Later today, a forest of vuvuzelas (metre-long plastic bugles that emit a deafening noise) will blare out in Soweto's gleaming Soccer City stadium as South Africa takes on Mexico in the opening match of the 2010 World Cup. After all the anxieties of the build-up, the carnival begins. For a full month the eyes of the world will be on the rainbow nation.

While South Africans are approaching the tournament in a spirit of patriotic hope, the realists among them will admit to having modest expectations for their own team. The so-called Bafana Bafana (meaning “boys, boys”) are the weak link in one of several “groups of death”. Their progress, even to the second stage, is far from assured. But South Africa should approach the World Cup with higher ambitions for the nation as a whole.

The need to prepare for the tournament has spurred investment in an economy that has long been held back by inadequate infrastructure. True, some of the costly stadiums may turn out to be pointless baubles. But South Africa has at last grasped the nettle of investing in its transport infrastructure. This goes deeper than gleaming projects such as the Gautrain, a high-speed rail link between Johannesburg and Pretoria, part of which opens in time for the tournament. It includes less glamorous but vital ones, such as modern bus services. In a relatively poor country, these will be of more benefit to the population as a whole.