Cape Town - Football fans are often glued to their couch - and the common sofa is proving the ticket for many who are broke or seeking a truly South African taste of soccer fever during the 2010 World Cup.
Whether divan, chaise longue, love-seat or a corner for a sleeping bag, many backpackers and seasoned 'couchsurfers' are looking to the Internet to help them combine a trip to Africa with the world's biggest football event by securing a local - and free - couch to crash on.
Anselmo Zacarias Portes, a 29-year-old marketing analyst from Sao Paulo, has already secured his couch for Africa's first World Cup with a couple from Cape Town he once hosted back in Brazil.
"I'm Brazilian and I love football but, despite this, football will not be my main attraction. Of course I want to feel the whole atmosphere of the Cup," he said.
"I believe it will be an amazing experience. For us Brazilians, football is more than a sport. It's passion and love. I really would like to know how other people support their national teams.
Portes got drawn into couchsurfing in 2008 after being hosted in Britain, and has since had five people - two sisters from Venezuela, one couple from South Africa and a Brazilian living in Spain - sleeping on his couch.
A few hundred couchsurfers should take a bit of pressure off Fifa, which is looking to ensure 55 000 rooms are available every night during the event.
Fifa spokesperson Delia Fischer said some host cities usually lacked enough beds for the influx of football fans.
"We expect that the supply of accommodation will meet the demand. It is simply a question of the distance an individual fan may travel to a match and the diversity of accommodation facilities that will be used."
Some fans have found couchsurfing a winning formula for getting to know the intricacies of a city during a football World Cup.
Another fan from Brazil - a country whose team often wins the cup - Pedro Ivo Dantes, 28 of Rio de Janeiro, couchsurfed his way through the previous World Cup in Germany.
Reminiscing about watching matches in small gardens of old buildings in the eastern part of the city, he recalls discovering things he would never have done on his own.
"These buildings were abandoned when the (Berlin) Wall fell, and now are occupied by students, artists, immigrants, etc, that pay nothing to live there. There is a strong sense of community, everything is old but people help each other, and they seem to live happily that way.
"I expect, if I'm lucky enough, that South African couchsurfers will help me having this kind of experience there too."
The Couchsurfing Project was started by 30-year-old American Casey Fenton in 2004, and now has 900,000 members online, seeking to connect with locals while travelling, which may or may not include free accommodation.
"Couchsurfing isn't about the furniture - it's not just about finding free accommodations around the world - it's about participating in creating a better world," reads the website mission.
With its detailed referencing system, bad apples are weeded out, as newbies create strong networks and vouch for other travellers.
For those who do host, a chance to connect is the attraction, while surfers may bring a postcard, cook a meal, or just keep their corner tidy in return.
Accommodation can be a couch, a spare bed or an open corner, while those signed up can opt out of hosting and just meet up with locals for a drink, or plan to see some sights with them.
Paulo Pimento from Porto in Portugal, is waiting for his team to qualify before he asks for a couch.
He said he hopes being with a local will improve his safety in the country where high crime rates have been touted as a possible deterrent to travelling fans, as "locals know where we can go or not".
Having already been in South Africa last year, he found packaged tour deals left a sour taste in his mouth.
"I did a Soweto tour and it was awful, nothing to do with reality. You will never know a place until you talk with the locals," said the 31-year-old economist.