What an amazing experience. The Soccer World Cup 2010 gave all of us so much excitement and drama for an entire month. We were extremely fortunate to experience the world's largest sporting tournament right here in South Africa -- on African soil for the very first time.

It is with sadness that we say goodbye to the amazing soccer as we try to go back to normal (or can we?).

We have been privileged to have witnessed this great sporting event. We say thank you to South Africa for giving us this magnificent gift, the memories of which will remain with us for many years.

So many things made this World Cup memorable that it is difficult to list them. The country and its people achieved so much that any listing of them would be inadequate. At the risk of omitting some things that may have been more important to others, here are some of our highlights:

• Fabulous football that kept us all entertained for a month with plenty of thrills and moments that broke our hearts
• The incredible spirit of South Africans whether at work watching games, at the fan parks and the stadiums
• South Africans, proud hosts, who showed visitors that special brand of friendliness and hospitality
• Magnificent stadiums, showing the country's world class engineering capabilities
• The Gautrain Rapid Rail Link being completed on time and offering an excellent service
• The record number of fans that visited the country
• The social bonding where South Africans embraced each other as never before
• Introducing a unique African flavour to football including the vuvuzelas and makarapa

We love our country and what impressed us most about our beautiful land and its people was the spirit of Ubuntu, which describes the way we are all connected by community. Everywhere, from street corners and shopping centres to stadiums and airports South Africans were so welcoming and friendly. It seemed as though we had woken up in a different country from the one before the cup.

We hope that this feeling of togetherness lingers for long after memories of the soccer have faded. Just imagine if this spirit of community were to continue and spill over into other facets of our lives how happier and more productive we would all be.

There is one special way that this spirit of community will continue and that is through the corporate social investment programmes that ABB supports in South Africa. We will continue to assist in caring for orphans of HIV/AIDS, develop engineering skills in colleges (Further Education and Training) and assisting with our special youth-in-energy programmes in communities that suffer from energy poverty.

On a much broader level, we hope to see continued investment in infrastructure in the country for increased economic growth and competitiveness. ABB was most honoured to be part of the infrastructure development including powering the magnificent stadiums and the Gautrain. But behind the scenes, ABB is very much part of the power generation build programme in the country and the upgrading of the transmission system as well as increasing the grid reliability of the local metropolitan electricity distribution grids.

It has also been a great privilege for us to write this soccer blog for ABB and share our stories, thoughts and views with colleagues and customers around the world. We look forward to finding out more about the World Cup 2014 from a similar blog or whatever will be the latest technology in four years' time.

We were truly thrilled with the response from all of you to this World Cup Soccer 2010 blog. Thank you. Let's continue to fly the flag high for the country and ABB who made this blog possible. A special thanks to Karen Wilds and Tuija Elomaa-Maenpaa from the India, Middle East and Africa (IMA) region of ABB who encouraged us to participate in this new venture and gave us phenomenal support all the way.

We take this opportunity to wish Brazil a fantastic World Cup 2014 and look forward to watching the tournament in that soccer passionate land.

Chesney Bradshaw and Pamela Manda

Throughout the World Cup Soccer 2010 all eyes have been on the ball, from the players and goal keepers to the thousands of fans at the games and billions of television viewers.

The Jabulani, which means "to celebrate" in the Nguni language, is the most technologically advanced match ball in history. The ball, developed by the Adidas innovation team, is said to have unmatched flight characteristics making it the most stable and accurate Adidas ball ever and it has a special texture to give it excellent grip, giving players more control.

These performance features were confirmed in tests at Loughborough University in England and in the wind tunnel at the Adidas football factory in Scheinfeld, Germany.

This Sunday at the final between Holland and Spain at the Soccer City Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg, we will see the unique 2010 FIFA World Cup final match ball known as the Jo'bulani. Its pattern colour is gold to reflect that Johannesburg is the city of gold.

However, as Woodrow Wilson noted, "If you want to make enemies, try to change something." The Jabulani ball has come under much fire from players, coaches and television commentators.

