The Last of our Live Matches

The day of our last live match had arrived and we would be making our way to Ellis Park to see Paraguay v Spain later that evening. It’s funny because having tickets for 14 games seems like a lot before we started, but suddenly here we were with the majority of them behind us, wondering how they went by so fast. I guess one of the reasons is that we did see a burst of 10 games in 5 different stadiums in 13 days which seemed to go by in a blur, but now that we are at the sharp end of the tournament and facing the last of our matches, it’s strange to think it will be another 4 years before we see another...

Anyway, the bulk of the morning and early afternoon we spent relaxing before making our last visit to Gold Reef City, where we would watch the Germany v Argentina game before catching the Park & Ride to Ellis Park for our final live match. I have the drive in and out of Gold Reef City down to a fine art and can do it door-to-door, even in Johannesburg’s heavy traffic, in about an hour and three quarters, so we rolled up in perfect time to get to the Casino and stake a place at the upstairs bar, right in front of a large flat screened TV. From this excellent position we had an uninterrupted view of the Germany v Argentina game, could order beer via the waiter and even order food..., which of course we did as we settled in to watch the game.

Being genetically pre-disposed to a nationalistic dislike of the Germans, in sporting terms only of course, and in revenge for them decimating England’s World Cup Hopes, I was hoping that Maradonna and his merry band of Argentine superstars were going to open up a can of whoop-ass on this young and petulant German team, and give them a good old fashion thrashing... Gulp...!! After only the first few minutes it became pretty obvious that we were going to need a biblical intervention in order for the once fancied Argentine team to pull off a win of any description against the rampant German team that was laying siege to the Argy’s goal. Minutes later the faintest of touches from the big head of Mueller took the deftly floated free-kick past the hapless Argy keeper and into the back of the net... One-nil... For the rest of the first half, I watched in muted disbelief as the Germans dominated the midfield, cut Messi out of the game, and mounted serious pressure on the opposition goal. Argentina only had a mere handful of half chances going the other way, including a comical disallowed goal where 4 Argy’s were in an offside position, not that stopped them appealing as if they had just had the greatest injustice of all time perpetrated against them.

At one-nil there was always the possibility of a comeback, if Argentina could just get a goal early in the second half things could turn around like they did for the Dutch just 24 hour earlier, at least that’s what the desperate optimist inside me thought... Dejected and depressed I ordered another beer and a very large plate of pancakes and ice cream at half time, hoping that would make me feel better. No sooner than the second half had started, the Germans started banging in goals left, right and centre, and by the time my consolation pancakes had arrived was the game effectively over, and I think I missed the 4th goal as I slurped down the last of my dessert. Fair-play to the Germans who put on a commanding display of attacking football and came away deserving victors in a classic destruction of a promising Argentine team. At least England had scored 2 goals against the Germans, if you count the ‘phantom’ goal...., small consolation I know....

There was little queuing tonight at the Park & Ride and we were at Ellis Park in no time and following the usual routine of finding a toilet for Fiona and a beer pit-stop for me. Our seats were high up and almost behind one of the goals for our last game, which I thought were the worst seats we had had all tournament, but at least we were near the front edge of the stand with a surprising amount of legroom. It was obvious that the majority of the impartial fans and locals were going to be supporting Spain for this match, and because I had been disappointed that the Paraguayans had not allowed New Zealand to beat them in their group match and denied them the chance to be here instead, (assuming a win over the feckless Japanese), I wanted to see David Villa & co get past these tough and defensive South Americans.

At this point I think I should warn you against coming to me for football betting advice, because out of the previous 8 ‘Round-of-16 ‘games and the 3 Quarter-Final games that had been played to date, I had only predicted 3 correct results out of 11 games. Betting should be done from the head, not the heart...! Therefore I was somewhat foolishly predicting that Spain would win this game 4-nil, based on their results to date in the competition, their sublime and intricate passing & possession game, and their world-class attack pairing of Torres & Villa. It soon became obvious after the first 15 minutes of this game that form and history would count for nothing, and that Paraguay were going to be no easy-beats. Spain just did not look like the well-oiled machine that we had seen earlier in the competition, their passing was below standard and the defence looked nervous and shaky, And likewise the Paraguayans, far from being the ultra-defensive low-scoring team we had seen through the group stages, were playing a more expansive and attacking game than we had seen before. Although the score remained nil-nil at half time, the Paraguayans had seen the best of the chances, but if they could nick a goal early in the second half, they would turn the form books upside-down, and Spain would be in a world-of-trouble.

The second half started much the same as the first, cagy defensiveness from both sides with the occasional attacking move coming to nothing. When Spain subbed-off Torres first, then Alonso, (who was having a woeful game), and brought on Pedro and then Fabregas, the game took a turn and suddenly we had an open and flowing end-to-end game of football at last. Midway through the 2nd half, Paraguay sprang the offside trap, sent an attacker through only to be fouled in the box. Damn, I didn’t want Paraguay to score and no sooner had my silent pray left my lips than the Spanish keeper safely guessed the right way and saved the resultant penalty... Woohoo... Seconds later, the Spanish were attacking our end of the field and Villa neatly side-stepped his way into the Paraguayan box only for him to be brought down for a penalty...! Villa stepped up to take the 2nd penalty in as many minutes and coolly slotted it home, before the ref adjudged the kick invalid due to encroachment and made him take it again. This time Villa fired the ball to the goalies left where the keeper was handily placed to neatly scoop it up for another fine penalty save. Two penalties minutes apart, both saved, this was remarkable...., and this now had all the hallmarks of a game that was going to extra-time and maybe even penalties. No......, please don’t let it go to extra-time, I wanted to be in bed before 2am....

At last the football Gods must have thought it was time to cut this lowly football fan a break, and granted me my final wish of the evening, when in the 83rd minute, right below our noses, in an intricate but convoluted attacking move, the Spanish contrived to hit the post twice before the ball finally trickled across the line from the boot of David Villa for a late winner. And much rejoicing was had in the stands of Ellis Park, and possibly in many other places around the world, as the final whistle blew and the spectacle of Germany v Spain in the semi-Final was now a reality.

From our seats in Ellis Park to the door of our suite at Abloom took a mere 2 hours to achieve, and we were safely tucked up by 12:30am, with the last of our live matches behind us, and only 6 more games of the 2010 World Cup left to play. Now that attending matches was all over for us, there was a slight melancholy feeling that wouldn’t it be nice to see maybe a another game or two, but the reality is that we have been very lucky to see what we have seen, and that 14 games is more than enough....!

