Albert Lutuli is installed as Honourary President of República Oriental del Uruguay!!!
Mvumbi looks like he’s feeling La Celeste!
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Tag: South Africa
These fine football folks had driven many miles from Cape provinces to get tickets for the World Cup.
They were disappointed Bafana Bafana will not be playing in Cape Town, but check out their Continental Coming Togetherness! The Bafanki Banfanki are feeling it!
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African Soccerscapes Launched in SA
What a great ride! Launched my book African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World’s Game in Joburg, Cape Town (in photo), and Durban over the past week and a half. Met so many amazing people from all walks of life and broke bread with old friends. The quality of the discussions was very high, with deep engagement on history, culture, politics and everything in between. Was extraordinarily privileged to have Sedick Isaacs of the Robben Island Makana Football Association as a guest of honor in Cape Town and the US Consul General, Jill Derderian, in attendance in Durban.
Been doing lots of press interviews, including one with the New York Times. Made TV appearances on SABC 2’s Weekend Live (thanks Lebo!) and CBC News too. Now that the blog is back up (finally!), I look forward to more thinking with my feet from African soil. Phambili!
I passed by a bank in Cape Town late this morning. Folks had been lining up for their last crack at tickets since dawn. But apparently the system at this particular branch was misbehaving, and some folks, though patient, remained ticketless, and were not amused.
It’s impossible to know the scope of South Africa’s ticket distribution problems today. This was seemingly an opportunity for folks to pick up a few random tickets for the odd game here and there. The ill ticketing of this tournament has been well documented. It’s most unfortunate said disconnects in the system remain.
I don’t know why at this stage it wasn’t possible to print “x” number of tickets for “y” games in advance and just flog ’em old school style from the local football stadiums such as in Cape Town, Greenpoint, Phillipi, Athlone, et cetera.
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On an Ear Plug and a Prayer
Bafana Bafana’s 2-1 win last night means they are now unbeaten in the ten games since the return of Carlos Alberto Parreira. Make no mistake. South Africa are good, and will be a formidable presence in Group A. They are far from the finished article, but there is a growing sense of belief about their game. One senses the players believe in themselves, television pundits are beginning to pump folk up suggesting even winning the World Cup is possible (I like that), and supporters I have been speaking to are now starting to believe too. Such optimism is contagious and will be at it most virulent for the opening fixture. I suspect Mexico will need more than just ear plugs and prayers when they take to the field in Johannesburg’s Soccer City.
Colombia came correct and deserved more from the game. But the home team had the rub of the green. An Ox was slaughtered on the pitch by a 70 year old warrior the day before the match. And the ref was blind. If the game had been more than a friendly, I suspect the Colombians may gone one up on local rituals and smoked the Kenyan referee. This was a game of three penalties. South African’s second penalty was given for a sweetly timed game saving interception, not a foul.
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Storms and that “Carbunkle” in the Room
There was a storm in Cape Town last night. I now know why they call the local Rugby team, the Stormers. The lashing rain and wind forced me to have a quiet night in with the telly. I had not switched on that “carbunkle” in the room since arriving in Cape Town, but I enjoyed its companionship last night. (*As Cape Town’s Greenpoint stadium arose, residents opposed to the project commonly referred to it as that “Carbunkle”.)
Bafana Bafana versus Colombia were top of the bill, but I also managed to consume a lot of commercials (more on those later), catch up with the highlights of the previous night’s friendlies, and also got a taste of network television from the former front line states of Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. I woke up this morning to Zimbabwe ‘showing the Willow’ to India. Two Indians were ran out in quick succession. FIFA could learn a lot from the Zimbabwean technology. The run-outs were quickly adjudicated by the help of a camera. The final decision of the umpire relayed to the crowd through a cable connected to an old set of traffic lights. Cheers of delight went up with every red light.
It’s another beautfiul morning in Cape Town, but last night was a portend of what the rainy season can bring to the game. I got a feeling Cape Town is going to host a classic or two in the knock out stages. There has been a lot of talk of teams preparing for altitude. But progress through Cape Town may require a team that can cope with a storm. (Only three teams have chosen to be based at sea level on the Western Cape: Denmark, France and Japan.)
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Come and Get Your Warthog On
The Australians were the first to arrive in South Africa. Brazil followed yesterday. The local press are reporting the following arrival times for the rest of South Africa’s guests.
The Danes are scheduled to arrive on Saturday. Argentina on Sunday. Uncle Sam on Thursday. Chile and Mexico next Friday. France, Nigeria, South Korea, and Uruguay next Saturday. Algeria, Greece, Holland, Japan, New Zealand and Portugal all set to hit the tarmac on June 6th. Germany, Ghana and Slovenia follow on June 7th. Serbia arrive on June 9th. Cote I’Voire and Slovakia on June 10th. And Spain will be here on June 11th. (NB. I believe there is some FIFA by-law about teams having to arrive a week before the tournament, so expect those times to change.)
And there’s still time for y’all to come on through. South Africans will embrace you; apparently there’s tickets to be had and there’s plenty of Warthog and lashings of Castle Lager to go round.