By Andrew Cawthorne JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Crime struck the World Cup on Wednesday when gunmen held up journalists after Spain proved their favourites' status with a 6-0 friendly win. Two days before kickoff for the first World Cup on African soil, locals are pumping up the atmosphere with "vuvuzela" trumpets and multi-coloured South African flags everywhere to be seen. Robbers marred the party mood, however, and sent a reminder of South African crime levels rivalling anywhere outside a war-zone by raiding journalists from Portugal and Spain in a lodge at scenic Magaliesburg town, north of Johannesburg. They rifled through rooms of sleeping reporters to steal equipment and cash. "It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me," said Portuguese photographer Antonio Simoes, who woke up and was held at gunpoint. In other unwanted developments, a shocking and ever-growing injury list -- some are already calling it the "curse" of World Cup 2010 -- has kept out leading names David Beckham, Nani, Michael Essien and Michael Ballack. Even a referee, Chile's Pablo Pozo Quinteros, fell victim and had to pull out of handling Sunday's Group C match between Algeria and Slovenia. Other big football names like Arjen Robben of the Netherlands and Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba are racing to get fit. Plenty of established names will be present, though. One of them, Fernando Torres, shrugged off a knee injury to score in Spain's 6-0 rout of Poland in a final warm-up on Tuesday night. The Euro 2008 champions have never won a World Cup, but have a team brimming with talent and are marginally bookies' favourites to win this time ahead of the leading ranked team, Brazil. Five-times world champions Brazil romped to a 5-1 win over Tanzania in their last friendly on Monday, with Kaka emerging from an injury-plagued season at Real Madrid to net once. AFRICAN ASPIRATIONS For hosts South Africa, simply progressing to the second round would be a triumph. They begin that quest on Friday with a Group A opener against Mexico at the revamped Soccer City stadium shaped like a calabash or African pot. "I feel it here, I'm swimming in the World Cup!" said Tseko Motuang, a vendor in Bloemfontein, which like most towns across South Africa was festooned with flags, yellow replica shirts of the "Bafana Bafana" national team, and vuvuzela horns. With hooligans from England and Argentina already thwarted, and a stampede injuring 15 people at a weekend match, the hosts are praying for calm off the pitch as well as success on it. "The government will not tolerate any unruly, disruptive and unsafe behaviour," South African government spokesman Themba Maseko said in a statement on Wednesday. Authorities, who are particularly worried about illegal tickets, have deployed more than 40,000 police to keep order. Africa's most famous son, Nelson Mandela, 91, is expected to join the party at Soccer City on Friday. His presence spurred South Africa to Rugby World Cup glory in 1995 and the political prisoner-turned-president is the living symbol of the nation's transformation into the modern era from its past of apartheid and international isolation. Africa's six competing teams will hope to draw inspiration from Mandela to break Europe and South America's stranglehold on the World Cup, or at least go further than Cameroon and Senegal's quarter-final showings in 1990 and 2002. English bookmaker William Hill has Ivory Coast as Africa's best hope at 50/1 odds, way behind Spain at 4/1 and Brazil at 9/2. Argentina, England and the Netherlands are next in betting. Hosts South Africa are rated 150/1. (Reporting by Reuters reporters across South Africa; Editing by Ossian Shine)
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