The First of our Quarter-Final Games

On Friday we made our last pilgrimage to the showpiece stadium of this World Cup tournament to see Ghana v Uruguay at Soccer City. Having discovered the Gold Reef Park & Ride now made it straight-forward to plan the day’s events as we knew it would be easy to get to, Fiona & I could spend a little more time at the Apartheid Museum to see what we had previously missed, plus we could catch the Holland v Brazil game on the big screen at the Casino. Everything went according to plan, we left early afternoon, Fiona & I checked out the museum again while Yates made a donation at the Casino, and I met Yates for the game at 4pm.

Holland v Brazil is one of those classic World Cup match-ups that not only has a long & distinguished history at the tournament, but it also promises to always throw up an absorbing and exciting match, and in 2010 it did not disappoint. Brazil started in their usual steam-roller fashion, pinging the ball around with ease and literally walking through the Dutch defence like it was not there. Little surprise when on 10 minutes, Robiniho waltzed right down the middle, slicing the defence in two and lifting the perfectly weighted pass over the keeper for the goal. One-nil.... Brazil played with such exquisite skill and awareness, and the Dutch seemed in such disarray, that surely Brazil were going to bag a handful more before half-time, and it seemed like a miracle when we reached the break with no further goals.

The old football hacks like to say that football is a game of two halves, and in this case they were exactly right. I dunno what the Dutch coach must have said at half time, but Holland came out in the second half a team transformed. Now the Brazilians seemed to have lost their touch, passes were going astray, and the Dutch crept slowly back into the game. Their big break came when a mix up in the Brazilian defence led to Melo and the keeper Caesar getting in each other’s way and contriving to let in the weakest of own-goals. One-all, and now where the Brazilians had been all over the Dutch in the first half, the Dutch were all over the Brazilians and were looking to put themselves ahead. The inevitable second goal came from a cleverly worked corner that was flicked-on at the near-post and nailed in at the far-post by Sneijder, the style of which I have not seen since the 1980’s.... By now I was hoping that the Brazilians would pull their collective fingers out and make a game of it, but when Melo was sent off for stamping it put the final nail in the coffin for Brazil’s World Cup challenge for this year, and the 5-times winners went out of the competition with their tails between their legs.... This was a great game that lived up to its classic billing.

After that, I doubted that Ghana v Uruguay would be able to live up to such a lofty height, but I was wrong. The crowd at Soccer city were nearly 100% behind Ghana, Africa’s last team at this tournament, and the green, yellow & red flags, with their black stars on, flew from every corner of the magnificent stadium. Ghana started very nervously, allowing the Uruguayans the bulk of the play for the first 30 minutes with a few good moves and the occasional shot towards target. But as time moved on so the Ghanaians found they feet and started to mount a few attempts of their own, and just on half time, Muntari collected the ball just inside the Uruguayan half, the defenders stood off, allowing him to move the ball forward a few yards and let loose with a low hard shot that just pinged into the bottom corner of the net. Wow... One-nil, and the dream of an African side in the semi’s was still alive.

Second half and the Uruguayans came out strongly, pressuring the Ghanaians and creating a hatful of chances, before Forlan stepped up to take a free kick some 25m out from goal, and just plant the ball inside the upright for the equaliser. Now it was game on and it was end-to-end stuff with each team coming close, but towards the end of normal time the Ghanaians seemed to gain the upper hand and mounted a full-on assault on the Uruguayans goal, but they were unable to make the breakthrough they needed, and we headed towards extra-time. We hate extra time & penalties, not just because of the perceived injustice or belief that a game of this magnitude should not have to end this way, we hate it because it means all that and that it will make us an hour and a half later getting home... Extra time is usually a cagy affair with neither team rarely willing to commit to winning the game in favour of trying to not losing the game, which results in a dour series of two, fifteen minutes periods, when seldom a result is obtained. This naturally leads to the worst way to settle a game, penalties.

On this occasion though, extra time was anything but dour as both teams appeared to really go for the win in an end-to-end battle to the end, in attempt to avoid the indignity of penalties. In the last few minutes of extra-time Ghana had an excellent chance of grabbing the winner with a couple of excellent shots going close or deflected by the defence, then a bullet header went just wide. Finally in the very last added minute of the game, a goal mouth scramble led to 3 chances for Ghana to score, each one defended off the line with the last being cleared by Suarez with a cynical hand ball. Penalty....and Suarez was shown the red-card. This was it, this was Ghana’s golden ticket to the semi-finals, all they had to do was convert the penalty kick and they were home and dry... Gyan stepped up and blasted the ball off the cross-bar and missed..... Aaaaagggghhhhhh....! The huge cry that went up from the crowd must have been audible around the world, as the dreams of a billion people were shattered. In the ensuing penalties, Ghana threw away their chance of progressing further with a couple of poorly taken spot-kicks as the Uruguayans clinically took the game.

How sad... Ghana had every opportunity and some to win this game, but in the end they just could notc step up and finish the job. We left the stadium somewhat dejected to start our journey home, arriving at 1:30am still pondering what might have been.....

Ever been down a Diamond Mine...?

As we sat around the dinner table last night we decided that we would check-out the Diamond Mind Tour in our nearest town of Cullinan. Diamonds have been found and mined for over 110 years in Cullinan, and the mine is most famous for the discovery of the largest diamond ever found, (called the Cullinan Diamond, 3,106 carets or 621 grams), which was gifted to the British Royal family, and used in Crown Jewels.

The mining company offers a comprehensive series of tours of the Mine including an underground tour which sounded quite interesting, so we turned up this morning and signed up. I guess we were a little unaware of exactly how involved this tour would be, so when we were presented with full overalls, helmet, boots, socks and a small backpack, we started to get a clue that this would be the real thing... After suiting up and walking through security, we were even more surprised when we had a full safety briefing and video, before being allocated our own emergency breathing unit and safety lamp...! Okay, this was more full-on than we had imagined, but as we stood at the mine head waiting for the elevator cage, we were actually quite excited about the tour.

Our first stop was at the lowest level of the mine, some 763m below the surface, where Pat, our excellent tour guide, started the underground portion of the tour. Pat had worked in the industry for over 20 years and what he did not know about the mine and the diamond mining process was not worth knowing, giving us a comprehensive run down of every aspect of the extraction of the diamonds. We checked out the main tunnels, a safety refuge, and covered almost 2kms to the production area, where the mined Kimberlite that holds the diamonds, was moved from the ‘Kimberlite Pipe’ to the surface. Apparently, it takes the extraction and processing of at least 100 tonnes of Kimberlite to produce maybe 6 carats/ 1.2 grams of commercial gems and 18 carats/3.6 grams of Industrial Diamonds.

