Vuvuzelas impossible to find in Kansas City

By now, anybody paying even the slightest attention to the World Cup knows the word vuvuzela.

The ubiquitous long plastic horns, which produce a nausea-inducing buzzing sound and have long been a staple of South African soccer matches, have been the nonstop soundtrack to this year’s tournament. Packs of fans from competing nations have adopted the noisemakers as the best way to support their sides, despite complaints from players that the vuvuzelas interfere with on-field communication. But when fans already paint their faces and don wigs and costumes, they’re not going to pass up the chance to be audio nuisances as well.

For the most part, however, vuvuzelas have failed to catch on with American soccer fans. After the Riverfront Times, our sister paper in St. Louis, tried to find local shops hawking the horns, we did the same and found them harder to come by than goals in group play (so far).