(Reuters) – South Africans danced and blew horns for their beloved national team on Wednesday but a robbery by gunmen at a media hotel dampened the World Cup party mood.

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Tens of thousands of fans sang and shook their stuff in the streets of Johannesburg for a parade by the local “Bafana Bafana” (The Boys) team who are helping unite a nation still suffering divisions 16 years after the end of apartheid.

In scenic Cape Town, fans brought out their “vuvuzela” trumpets — fast becoming the unofficial symbol of South Africa 2010 — for a massive show of support at midday.

“This can be our 12th man,” South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said of the horns. His side face Mexico on Friday in the first game of Africa’s first World Cup.

Africans are praying the June 11-July 11 tournament will be a roaring success and displace the stereotypical images of hunger, AIDS and high crime. “I have never experienced this type of vibe in my life before,” said Brenda Barratt, 59, at the team parade.

Robbers soured the atmosphere, though, and sent a reminder of local crime levels rivaling anywhere outside a war-zone with a pre-dawn raid on journalists from Portugal and Spain.

They rifled through rooms of sleeping reporters to steal equipment and cash at a lodge at scenic Magaliesburg town. “It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me,” said photographer Antonio Simoes, who woke up to be held at gunpoint.

In other unwanted developments, a shocking and ever-growing injury list — some are already calling it the “curse” of this World Cup — has kept out leading names like 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 Algeria-Slovenia game.

Other big names of world football, like Arjen Robben of the Netherlands, Spain’s Andres Iniesta and Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba, are racing to get fit.

There was good news for Australia, with midfielder and main goal threat Tim Cahill expected to be over a neck strain for their Group D opener on Sunday against Germany.

SPANISH STROLL

Plenty of other established names will be present. 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’ Favorites to win 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.

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 behavior,” 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 Jon Bramley)