It was all very interesting as whole process of mining diamond was not how I imagined, but it was quite exciting as we got up very close and personal with some of the heavy machinery, and watched huge chunks of the diamonds-bearing Kimberlite rock being moved around. Yates even thought that he had found a diamond in a piece of Kimberlite, and I'm not sure what exactly happened to that...? After 2 hours underground we headed to the surface to see where the extracted rock came out of the ground and went in to the ‘Recovery’ phase, before taking a look at the ‘Big Hole’. Now when they call it a ‘Big Hole’ they really mean it round here, as we stood looking at massive void in the ground, where initially rock had been removed by hand, but now was growing ever larger as the Kimberlite was mined below the hole, and the bottom of the ‘Big Hole’, slumped further down due to gravity. The more they take out from under the hole, the deeper the ‘Big Hole’gets..! It’s currently almost 500m deep and getting gradually deeper day-by-day...

Finally we went to the cutting room and the diamond sales room, where we were plied with alcohol and given the ‘soft-sell’ to buy a diamond, cut in the unique ‘Cullinan Star’ design. I have to say there was some very beautiful diamond of the 9 differing colours they extract from the mine, but the credit card stayed firmly in the wallet... Sorry Fiona... Overall, it was an excellent once-in-a-lifetime experience and we were all glad to have done it.

Last Night’s Gourmet Meal

This was our 3rd meal of our stay at Abloom, so I thought we should give you a virtual ‘taste’ of what we were offered. So last night’s meal started with a Warm Chicken Salad, in which small and deliciously spiced chicken wings was intermingled with a fresh tomato and pickled eggplant, very nicely presented and a fresh and tasty appetizer.

For the main course we had a Fillet of Impala with a Red Wine Reduction, accompanied with a Spinach Quiche. The meat was very tender and well cooked, and the Quiche was extremely rich, with the inclusion of strong cheese, walnuts, and a rich pastry. This was a good combination of flavours although the quiche was a little over-powering.

To finish the meal we had a Pear poached in Champagne, and coated with a rick milk chocolate sauce and flaked white and dark chocolate. The pear was poached to perfection and held the champagne flavour well, and tasted as delicious as it sounds. I’m not saying I liked this dish, but I did lick the plate spotlessly clean, (come’ on, it’s not like I was in a restaurant...!)

Time for some Statistics - Part 2.

Here are some more statistics from our trip so far:-

• World Cup Matches Attended: 12
• World Cup Matches Left to See: 2
• Live Goals Seen: 33 (including Penalties)
• Goals missed by Yates being in the Toilet: 4 (plus one questionalble goal which he alledges he saw while in the toilet..?)
• Distance Driven to Matches: 3,400+ km
• Number of Times we have driven along "Worst Road in Africa": Far too many
• Fastest recorded time along "Worst Road in Africa": Still a bone cracking 6 Minutes
• SlowestTime recorded between Venue Seat & Home: 3 hours 35 mins (from Rustenburg)
• Fastest Time recorded between Venue Seat & Home: 1 hour 50 minutes (From Ellis Park)
• Number of Flat Tyres: None, yet..... (fingers crossed)
• Number of World Cup Points for New Zealand: 3
• Number of defeats for New Zealand: 0 (zero)
• Number of Defeats for Australia: 1 (ha ha ha)
• Times a Horse has scared Yates at the Gate: 3
• Number of postcards sent by Yates: 100's (this is no exageration)
• Number of postcards sent by Steve: 2

Catch-up Part 2: Today is Sunday so this must be Gold Reef City...?

Day 2 of our 4-day ‘mega-match-watching’ marathon was mercifully at the closer venue of Soccer City in Jo’burg, with a potentially epic encounter between Argentina & Mexico. Before that was another big game, England v Germany at 4:00pm, that we wanted to squeeze in somewhere before we had to physically head to the Soccer City Stadium for the 8:30pm kick-off. Therefore I concocted a plan to head into Jo’burg at around midday, starting off by visiting the Apartheid Museum which was situated not too far from the Stadium, followed by finding somewhere to watch the England Game, and then when that was finished, we would make our way to Soccer City for our live game.

Some plans work well and some fall apart, (I should know...!), and in the scheme of things, this plan was one of the better ones that turned out to have some excellent additional benefits... Upon arriving in the vicinity of the Apartheid Museum we noticed that there was some of the World Cup 2010 ‘Park & Ride’ signage for ‘Gold Reef’, a parking facility we had not come across before. So we followed the signs and found out that for 100 Rand we could not only park there for the ‘Park & Ride’ to the stadium, but that it was right next to the Apartheid Museum where we were going anyway, and a Theme Park and Casino, plus we also got into the museum for free... Bonus...

So we parked up and headed into the Apartheid Museum and spent an hour and a half looking around this world class museum. The place was enormous with some thought-provoking and well put together displays. Half way around the museum was a special exhibition about the life and multi-faceted roles of Nelson Mandela in the struggle along the road and the eventual arrival at freedom. I reckon this exhibit itself would take an hour and a half by itself, and as we had made a plan to head to the Casino to watch the England game, we went through it at some speed not really even seeing the 2nd half of the museum. We met up outside the entrance at the agreed time, all feeling that we would need to come back to see the rest of the museum to do proper justice to it.

The Gold Reef Casino only added to the adage that Casino’s all over the world are now designed to the same homogenous design, with the predictable labyrinthine layout, a blur of fluorescing lights and the whirring sounds of slot machines slowly stealing the money from undeserving punters. The saving grace of this place of excess was that it had a full size theatre showing the England Game on a huge screen for a reasonable sum. Had we had an inkling as to how the game was going to play we would have stayed in the Apartheid Museum, where it is debatable that there was less horror on show than in England’s back four. For 20 minutes we held our collective breath but it was only a matter of time before Germany sliced England open through the middle and proceeded to stab in a goal. A second dissection and scalpel like finish just after the half hour point put England down-and-out, and even the beer in my glass was beginning to taste of defeat.

When Upson climbed highest to head one goal back, and Lampard’s phantom goal was seen by everyone except the 4 officials at the game, we started to imagine we could see the thinnest shred of desperate hope dangling in front of us... Could we..? Could we possibly..? Was there a chance of a come back...? No sooner than the 2nd half had started was the question answered as any dreams of a famous turn-around were mercilessly dispatched with clinical precision by the German attack, who removed any remaining vital organs from our hapless defence, and castrated all possibility of mounting any comeback. Bugger... Double-blind, dead-dog, Bugger....!! The less said about England and their expectations the better, and roll-on 2014.

