BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa:

A raucous surprise welcome provided by members of the South Africa 2010 World Cup organising committee in Bloemfontein breathed well-needed energy into the life of Jamaica's football delegation when they arrived in the South African province yesterday morning.

The Boyz were sagging and weary following almost a daylong travelling schedule from Kingston to the most southern of African states, via Atlanta in the United States.

Barely hours after landing in Johannesburg, where the Boyz stayed overnight, they had to get out of bed for an early-morning flight into Bloemfontein.

A party of officials from the football federation and World Cup committee greeted the group at the airport, where the players were ushered into an air-conditioned lounge and officially welcomed.

The red carpet was officially rolled out at the Southern Sun Bloemfontein hotel, though. Yes, there was really a red carpet, complemented with a couple servings of African culture, including drum-beating and dancing.

captivated

It really captivated the team, prompting members and officials to reach for their cameras. As if that enough, another cultural showcase followed the team into the hotel lobby, where another group did their bit of singing.

Then came the official part, where the city's deputy mayor, S.K. Chgene, noted their excitement and showered a great deal of praise on the Jamaicans.

"I'm very excited," she said. "I'm very pleased to welcome you to this host city.

"We're looking forward to a cracking match come next Tuesday. We hope the crowds will come out and create an electric atmosphere to enable the teams to excel on the football field."

"We've witnessed how the Jamaican talent has developed," the councilwoman observed. And while making reference to Usain Bolt's stunning world records at the Olympics and World Championships, she expressed the hope that their accomplishments will be great as "we're also a developing country".

natural connection

Garfield Sinclair, head of delegation and treasurer of the Jamaica Football Federation, added to the friendly spirit with a response in which he noted the natural connection between the nations.

"We've flown for 15 hours from Atlanta and we feel that we're home," he said.

He continued: "We look forward to helping to assist Bafana Bafana to prepare for the World Cup. Both our federations are quite friendly. The teams will be playing to win the match on the field, but when that's done we're friends.

"We want to thank the mayor and the football association for inviting us and welcoming here and look forward to doing the same."

Jamaica is slated to host South Africa in a reciprocal encounter in Kingston in March next year.