England goalkeeper David James described the Jabulani as "just not a very good football". And Robert Green is probably still possessed by nightmares about the ball that has been so difficult for goalkeepers to catch.

Secretary General Jerome Valcke promised to discuss the issue of the Jabulani ball after the tournament.

Even NASA's aerodynamics people at the Ames Investigation Centre have tested the ball and claims the Jabulani becomes susceptible to the "knuckle effect", says Richard Whittall in a Yahoo! Sport news item.

Also just as true for many of the players is the saying "Change always comes bearing gifts" (Price Pritchett). Some teams simply have got on with learning how to handle the new ball. Teams like Germany got in early and did their best to adjust.

Towards the end of the tournament criticism of the Jabulani seems to have subsided. Perhaps coaches, players and goalkeepers have come to recognise that the new ball affects everyone equally, not favouring one side over the other. It seems to hold an important lesson. We all know that people need time to adapt when introducing changes in the workplace or the market but how often do we make allowances for this? Some people just seem to learn faster that "Change is inevitable -- except from a vending machine" (Robert C. Gallagher).

The two national sides – Holland and Spain -- that square off for victory of the highest honour in football this Sunday will also represent a tribute to all those people in sport, business and communities who rapidly learn how to adapt to changing circumstances.

“In Brazil we call our brand of football, Joga Bonito or beautiful football. This is because when the players are on the pitch, it looks they are dancing the Samba”, says Fernando Cavallo ABB employee and football supporter who followed the Brazil games around the country.

Although Brazil lost their Round of 16 match to the Netherlands, Cavallo is still happy that he was able to watch all their matches in Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Cavallo, a senior HV technician with ABB South Africa for more than one year, was previously with ABB Brazil for nine years.

Brazil’s style of football has captivated the world for many years. It is their unique brand of football that has made Brazil the most successful national side, and five time World Cup champions. Their style of play is derived from the beautiful and rhythmic movements of the Samba, a Brazilian dance with African roots. Just as the Samba is the most popular Brazilian cultural expression and has become an icon of Brazilian national identity so too is football.

The World Cup has also been a special one because it afforded Cavallo the opportunity of spending time with his two former colleagues from ABB Brazil, Fabio Luiz da Costa and Giuliano Stephano Lipuma who have written their personal blog in Portuguese, on their 2010 World Cup and South African experiences.http://fabioegiuliano.brasil.zip.net

"The atmosphere during this tournament has been amazing and I think South Africa has been an excellent host.“Even though everyone in the country was disappointed by Bafana Bafana’s early exit, they did not let this stop them from celebrating and enjoying the World Cup", says Cavallo.

Cavallo has been impressed with the positive effect that the World Cup has had on South Africa. “I think that this has been a wonderful experience for the country and I think most people have been positive about the tournament, even my colleagues who are not football fans have watched a number of the matches”, says Cavallo.

On 11 June the world will crown a new champion, but as we say goodbye to what has been an exciting and special World Cup tournament, we wait in anticipation for World Cup 2014. Fernando and the world will once again be able to dance to the Samba rhythms of football. ABB South Africa is proud to have contributed to making South Africa a nation with the capacity to host the football world. This legacy serves as a reference to future host nations.

ABB's power technology has helped power up the Cape Town Stadium and is supporting a major maintenance and replacement for the City of Cape Town power grid.

Sophie Roch-Bernhard, local business unit manager for substations at ABB South Africa, explains that the switchgear is part of a three-year frame agreement with the city of Cape Town. The agreement began in 2009 and runs through to 2011. It includes 200 panels of medium voltage switchgear, SCADA and other power products for Nine specific substations. The total value of the switchgear ordered by the city of Cape Town was R135 million.

"This order is an excellent reference for ABB in South Africa and particularly that we have been able to supply GIS technology to a customer who is technically strong," says Sophie. "We are proud to be able to support the City of Cape Town in its maintenance and replacement programme for its power grid."