After eating in the Casino we made the transfer to the stadium with ease and simplicity, and found our seats for what we hoped would be an exciting game between two teams with flair, skill and desire. There must have been something in the South African air that day that was set to rob us of seeing a fast and close game, as no sooner had Mexico gone behind to one of the most offside goals in the history of the World Cup, than they committed virtual suicide with a disastrous back-pass that even England’s defence would have struggled to accomplish. At 2-nil down, any chance of Mexico making a game of it had evaporated, and the final nail-in-the-coffin came in the spectacular shot from Tevez that just fizzed off his boot and into the top corner of the net. Mexico got a consolation goal late in the piece but the game had been effectively over after the first 30 minutes, and our hopes that Mexico would run Argentine close came to nothing. Our only consolation for the day was that the ‘Gold Reef Park & Ride’ was so well organised and efficiently run, that we were out of the stadium, in the car, and leaving the car park within 1 hour of the end of the match. With the motorway only a few hundred meters away, we were soon flying back through the suburbs of Jo’burg & Pretoria in no time, and we made it home before 1:00am, which when considering some of the other late nights we had had recently, felt like an early night...!

The other thing we discovered about the ‘Gold Reef Park & Ride’ was that it also serviced games at Johannesburg’s other World Cup venue, Ellis Park, which was good news as we were scheduled to head there for Brazil vs Chile at 8:30pm on day 3 of our 4-day marathon. We did take the time to chill out in the morning and early afternoon, before making our way to a local restaurant, (called ‘Dros’...) for a late lunch/early supper, and then on into Jo’burg. We arrived with plenty of time to spare and Fiona & I took some time to look around the Ellis Park stadium and even at some of the sponsor exhibitions and displays that we had rushed past at so many of the previous games, before making our way to our breezy seats. Once again the game did not deliver on its promise, with Brazil vs Chile failing to live up to our lofty expectations. Chile had looked exciting and vibrant during their group games, whilst Brazil, even though they had made their way through the group stages with ease, had been laid back and leisurely in their games. I had hoped that Chile would be able to give Brazil a hard-fought and close attacking game, but in the end, once Brazil had gotten themselves ahead the result looked inevitable, and Chile could not even muster a consolation goal. At the end of the game we were happy to leave the chilly stand as quickly as possible and make our way back home. Again, our consolation was that the Park & Ride was even more efficient than the previous night and we were in the car and on the motorway within 40 minutes of the end of the game, and home just after midnight.

I think it’s a fair indication that by this time in our marathon game watching schedule, we have become both tired and even a little jaded. The thought that we may have been trying to do too much in such a short period of time, has certainly passed through my mind at least and I think this may have influenced my expectation of some of the games. However the positive news is that the next game, Paraguay vs Japan, would not only be the last game for a few days, but it was also at Pretoria, the closest venue so far, and had an early 4pm kick-off. In order to have some time to grab some lunch before the match, we left the lodge around 1pm and made our way to the exceptionally well organised Eastern Park & Ride, and were soon sitting on the veranda of Nando’s in the Fan Zone, devouring a large quantity of spicy chicken. With less than an hour to go we made our way along the Fan Walk, through the security cordon and turnstile, with enough time for Yates to sell his spare ticket and for us to pick up a handful of beers.

The Loftus Versfeld Stadium is an old-fashioned styled venue with tightly bunched seating close to the pitch, much in the same way as a lot of the older English football grounds used to be. Even with our Cat 3 tickets we were quite close to the pitch and we were sitting next to a group of Chileans to one side, a German on the other, some local South Africans in front, and group of Americans behind us. There was even a group of locals in front of us that had gone to an enormous amount of effort to support the Japanese by dressing in full Samurai & Geisha costume, which was most impressive. It seemed that there was a great crowd in for this match and regardless of how the game was going to be played out, everyone was there for a good time. Thank Goodness for that because the game itself was nothing to write home about, even if it did go to extra time and penalties. In the end, an unlucky penalty that hit the crossbar was the only thing that separated the two teams, and Fiona & I agreed that had New Zealand beaten Paraguay in their last group game, Japan would have held little threat to our brave All-Whites, and they would have easily been sitting pretty in the last 8, (some wishful thinking was also applied here....)

Just over an hour after the game we were in a bar ordering pizza’s and beer and gearing up for the Spain vs Portugal game on the TV. Fiona had kindly agreed to drive home so I was making the most of not having to drive and enjoying bottle after bottle of the recommended Hansa Marzan Gold. Finally, a game that lived up to our expectation of a crucial World Cup Game, with Spain taking the fight to Portugal from the first minute, in what was cagy & tight affair that was never dull and full of shots and action. Eventually, Spain got the break they deserved with the sublime David Villa shooting initially with his right foot, blocked by the keeper, and then netting the rebound with a deft left foot chip, showing his supreme balance and creativity. By this time we had developed a casual friendship with a table of locals next to us who were supporting Portugal, or to be more precise, Christiano Ronaldo, and we swapped witty banter about the quality of their team & players until full-time. Great game....

Today and tomorrow are rest days for us, (and the football teams as well, coincidentally), and catching up on this blog is the only thing I have planned for today, except for enjoying another meal at the lodge tonight, and maybe another few glasses of port....?

Catch-up Part 1: Today is Thursday so this must be Polokwane...?

Firstly, apologies for the scarcity of postings over the past few days.... Nope, sorry, we have not been murdered/car-jacked/sold into the white slave trade, or even drunken ourselves in to a stupor. A combination of very late nights, various coughs, colds and flu, and a flaky internet connection here in the boondocks, has combined to cause a postponement of blog entries for a short while. You will glad to know that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible...

Since the last post we have been to a handful more games in various provinces/cities/stadiums, which by now have all stated to blur at the edges. Firstly we saw Germany beat Ghana 1-nil at Soccer City in a rather uninspiring game where both teams had, and squandered, numerous chances, until the bug-eyed Ozil put one in the back of the net from some distance. My genetic disposition to dislike of the Germans led me to want the Ghanaians to win, and the fact that they did not has helped consign this game to the ‘forgettable’ category of World Cup Games.

Next up was a game I did have some real passion for, New Zealand v Paraguay in Polokwane, (that must have been last Thursday..?) This was to be the longest of our car trips to see a match, so we left very early to cover the 300+ kms North into the Limpopo province. The road was clear and we made good progress, enough so that we even had time to stop off for a KFC..!, (surprisingly better than the soft and insipid version we get in NZ). The Park and Ride was a breeze and we reached the Stadium nice and early, which gave us a chance to look around and for Yates to forlornly ‘fence’ his spare ticket. There was good support from the All Whites fans in several parts of the ground, and it was great to hear some familiar chants. Now if the Kiwis could pull off a win, then we would really have something to cheer about...

