South Africa, a remarkable place of jagged contrasts: rich and poor; black and white, immigrant and everyone else. On a normal week, it’s the dispossessed and the self-possessed fighting for elbow room. Meanwhile, the coming World Cup has provoked the camouflage of every conflict to present the image of a united nation to the world. Dave Zirin reports.

You see it the moment you walk off the plane: a mammoth soccer ball hanging from the ceiling of Johannesburg International Airport festooned with yellow banners that read, “2010 Let’s Go! WORLD CUP!” If you swivel your head, you see that every sponsor has joined the party - Coca Cola, Anheuser-Busch - all branded with the FIFA seal. It’s when your head dips down that you see another, less sponsored, universe.

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