I must tell you the power of sport. If only countries could realize that and begin to invest their billions [in sport], instead of putting their billions in armaments, the world could be at peace.”

- Kirsten Nematandani, president of the South African National Football Association

“These are just a few words to describe the three camps – awesome, fun, exciting, stunning, wonderful, fantastic, amazing, cold, damp, thrilling, powerful and on and on I could go. To see the kids arrive at the schools each day with anticipation of what was going to happen was so exciting.”

- IMB missionary Bonnie Doughtie, about the Life Champs Day Camps held in Cape Town. During the camps, 287 children professed faith in Christ. Read more.

“I think it would be very nice if this nation would come together and hold hands, to pray this violence would stop in South Africa.” – Thandeka Siyobi, a rape victim who shares her Christian testimony in Nyanga township (near Cape Town), the murder capital of South Africa. Read more

“Today, little boys all over Africa are carrying their soccer balls and dreaming big dreams” – Tina Ferguson, commenting on Ghana’s win over the USA in their second round match. Of six African teams in the 2010 World Cup, Ghana are the only ones who progressed to the second round.

“Africa is alive and well with the World Cup 2010.”

SuperSport television commentator after Ghana’s 2-1 overtime win over the U.S.A.

Ghana moves on to the quarterfinals, facing Uruguay, while team U.S.A. heads home. Ghana is only the third African nation to ever make it to a World Cup quarterfinal and is the only African nation still in the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

“I think all of us have put lots of pressure on ourselves because this World Cup is being played on our continent. Expectations were huge and we owed it to ourselves to perform well, but the pressure has caused us more stress than anything else and even inhibited our talents. There have been a few players who haven’t been up to the standard required. Their abilities have been crushed by the pressure they’ve put on their own shoulders.”

- Cote d’Ivoire midfielder Salomon Kalou, referring to the results of the African teams. Out of six African teams competing in the World, only Ghana qualified for the next round

“The plethora of World Cup breaking news briefly knocked Yahoo Sports offline and also caused issues at Twitter.”

- mashable.com, referring to record-setting Internet usage after U.S. midfielder Landon Donovan scored a last-minute goal against Algeria — 11.2 million hits per minute

“I broke my vuvuzela! When we scored, I busted it on my head.”

- U.S. fan after his team’s last-minute victory over Algeria, a win that earned them a spot in the next round of competition.

“The elimination does not matter. We are winners for today, and that is what we wanted.”

- South African fan after today’s match against France. Although South Africa won 2-1, they will not progress to the second round of competition in the World Cup.

“It’s important for the church to have an image in the community of being a place where their children will be safe. It’s a testimony in this community of a caring church.”

- IMB missionary Jeff Holder about Ballotsview Baptist Church in George, South Africa. Like many other areas in South Africa, George has had instances of child trafficking. During the World Cup, the church is hosting Kids Games to keep children safely off the streets during their school break. Read more