The All Whites played with their usual strength and determination, maintaining good defensive positioning and even looking a little dangerous up front. It was always going to be a difficult game and the reality was that Paraguay would be happy playing for a draw while scoring more than one goal would be nigh on impossible for our boys. As the game drifted past half-time, Simon Elliot had the best chance of the game to grab that precious goal with a powerful shot just slightly wide, but it was becoming obvious that a nil-nil draw was likely to be the outcome. Mark Paston did his international reputation no harm with some outstanding saves late in the 2nd half, after a couple of goalmouth scuffles, but the 90 minutes were soon up, and no matter how loud we screamed for the All Whites to get a last minute winner, it was not to be. Even though we were disappointed that New Zealand would not progress beyond the group stage, we were not only immensely proud of how well the team had done, but also how much better they had done than anyone expected them to do. To go home undefeated in 3 games, including against the reigning world Champions, was a stellar achievement which will only help the continued development of the ‘Beautiful Game’ in my adopted home of New Zealand. Go the All Whites....!!

By this point in proceedings, my cold had gone from the tickly throat stage, through the coughing fits, to the full blown snot and all-sort part and I felt lousy. Fiona and Yates also had some variation of the same thing but seemed to coping with it better than I was, so our rest day was exactly that, spent resting, sleeping, and sneezing. I did perk up for another gourmet meal from the lodge, which included a fantastically delicious local stew, which was just what I needed, but I soon back to bed, tucked up nice an warm. My cold broke the next day which was good, but I was still only running at about 60%, so resting and recovery was still high on the menu, even though we had a long trip out to Rustenburg for the USA v Ghana round of 16 game that evening. We left mid-afternoon, with Fiona doing the bulk of the driving, and we arrived with plenty of time to look around and find our seats. Unfortunately, even though we had Cat 2 tickets, we were right at the top of the west stand with a chill breeze blowing right at us, which was not doing my cold any favours, so Fiona & I took a walk and found a sneaky warn spot to wait for the game to start.

On paper this encounter looked like a pretty even match-up between the USA and Ghana, neither team really living up to their expectation in the group stages, but both equally able to start putting a run together towards the sharp end of the tournament. We were fully supporting the USA in this match, along with a suitably large contingent of Americans, but all the neutrals and local South Africans were behind Ghana, so there was a good atmosphere in the stadium at kick-off. Unfortunately, it appeared that the USA team were mentally still in the locker-room for the first 5 minutes, and after some shoddy back marking, Kevin-f**king-Prince-f**king-Boateng, ran from the half way line with the ball, straight through the US defence to blast it into the net.... Bugger.

Once again the USA was playing catch-up and in all honesty it looked like the chances they would do it for the 4th game in succession were slim, especially as they nearly let in an identical goal but for a fine save from Howard. For the first half the USA’s midfield were virtually non-existent, with aimless long balls were being lumped up front for Altidore to chase fruitlessly. The second half started better with more engagement from the midfield, with Dempsey and Donovan both playing further forward. This led to a period of determined pressure from the US, which in turn led to Dempsey latching on to a well placed pass, pushing through the middle and into the box, only to be fouled. Penalty.... Donovan stepped up and confidently dispatched the goal, and it was game on again, but as hard as the USA tried, they could not find the required goal and normal time ebbed away and extra time looked inevitable.

Extra time would be a fresh start, a chance to come out and attack and grab a goal and avoid the lottery of penalties, and our hopes were high that the USA could do just that. But our hopes were almost immediately extinguished when Ghana scored almost an exact replica of their opening goal, with a long ball right through the middle, poor marking by DeMerrit, and bang the ball was past Howard and in back of the net. Bugger..... The only positive was that at least there was another 25 minutes for the USA to once again comeback from the dead, but as much as they tried, this fairytale was not going to happen. We stood at the top of a cold & windy stand and watched our hopes drift away on the chilly breeze, as we applauded the efforts of the US team and watched the wild celebrations of the Ghanaian team and their legion of fans.

The game finished at midnight and by the time we made it back to the car and out of the car park, it was past 1:00am. After a two and a half hour straight-shot through the night, over motorways, main roads, B-roads, gravel roads and dirt tracks, we finally made it back to the lodge, physically and emotionally tired and looking for refuge.... It had been a long and tiring day, and this was only the first of another 4-day marathon session.

Part 2 coming soon....

“The Worst Road in Africa”

Unfortunately the photo’s here don’t really do this 2km track the justice it deserves, as it looks no worse than a farm track in these pictures. But let me assure you that when you need to attempt this piece of road both before and after going anywhere it get a little tiresome, especially at 1:30am in the morning.

I don’t think we have made a successful traverse of this stretch of dirt without either grounding the bottom of the hire car somewhere along the way, having stones & rocks ricochet off the underside, or having the infamous African Thorn Bush gouge long scratches into the paintwork. And even after we get to the top of the track, we still have 5kms of bone shaking gravel road before we get anywhere near what you would consider a real road.

I think we accepted that we would be claiming on the car insurance from the very first trip along the “Worst Road in Africa”, and if we make it through 29 days without getting a puncture or something important rattling off the car, we would have done very well.

Chill-laxing Under African Skies

Not much to report from the past 2 days of chilling out around the lodge, except that we have all enjoyed not having to plan everything around attending a game, or driving to some distant stadium. On pour first day off, and after filling up the car with petrol, (my calculations were of course, correct), we just laid around our suites watching the odd game of football on the TV and making the most the facilities and the warm African sunshine.

Louis, one of the owners of Abloom, has a reputation as an accomplished chef, and the lodge offer meals in your suite that they advertise as being ‘Gourmet’, so we thought we would give it a try as we were actually going to be there for an evening. In all seriousness this was going to be the highlight of our lazy day as we were looking forward to not having to cook or even leave the lodge for a slap-up meal. We were not disappointed.... The first course was a rich tomato and vegetable soup with a dollop of sour cream, which was very warming and tasty. The second course was a fillet of ostrich on a bed of creamy mash potato with a medley of fresh vegetable, and a red wine sauce reduction, which was divine. And to finish off this exquisite meal we had some homemade orange and almond torte, still warm from the oven, with an orangey sweet sauce. Obviously we accompanied this excellent meal with a great bottle of Simonsig Pinotage, (very recommended), and then proceeded to demolish a whole bottle of KWV port between the 3 of us. Suffice to say that we really enjoyed the meal and went to our respective beds, full, happy and some of us, more than slightly drunk.

