Now that the U.S.have qualified for South Africa the question arises: should you attend in person?

I will not pretty much for the reasons spelled out by excellent Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl, who just spent seven months in the country while writing the book “The Beckham Experiment,” in this article: crime, bad weather (it’s winter down there), a lack of transportation options and expensive, hard to come by accommodation.

Even someone who spent years living in South Africa – a certain L.A. Times scribe – cautioned me about going. And after experiencing Germany’s excellent transportation system in 2006 (press credentials doubled as unlimited first-class rail tickets to expedite travel between games) that included a memorable fruit and cheese plate/scrambled egg breakfast while whizzing along at almost 200 kph, South Africa is out for me.

Brazil in five years time will have several of the same problems, but at least they’re football mad down there.

And I need to save up for Germany 2011 when the Women’s World Cup will be held there (hopefully with the same train pass).

I wonder how many other fans will reach the same conclusion?