Reuters Soccer Blog

The monotonous yet deafening roar of the vuvuzela, a trumpet-like South African instrument set to be the most popular 2010 World Cup fan item by some way, has been a major talking point among all those remotely interested in the month-long tournament.

While most players and coaches seem to dread the sound the vuvuzela produces, Serbia’s left back Aleksandar Kolarov was entirely unimpressed.

In fact, he was confident Serbian fans would throw the gauntlet and be up to the challenge while supporting their team in a way more akin to a European football culture.

“Serbia’s supporters will not use the vuvuzela, I am sure they will stick to more traditional methods of getting behind us,” Kolarov told Serbia’s opening news conference in Johannesburg’s Sunnyside Park hotel.

“I don’t really have an opinion about the vuvuzela, it could be a deterring factor for some teams but we are not one of them. When the ball starts rolling we don’t pay attention to what’s going on in the terraces.

“What is more, I believe that our passionate fans can silence the vuvuzela and we’ll play our hearts out to make sure they never stop singing.”

But just as Kolarov made his point dozens of local fans carrying vuvuzelas passed by the hotel and made themselves heard, as indeed they have on nearly every corner in Johannesburg over the past few days.

Reporters in the press room could barely hear what Kolarov said next but if the current noise level is anything to go by, the Serbs might be in for a nasty shock when they meet Ghana in their opening Group D match in Pretoria on Sunday.

So could their 8,000 or so fans expected to turn up and for all their vociferous passion, it is more likely they will join the vuvuzela party rather than subdue its unequivocally flat melody.