Next morning we had another slow start to the day before making our way into Pretoria for a spot of lunch at the Cafe Riche on Church Square, and then making a visit to the Voortreckers Monument. This is a huge stone built edifice that commemorates the Great Trek made by the Boers into the African interior from the south at the end of the 19th century, and the subsequent setting up of the various states and South African republics. It is a commanding monument set up on a hill with expansive views overlooking the city and the surrounding area, and like most good monuments you could climb, (actually we used the lift), to the top to enjoy the views. We bumbled around the various exhibits and the museum for a while before making our way back home, via the local shopping centre complex to pick up some supplies for dinner. This relaxing and laid back day was concluded with nice pasta meal and watching yet more football on the TV....

These past 2 days actually felt like we were on holiday for a while, instead of being on an endless route-march around various South African cities in search of the perfect World Cup experience. But the time for lazing around and enjoying ourselves is over for the next couple of days, and this starts tonight with a late game at Soccer City, Ghana v Germany, which is followed by the much anticipated final group match for New Zealand, against Paraguay in Polokwane tomorrow. Wish us luck....

Time for some Statistics

Here are some statistics from our trip so far:-

• World Cup Matches Attended: 6
• World Cup Matches Left to See: 8
• Live Goals Seen: 17
• Goals missed by Yates being in the Toilet: 2
• Games Watched on TV: Too many to count...
• Beers Consummed: Too many to count...
• Distance Driven to Matches: 1,350 km
• Length of Lodges Driveway, ("Worst Road in Africa"): 1.7 km
• Number of Times we have driven along "Worst Road in Africa": 13
• Fastest recorded time along "Worst Road in Africa": 6 Minutes
• Number of Flat Tyres: None, yet.....
• Number of Scratches & Dents from "Worst Road in Africa": Numerous
• Number of World Cup Points for New Zealand: 2
• Number of World Cup Points for Australia: 1
• Combined Number of Horses & Dogs at Lodge: 10
• Piles of Horse Crap outside Yates Suite: 1
• Pairs of Shoes brought to Africa (Steve): 2
• Pairs of Shoes brought to Africa (Yates): 7

Tension and Celebration, in Equal Measures

Having a late evening game to attend has its benefits and its drawbacks; it’s great because we had most of the day to lounge around; it’s not so good because we have to travel to the game while the All Whites are playing and we won’t be back until the early hours. Anyway we did our best, did some lounging around by the plunge pool, had a nice outdoor shower, ate a little breakfast, before heading into to Cullinan to do some shopping and grab a bit of lunch. Mid afternoon we settled down to watch the first half hour of the New Zealand v Italy, before hitting the road at 4:30pm to head off to our Brazil v Ivory Coast game.

Although NZ had played above themselves in the opening draw against Slovakia, Italy would be a different proposition, and even though we were hoping beyond hope, our expectations were not too high. So imagine our delight when Smeltzy toe-poked in a flick-on from a free-kick in the 7th minute to take the lead against the World Champions. Even though where we are staying is in the middle of nowhere, I am sure someone could have heard us shouting and screaming 20 kms away...

Italy Equalised with a very iffy penalty decision just as we were leaving the lodge, and we were relegated to listening to the game on the radio in the car. The African commentator was difficult to understand at times, but the tension in the car as we headed into Jo’burg could have been cut with a knife. All 3 of us collectively breathed a big sigh of relief when the All White made it to half time without conceding again, but I was not sure I was going to be able to concentrate on the driving during the next 45 minutes if the score stayed the same. Boy, it was tense in that car, on the radio it sounded like one-way traffic with Italy mounting attack after attack, and the All Whites defending to the last man, those final 45 minutes seemed to take forever.

20 minutes to go, 15 minutes to go, then 10 & 5, and finally 4 minutes of extra time. By this point I was driving in the slow lane and paying far more attention to the radio than the road. Those last 4 minutes were the worst of the lot, I breathlessly counted them down to my fellow passengers until the sound of the final whistle blew, and I nearly went off the road... WOW...!! A one all draw with the reigning World Champions; it was like all our Christmas’s had come at once, we were so excited and relived.

After that, even Brazil v Ivory Coast was going to be a bit of an anticlimax. We proudly waved the NZ flag all around the Soccer City stadium, gathering the praise and congratulations of many other fans that had heard the result. We even had our photo taken by some fellow Kiwi’s and a bunch of crazy Canadians, who I swear were more excited than we were with the result.

Anyway, the Brazil v Ivory Coast game started slowly, with both teams feeling each other out in the opening 20 minutes. I would say that the Ivory Coast looked to have the better of the play, but as ever, it’s dangerous to give the Brazilians even a sniff of a chance, and when that chance arose, Fabiano did not waste it. At one-nil up the game changed and the Brazilians took full control and it was not long before and excellent piece of individual brilliance, (and at least one handball), from Fabiano once again, increased the lead to two. When Elano slotted in Brazil’s third goal early in the 2nd half, it was game over and the Brazilians took their foot of the gas. Towards the end of the game, Drogba scored a consolation header to make the score 3-1, but by this time the game had descended into a bit of a spiteful encounter, with the Brazilian play-maker, Kaka, being sent off for a 2nd yellow card, after some way over the top amateur dramatics from an Ivorian player writhing on the ground as if he had be run through with a broadsword...! Brazil ran out deserved 3-1 winners, but it had been an interesting game and we had enjoyed it.

Getting out of the stadium and back to the car took us an hour, and then another half hour to get out of the car park, so it was almost midnight when we hit the motorway north. At about 1:00am and about 60 kms from home the fuel warning light came on which made for another period of tension in the car, almost as intense as when we were listening to the NZ game, but we made it home safely at about 1:40am.

That was the last of our 4 matches in 4 days and now we have 2 days off to rest up and relax, before we hit the road again. Maybe we’ll watch a bit more football on the TV....?

The Marathon is Underway

Yesterday was the first day of a 4 day marathon of a ‘Match-a-Day’, where we would travel to various stadiums for different group stage games. We are based about 30 KMs NE of Pretoria and the stadiums we will be visiting in this 4 day period are Soccer City, (twice including yesterday), Ellis Park and The Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg. Ellis Park is just a touch closer than Soccer City, both in Johannesburg and both about 1.5 hours by road, whereas Rustenburg is about 2.5 hours away to the east of Pretoria.

The first thing we have learnt is that we need to leave approximately 4 hours before kick-off to arrive in order to arrive in good time to ‘blag’ our way into the Park & Ride, get to the stadium and through various security & ticket checkpoints, and have a leisurely stroll to our seats, via the beer & food vendors.

