Sad day at the World Cup

It's only a day old, but the 2010 World Cup already has a downer story to talk about.

JOHANNESBURG (AP)—It should have been a moment of triumph—Nelson Mandela, basking in the cheers as Africa’s first World Cup opened. Nelson Mandela with his great-granddaughter Zenani, who was killed in a car accident following Thursday's kickoff concert. (AP Photo/Peter Morey)

Instead, South Africa’s beloved anti-apartheid icon stayed at home with his family Friday in northern Johannesburg during the opening ceremony and game, mourning his 13-year-old great-granddaughter Zenani, who died in a car crash on the way home from a tournament-eve concert in Soweto.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation said the tragedy “made it inappropriate” for the former president, who is 91, to attend the opening ceremony in Johannesburg.
That's a shame considering how much Nelson Mandela represents to South Africa and how this should be one of his finest moments. Prayers go out to him, and the good things that people say about this man are too hard to count. Sad day.