Day 4 22/6/2010 All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues

• The birds wake early in Africa. Tweeting and chattering away, they wake us up. Coffees for all.
• Johannes and Lenard are our guides. They pick us up in their 4WD with 458 guns, loading bullets. As we climb out of the valley, we see the most amazing scene. Silhouette of giraffe on road with full African sun behind it. Giraffe meanders off.
• Down in the valley that is the African savannah, Lenard instructs up to keep a single file, nice quiet voices, follow all instructions. We tiptoe through the brush, stopping ever now and then, to watch zebra and impala, monkeys climbing the rocks and cliffs. Climb up ridge ourselves, can see all the way past Limpopo River to Zimbabwe.
• Later we drive to the Confluence, where the Limpopo River and Shashe River divide Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Amazing panorama.
• Drive back to Polokwane to our accommodation where we are greeted by the gorgeous, and I do mean gorgeous, Therese and daughter Natasha, who drive us to the Argentina vs Greece game. Thousands of Bafana Bafana fans are streaming out of the Fan Fest after South Africa beat France 2-1. Even though not enough to progress to the next round, at least they finished on a high and beat the bloody French!
• Outside the stadium, we are let into an Argentinan enclosure courtesy of Teresa's husband Kobus a press photographer. Our Argentinian jerseys and scarves would have got us in anyway. The Argentinans are crazy, banging their drums, singing, jumping up and down in this massive circle, waves of blue and white everywhere. Go Les Albicelestes!!! I storm in and sing along too, although the words are in Spanish and I have no idea what they mean anyway! Natasha jumps up on a Argentines shoulders and starts waving a flag. Then she hops down and gets a big kiss. Kobus rushes over and pushes the guy away, and all of a sudden 100 Argentines are pushing and surrounding Kobus, ready to kill him. Everthing works out okay!
• Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane is open aired and our seats are right at the top of level 3. It is freezing. Diego Armando Maradona comes out and the crowd goes nuts. Argentina fans are the craziest, most devoted fans around. He walks with a limp, but he kisses and hugs the Greek coach and his players.
  
• The Argentinan national anthem starts slowly, almost regally, but then tempo quickens into this joyful noise which sounds mostly like "Oh! Oh! Oh!"Lionel Messi is the greatest player in the world and it shows; he seems to have all the time and patience in the world; dribbling here, shooting there. The biggest cheers are for him and the bearded, now suited Diego. Very casual. Greece has its chances but can't convert. 0-0 at half-time but in the second half the two Martins (DeMechelis and Palermo) score great goals, and Argentina wins 2-0. The crowd is fantastic; if the world Cup was judged by fans, Argentina would win hands down. The most passionate, devoted around. They stand up and cheer - when the game is slow they start singing and chanting, waving those blue flags around. Blue and white banners hang down from everywhere, Most Argentine domestic teams and silhouettes of Maradona.
  
• After the game, we catch up with Kobus who drives us home. Sit back, have a few beers, go to sleep.