Day 2 of our marathon was to Ellis Park to see Slovenia V USA. We left with plenty of time & with the aid of Lord Vader, (our friendly GPS unit), we found and sneaked our way into the Park & Ride nice and early. The atmosphere was exciting inside the stadium with a huge turn-out of USA fan, mostly decked out in the Stars & Stripes, but I did see a few ‘Elvis Presleys’ around the place. It was very encouraging to see so many Americans supporting their team, especially when it is considered a minority sport in their country.

The Game itself was a cracker, with the Slovenians taking an early lead with a cannonball of a shot from all of 25m. The USA defence was all over the place and it was not long before the inevitable 2nd Slovenian goal came, putting them 2-nil up at half time. Yates and I chatted at half time about what a dismal showing the USA were putting on and that they needed to use their midfield players a bit more, stop back-passing so often and maybe bring on a more attack minded substitute. The 2nd half started with a solitary piece of brilliance from Landon Donovan who had been poor throughout most of the 1st half. He beat his marker down the right-hand side, took the ball in from the by-line, and just when the keeper thought he was going to pass it across the area, he blasted it straight through the keeper for the goal.

Could USA mount a comeback...? USA had taken a more attacking approach to the 2nd half and even though the Slovenian were still able to mount some good attacks, the game had definitely swung towards the Americans. With less than 10 minutes to play, the USA got the break they needed when a long clearance from the keeper was headed down into the path of Beasley who needed no invitation to blast it past the helpless Slovenian keeper....

At 2-2 the momentum was now fully with the USA, and when 5 minutes later they scrambled the ball into the net from a free-kick, we celebrated as if they had won the game, only to be deflated by the goal being disallowed. FIFA’s policy of not showing replays on the big screens meant we had no idea why the goal had been ruled out, but the buzz in the crowd suggested a foul or hand ball...?? We would have to wait to get back to our accommodation to watch the replay on TV, and we and the rest of the world were none the wiser.... Shame, but it was a great game full of excitement and fervour, and even though the USA deserved the win, a comeback from 2-nil down for a draw was a good result.

We left the stadium quickly as we wanted to get home in time to watch the England v Algeria game on TV, and luckily the organisation of the Park & Ride was excellent, and we were in the car and leaving the Bez Valley car park within an hour of the match finishing. After a sprint back out of Jo’burg, and another trip down the Worst Road in Africa, (photos coming), we were home just in time for kick-off. On reflection, if we had missed the game it would have been no loss, as England played poorly for the first 45 minutes, and only marginally better for the 2nd. To give credit where credit is due, the Algerians put on a master class of efficient defence, and played a fast paced passing game that left England in the dust. Unless England pull something out of the bag against the Slovenians, who have played very well so far this tournament, it could be an early exit for my beloved team.

Day 3 of our marathon was to the Royal Bafokeng Stadium outside Rustenburg to watch Australia v Ghana. This was a longer trip so we left marginally earlier just in case there were problems with traffic. The trip was a good one along well-maintained motorway, (a toll motorway), and was an enjoyable drive through the country. We arrived and parked up with plenty of time and made our way to the stadium, which was packed with the green & gold of the Aussies.

It was another interesting game with the Aussies starting with a bang and the Ghanaians must have thought that the kick-off was half-an-hour later. Australia went 1-nil up after 12 minutes after the Ghanaian keeper fumbling a shot from a free-kick, (in the style of Robert Green), allowing an attacker to net the rebound. The turning point of the game came 15 mins later when Harry Kewell was adjudged to have handled the ball on the line, for which he was sent off and the Ghanaians scored the resultant penalty. Again we did not see the replay at the game and had to wait to watch the TV later to see what had happened. When all is said and done, whether Kewells handball was intentional or not, it did stop a goal from being scored and laws of the game dictate that a red card and a penalty should be given. This changed the complexion of the game as Australia now had to defend with 10 men for the remainder of the match, whilst the Ghanaians had their tails up and went in search of a winning goal.

Australia just about held on for the rest of the 1st half, but did manage to mount a number of creditable attacks during the 2nd half, 2 of which they really should have scored from. Regardless of this, the Ghanaians could not breach a well marshalled 10-man defence and the game ended in a draw, not the result either side wanted, but at least Australia had score both a goal and a single World Cup point, equalling New Zealand’s fine effort (with a game in hand!!!).

We were in no hurry to get home after the match, which was good as it was a bit of a shambles trying to get the bus back to the Park & Ride. This was the first time that I can say the organisation was less than perfect, with a silly queuing system that funnelled 100’s of people into an ever decreasing gap to get on the buses. We stood in this scrum of a queue for 45 minutes before we managed to get a bus, by which time the queues had almost disappeared, except for the one we were in. Anyway, with the queue for the bus, and the queue to get out of the car park and the inevitable back-ups on the roads and motorway, it took a mammoth 5 hours to get home... I won’t complain though, we are at a world class event with many thousands of other people and it’s no worse than the epic journeys we had getting home on the trains at the World Cup in Germany in 2006.

Today’s game is at Soccer City at eight-thirty tonight, where we get a chance to watch the mighty Brazil take on the Ivory Coast. As the game starts late, I envisage another late night trip home, but I am soothed in the knowledge that we then have a 2 day break from watching live games and we can finally relax and recuperate back at the lodge.

It’s a hard life......

The End of the Line and Welcome to Guateng

The rest of our train trip became somewhat epic.... Firstly, the evening meal consisted of 5 courses, including Soup, Fish, Leg of Lamb, Chocolate Parfait, and a round of cheese and biscuits for good measure. Of course we added a bottle of red wine and the essential port with the cheese and at the end of it, all felt totally stuffed...! So then we went to the Bar and tried out a few different local South African spirits like Klipdrift and Amarula, before turning in for bed. The sleeping cars were comfortable, well, as comfortable as a rolling bed can be, but I think we all got a decent amount of sleep.

The next morning dawns and we awoke to very cold temperatures, no water for toilets and showers, and at 7am we came to an unscheduled stop. Apparently the AC had tripped in the night, we had no water because the pipes had frozen and we had stopped due to a problem on the line ahead. Apparently it had been the coldest night in that part of South Africa for 4 years, and looking at all the staff beavering away in their overcoats, I could tell. So we sat huddled together in the dining car, Yates wrapped in a blanket, desperately looking forward to a hot drink. As soon as we could we retreated to our sleeping car and climbed under a blanket and waited for something to happen. The train was delayed four hours, four long chilly hours, with no toilet facilities and only the faint warmth of the sun coming in the window to warm us up. Finally we did get going and the heat did come back on, but now we were behind schedule, and instead of arriving at 11am we arrived at 3pm.

Overall, even with the delay and the cold, I have to say that the train was an excellent way to travel between Cape Town and Johannesburg. It really did feel like a little bit of old fashioned luxury in this jaded modern world, the food was spectacular and plentiful, and you can’t beat the view from a train passing through the Southern Karoo at sunset.

