Less than 16 hours to go. I simply cannot believe it. Literally years and years of waiting is almost over. 32 years waiting to go to a live World Cup match (since watching my first finals on tv in 1978). 14 years waiting for South Africa to host the Finals (since our first, failed, bid was announced in around 1996). 6 years waiting for SA 2010 to kick off (since we were awarded this tournament).
Today feels like Christmas Eve when I was a kid....except that this time there will only be one Christmas Day in my lifetime.
I'm not going to blog properly tonight. I've got too much to organise for tomorrow. So I'm introducing a guest column. Paulo Dias is a colleague of mine with a fine turn of phrase. He's also a soccer-mad Portuguese South African who, I suspect, has also been counting down the last 6 years day by day.
P.S.......At noon tomorrow I will walk the fan mile with my kids and sister Colette and her husband Pat from Ireland. We'll watch the opening ceremony and Bafana game from a pub opposite the stadium. Then at 8.30pm it's Uruguay vs France.
Here's Paulo's article.............
"Yoh"
I am not one for soliloquy, prose or haiku – I like to keep it to the point, but please allow for me to wax lyrical and tell you about the week I’ve had.
On Saturday, I watched the USA and Australia play a friendly match at the stadium I play soccer. They defended the same goals I do and ran the same side of the pitch I do. It blows my mind that players who cost upwards of R100 million even used the same toilets that I do.
Sunday I joined 10 000 Portuguese on the side of the road to Magaliesburg in the hope that we’d catch a glimpse of the Portugal team bus. I saw a grown woman cry when the bus passed her. God knows how she would have reacted if she had been as lucky as me and 1999 other Porras to get into the team training session where people applauded Ronaldo stretching as much as they would have cheered a hat-trick.
On Monday I played indoor soccer as usual. The games can be quite tense and agro, but this Monday there was a sense of camaraderie amongst everyone. Late tackles were greeted with “no worries brother”, where normally they are greeted with fists.
On Tuesday I joined 30 000 Portuguese – of which I was only related to half of them – at a frikken cricket ground to watch Portugal play for the first time on African soil. It’s also the 1st time I’ve seen them live and it was more special for me as I watched with my dad.
Growing up my father would bring home betamax tapes of euro and world cup qualifying games a week after they had been played and we would watch them together. This was the start of my love affair with football and the Portuguese team.
My dad won’t be traveling to the Portugal games with me – he reckons he’s past that stage in his life where he wants to queue with” rubbernecks who think they’re Ronaldo, blowing dis shtoopid vuvu-rubbish” – so he bought himself the biggest TV I have ever seen.
On Wednesday is when it started getting really nuts. My 1 brother-in-law – pay attention there are a few of them – calls me to tell me how he had dinner with the Portuguese team after Tuesday’s game. We then all know what happened yesterday afternoon. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life and seeing the Bafana players dancing on top of the bus showed how much it means to them. You can be sure that when their bodies are saying no more, they’ll think of that moment and find that extra something that gets them through the game.
Wednesday evening I was on my way to Orlando stadium to be part of the dress rehearsal for the Kick off concert. On the way, my other brother in law phones me to say that he met Arsene Wenger. At this rate, my 3rd brother in law – who is on crutches after breaking his ankle after a savage stair attack – is going to have Ronaldo law hands upon him and cure him of all that ails him – Hallelujah!!!
So I get to Orlando Stadium to find a full American crew and 5 south Africans huddling in the corner feeling like strangers in our own country.
Let me tell you about yanks – they decide what they want the last minute and then expect it 5 minutes ago.
So there I was – 11pm in Orlando stadium, having coffe with John Legend and waiting for the BEP to finish their run through – I call them BEP now because we’re tight.
What I’m getting to, is that embrace every crazy moment the next 4 weeks are going to throw at you, encourage everyone you meet to do the same.
And take lots of photos.
Make sure your thermal jacket has place to store your sunscreen.
And remember, always wear your sunscreen.
You will never get this chance again so Live it, carry the brand with you and just enjoy.
Because no matter who lifts that trophy on July 11, South Africa has already won the World Cup.
Enjoy the football everyone and don’t ask me to explain offsides to you.
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