Natalie and I arrived back in Cape Town on opening day of the World Cup. The whole city was buzzing with anticipation (and literally buzzing with vuvuzelas as well) and the excitement was palpable. After arriving back just in time to watch the South Africa game at home, we met up with Julia at her apartment to get ready to go downtown and join the party. Julia lives in a really nice apartment situated on one of the hillsides above Cape Town and she has a deck with a view of the whole city bowl. Going out on her deck, all you could hear was a dull, constant hum from the all vuvuzelas being blasted downtown. That pretty much lasted all month – haha, poor girl! One of the great things about having so many people out and about for the World Cup was it meant it was safe to walk the city streets at night. It was a great atmosphere in Cape Town, and I’ve honestly never felt safer walking around at night. We were able to walk from Julia’s all the way downtown to Long Street, which would have been a terrible idea under normal circumstances. We first tried to go to the big fan park (conveniently located right next to the m2m office) to watch the night game, but it was too full so we just headed for a bar on Long Street instead. Long St was PACKED, of course – thousands of people covering the streets and spilling out of each and every bar. It was just so much fun to see so many people from all of over the world out celebrating together. A night to remember, for sure!
With all the initial games of the World Cup, a good portion of every day was consumed by watching soccer – what a rough life! We alternated viewing sites from friends’ houses to the fan park downtown to m2m’s boardroom (which was converted to a screening room with couches and a popcorn machine for the duration of the tournament) to fun bars and restaurants. For the England vs. USA game, a friend from work managed to rent out the top floor club of the ABSA building (one of the tallest skyscrapers in Cape Town with a very fancy club on top) for a bunch of us Americans from work to gather. It was a great party! I don’t think I’ve been so patriotic in my life, but it was really fun to get into the spirit of the games. Of course I was also rooting for (or I guess I should say “supporting” – no one in SA seems to understand when you ask “who are you rooting for?”) South Africa – such a shame they couldn’t progress very far! For the next USA game, our friends Jen and Andy had a big party at their house in Sea Point and then we all walked from there to the stadium, since most of us were going to the England vs. Algeria game afterwards. The stadium was really fantastic and everything ran very smoothly. For that game, we even had 4th row seats, on about the 6 yard line! It was pretty amazing to be sitting right behind all the press and the corner flag. When players would throw in the ball on that side, they were just literally right there. Haha, and Wayne Rooney was so short in person! It was so different to watch the game on the ground level, live. It gives you so much more appreciation for the players’ skills and the speed of the game. TV doesn’t do it justice sometimes. Even though the game itself was 0-0, it was still a really great event.
Jen and Andy's amazing balcony braai before the game
Notice the festive soccer ball cake!
Outside the stadium at night
Enjoying the views inside before kickoff
The England and Algeria teams lining up
The vast majority of the stadium was rooting for England, but to make things more entertaining, we sat next to the large Algerian section. Despite being sandwiched between the Algerian fans and the English fans (who have notorious reputations, of course), everyone was really friendly and in good spirits.
Attempted action shots
We were sitting right behind all the official press people
You probably can't tell, but Wayne Rooney is the really short one in the wall towards the right
That's the England bench, so theoretically, David Beckham is somewhere in the picture, haha!
The next game we went to was Portugal vs. North Korea. That time, we walked from the m2m office downtown all the way to the stadium. Most of the walk took place on the official FIFA “fan walk” (a designated path through the city that FIFA outlined and where traffic was mostly blocked off), which was actually quite fun. Walking with thousands of other excited fans, you really get into the spirit of things. And of course vuvuzelas were everywhere. Actually, the vuvuzelas really weren’t that bad live in the stadium where the noise could dissipate relatively well – the only place where they were truly unbearable was inside small enclosed quarters like bars and restaurants. The only bad thing about the Portugal game was the terrible weather – rainy and quite cold! The stadium had an overhanging roof which kept most of the rain off during the first half, but didn’t provide much help later on when the wind picked up. For that game, we were sitting in the first row of the second level section (out of 3 tiers), right on the half line. Those were great seats for watching the flow of the game. Once again, being there in person made you realize how much of the game you miss when you watch on TV and they only show a small portion of the field at one time. Of course this was the 7-0 blowout game, which was very entertaining to watch, though I felt really bad for North Korea.
Getting ready for Portugal vs. North Korea
The fans below us
First the team flags come out
And then the teams file out
Kickoff
There's Ronaldo!
More attempted action shots
And more Ronaldo shots, haha!
Celebrating after one of many goals
After the game
On our way out
The final game I went to was Netherlands vs. Cameroon (Natalie had unfortunately already left by then). I was really looking forward to that being a good game, but unfortunately by that point Cameroon had already been knocked out of the tournament. Still, it was another exciting experience to be there and it’s always fun to watch all these amazing players. We sat in the same area as we did during the Portugal game. A vast majority of the crowd were supporting Netherlands (pretty much the entire stadium looked like it was ready to go hunting – bright orange as far as you could see!), but I was hoping Cameroon would pull of a win. I guess it just wasn’t their tournament, though the 2-1 loss was entertaining to watch.
I’m sad I wasn’t able to stay in South Africa for the entire duration of the tournament, but even just to have been there for 2.5 weeks was an indescribably amazing experience and I’m very grateful. I’m so glad South Africa pulled off a successful tournament (though of course there are many arguments to be made about whether it was a good use of South Africa’s money to host the tournament…) and mustered up so much national pride, which I was very glad to have taken part in. What a perfect ending to a wonderful year!