Even though we had no connection plans, we still had to get a taxi to the airport to pick up a rental car, and then make our way about 2 hours north to our next port-of-call, and the delay had put us behind. After an interesting taxi ride in South Africa’s most beat-up Mercedes, 2 stops by the police and 1 for directions, we eventually managed to pick the car up and head north by around 4:15pm. Sunset around these parts is at about 5:30pm at this time of year, and as I didn’t really have a clear idea of exactly where were going, I was disappointed that we would now had to do it in the dusk/dark. Even with Lord Vader directing us via the GPS, this also became a somewhat eventful trip, as we managed to find our way through the middle of the Mamelodi township at dusk, (not recommended), and then proceeded to get lost outside of Cullinan. After a few phone calls to where we were staying and 3 trips down the worst road in Africa, we made it to Abloom, our home for the next 29 days.

We did little more than dump our stuff, make our 4th trip along the worst road in Africa, and head straight out to find something to eat, as we were all completely famished. It had been one of those days, where nothing actually went wrong, but nothing quite went the way it was planned. Even in the restaurant we were cold, and once we got that cold into our bones it was hard to shake off. It is as unseasonably cold here, and the wind was bitter, and even though our suites had underfloor heating and gas fires, I don’t think any of us were really warm.

Next day we were straight on the road to our next World Cup Game, Argentina v South Korea, at Soccer City in Johannesburg. Even though I had made an error with start time, we made up time on the road, eventually found the ‘Park & Walk’ and made it to the stadium in time to see the kick off. This was by far the best game we had seen to date, lots of action and more importantly, lots of goals, with the Argies pulling out a 4-1 win over a disorganised South Korea. While Argentina are showing signs that they are going to be a force to reckon with at this World Cup, I still have reservations about their defence, and when they meet a more organised team in the later rounds, I think they could come unstuck.

The ‘Park & Walk’ facilities were so well organised, that within 10 minutes of getting back to the car we were on the motorway home, and less than an hour and a half later we were stopping at a supermarket near where we are staying to get provisions and stock up for the days ahead. We stopped again in Cullinan for dinner, (we had not had any breakfast or lunch..!!), which went down well, before making another trip down the worst road in Africa and back to the lodge. We watched the Mexicans deservedly put France to the sword on the TV and all crashed out for the evening.

Tomorrow we are off to Ellis Park to see Slovenia V USA....

Back on Track, in More Ways than One

After the previous full-on World Cup & drinking session, the next day was more sedate. Monday was to be our last full day in Cape Town, plus we had another live game to attend, so we dialled it down a few notches and took it easy.

Personally I lounged around the apartment for the morning, making the occasional effort to start packing some of crap up, but in reality I probably spent more time communing with the couch and watching football re-runs on the TV. Around midday we had the notion that we might want to have some lunch out somewhere, which was just a thinly veiled excuse to find a place to eat that was also showing the next match, which happened to be Denmark v Holland.

We did not get too adventurous and maybe went a block or two along Somerset Road to a bar we had seen before and checked its credentials by asking whether they were showing the match, they were and we therefore duly grabbed a table. The beer was not going down as well as it had been the day before and the football was nothing to write home about, but at least the food was good. I’m not sure why the Holland fans were celebrating their 2-0 win over Denmark so delightedly, as the game lacked any real flow, the Dutch were lucky recipients of a deflected own goal and they squeaked what I thought was a lucky second, and this from a team that were supposed to be one of the favourites. I dunno, call me disaffected, but I expected more.

We cruised back to the apartment on the pretext that we would do some more packing, but again, it was an excuse to watch the 2nd game of the afternoon, Japan v Cameroon. All the pre-match hype was around Cameroons credentials as one of the quality African teams, only to find themselves 1-nil down after some sloppy defending and some cumbersome attacking. So far, apart from the Germany game, the football has flattered to deceive, thank goodness we are in South Africa where the local’s infectious spirit has gone a long way to making up for it. Time to do some real packing I think.....

Would our next live game, Italy v Paraguay, be a more exciting affair...? Well, the Cape Town weather was now conspiring to bring us down as well, as it had been raining on & off all day, but we kept our fingers crossed that we would be able to make it to the stadium without getting a drenching. Wrong.... Three quarters of the way down the Fan Walk, the heavens opened and massive stair-rods of rain, and even some hail, opened up on us, and by the time we reached the relative dryness of the Stadium, we were both wet & cold. Oh well, it would not be my first cold and wet football match, but I don’t think it was what Yates or Fiona had signed on for.

The good news is that we got to see our first live goals at this World Cup, scored against the run of play by Paraguay. Actually, let me correct that statement by saying that Fiona & I saw our first World Cup Goal, as Yates had chosen the exact right moment to nip to the bathroom...!! Anyway, this was only a temporary glitch for the Yates’ter as Italy pressed hard and got the goal they needed to salvage a face-saving draw. The game however was not without some merit, it was quite an open encounter, Paraguay looked like they wanted it a bit more than the notoriously slow-starting Italians, and once the opening goal had been scored, the Italians did at least make an effort to claw themselves back into it. Mind you, after having sat through the dour & disinteresting France v Uraguay game 4 days earlier, waterboarding would have been more entertaining.

Today we were up at a very early hour in preparation of our transit up north, where we would be spending the rest of our time in South Africa at a Lodge called Abloom, near Pretoria. Before I say more on our travels north, I wanted to say what a great city Cape Town is, and how well we had been treated and how much we had enjoyed it. I think we spent the time there very well, taking the time to see the city and it attractions and some of the nearby towns, plus adding in a little football. All the scare stories and ‘urban-legends’ about how unsafe South Africa is, were unfounded, and we did not feel uncomfortable or worried at any point. I would go as far as recommending that if you are ever in this neck-of-the-woods, you should take the time to check the place out, it’s wonderful.

Instead of traipsing through another soulless airport to take the plane and flying up north, we booked ourselves onto a luxury train, (www.PremierClasse.com), and we are taking 26 hours to travel through the stunning African scenery. At this very moment in time I am sitting alone in the lounge car writing this blog entry, with sweeping views somewhere north of Worcester about 200 miles north of Cape Town. We have already had a 3 course lunch, (and wine) and I am looking forward to High Tea at 4pm, and our Evening meal at 7pm. Did I pack my Tuxedo...?

As there is no internet available on the train, I will not get to upload this blog post until tomorrow at the earliest, maybe later, so if you don’t see anything from me in the next couple of days, you’ll know why...

Waiter...., I think I’ll have my Gin & Tonic now please....!!