EDIT - Hi all, apologies for the delay in getting this posted, major difficulty finding the time and opportunity to get online. This was wirtten at the end of Day 1 but have not been able to get the site working until now. Will hope to get things much more regularly posted now that we are here and things are under way!
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Friday 11th June 2010, 10:30 am, approximately 15km outside Cape Town.
The only colour you can see is Bafana yellow, the only sound you can hear is the toot of the vuvuzela. The sheer weight of expectation and excitement is completely and utterly pervasive, and impossible to avoid. The electric atmopshere really hinted that this country was on the verge of something massive.
We arrived into town around 2:30 pm and the place was complete bedlam, trying to find a spot to watch the opening game proved no easy task. We got a spot in a bar and settled in to watch Bafana Bafana get things started. I have no shame in admitting, the moments leading up to kick off including the national anthems were real 100% goosebump moments - it was so clear to see what this meant to so many people. And what a privilege to be there with them. South Africa started very nervously, but after 15 mins or so they seemed to settle and looked increasingly comfortable as the half wore on.
The first half was over in a flash, and then with the start of the second half, a massive roar of encouragement and wave of optimism swept from Green Point right up to Soccer City in Jo'burg. If the players could only feel the vibes from every single person in their country, surely they could find a way through?!
Siphiwe Tshabalala seemed to put every single ounce of energy into swinging his left boot after an excellent piece of build up play by Bafana. I think it is fair to say he took the approach of 'I'm just going to hit this as hard as I can' but "Sho"..what a hit!!! Phillipe Lahm presumably saw that and realised, OK, it's not only me who can open the World Cup with a goal that will be right up there for goal of the tournament in four weeks time. The Mexican equaliser and then the poor miss in the 89th minute gave hint to the naivety and arguably ineptitude that is a feature of the host team - and served to keep reality just about in check for the thousands of excited fans.
Coupled with the un-inspiring and unthreatening draw between U R GAY and France and the impressive link up play that they showed; they should have every chance of continuing the record of every host nation progressing beyond the group stages. Long Street, a main artery through Cape Town, was completely jumping after the game - traffic at a standstill, people dancing, singing, going crazy. It was incredible to be in amongst it, and considering they had only drawn I can't imagine what it will be like if they can win. The other game in Group A was dissapointing to say the least, but there is a hell of a lot of football to be played over the next four weeks and things will only improve. Keep checking the site for regular updates, and let me know if there is anything you want to know about in particular. Check the Twitter feed on the left for a regular update of where we are and what is going on.
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