At the Mouille Point substation, which powers the City of Cape Town Stadium, ABB supplied and installed GIS (gas-insulated switchgear) from the ABB global focused feeder factory in Germany, Ratingen. The Mouille Point substation comprises 30 medium voltage GIS ZX1.2 type switchgear panels.

For the Cape Town Stadium itself ABB supplied UniGear air-insulated 11 KV switchgear panels as part of the four quadrant substations. This design comprises a main incoming substation which distributes to three other Transformer feeder substations. The UniGear switchgear for this installation was supplied from ABB's local factory in JHB.

The eight other substations, which range from 12 KV and 24 KV to 36 KV, will be supplied with GIS ZX1.2 switchgear. These substations are Roggebaai, Sea Point, Foreshore, Strand, Oakdale (Bellville), Retreat, Parow South and Century City.

"This is a very good breakthrough in the market for ABB," says Barry Addinall, Senior sales engineer for front-end sales division of power products in Cape Town. "It is a technology breakthrough as well because the City of Cape Town has adopted gas insulated switchgear. We are excited that our technology came out tops."

Barry says the word is spreading as Stellenbosch Municipality has also ordered the same switchgear for the main intake substation.

Thomas Schmidtchen, sales manager for medium voltage GIS switchgear product marketing, from the ABB feeder factory in Germany, is based in South Africa for six months to support the GIS product range in South Africa. "I am here to get to know colleagues, customers and market requirements and do business development to raise awareness of the product. The City of Cape Town project is important for us and I expect increasing acceptance of the product by other cities."

The City of Cape Town plans to invest over half a billion rand in the Metropole's electricity network in the coming financial year. Cape Town's extensive electrical infrastructure consists of more than 70 main substations with transformers and switchgear, as well as thousands of kilometres of electrical cables and overhead power lines criss-crossing the city from Atlantis and Gordon's Bay down to Cape Point.

Photo credit: http://www.MediaClubSouthAfrica.com - Rodger Bosch

“The atmosphere at the World Cup matches and in the country, has been electric," says Carlos Pone, ABB South Africa’s CEO and Country Manager. "The Football World Cup has been a fantastic event."

Pone, an avid Portugal supporter, had the opportunity of watching the Portuguese national side play in three of their group matches. He traveled more than 2400 km to watch his beloved Portugal in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Durban. I caught up with him on the last leg of his World Cup journey before he left to watch one of the semi-final matches.

Of all the stadiums he has visited the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was his favourite. "It is small but unique and I was most impresssed with the stadium’s architectural design."

Pone felt the tournament has been well organized and the infrastructure has been of world class standard. He is very proud of ABB's part in the infrastructure development through contributions to several stadiums, the Gautrain Rail link and King Shaka airport.

For Pone the excitement amongst ABB South Africa's employees in the run-up to the World Cup was phenomenal. Employees decorated the Longmeadow facility with the flags of the thirty-two participating countries. ABB made available the football jerseys of several participating countries to employees and the ABB football team participated in the corporate-backed "United We Shall Stand" campaign in support of Bafana Bafana. "In the most exciting phase of the World Cup, from 4PM each day, matches have been broadcast for employees on 18 LCD screens housed throughout ABB's head office and manufacturing centre at Longmeadow. The World Cup 'gees' (spirit) has truly been evident amongst ABBers.

“The World Cup has certainly brought us together, showing what it really means to be one ABB team. All the ABBers here, despite some of them being from other countries, adopted Bafana Bafana as their team. Even our colleagues in the India, Middle East and Africa (IMA) region showed their support. IMA regional manager Frank Duggan wore a Bafana Bafana football jersey during the televised opening ceremony. The World Cup has truly united all of us at ABB."

Pone was blown away by the hospitality of South Africans all over the country. “We have been excellent hosts and have shown the ability that this nation has to surpass all difficulties and make a success of anything we put our minds to. We supported our team but once they were eliminated we went on to adopt new teams. This shows the all-embracing spirit of South Africans and ABBers in particular."