- Breakfast at News Cafe.
- Drive thru Mpumalanga - White River, Hazyview, Sabie - Drankensburg Escarpment & Eastern Lowveld.
- Off to first game. Meet up with Kiwis at hostel - Paul from Canadia, Ikram from Palestine.
- Minibus to game; real festival atmosphere; everyone is cheering, happy, shaking hands, dancing, vuvuzelas everywhere!
- Our first World Cup Game Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Heaps of Italians. Not so many Kiwis! Go New Zealand!
- Beautiful stadium - giraffes holding roof up, zebra pattern seating.
- 21 rows back in right corner of bench side. Incredible seats.
- Teams walk out; stadium explodes in noise. National anthems.
- 7th minute miracle! Kiwis score; Gold Coast's own Shane Smeltz! Explosion! Italians in crowd shocked; everyone else jumping and dancing.
- New Zealand punching above their weight against defending champions. Suspect penalty in box - Italy was a diver and she went down. 1-1. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
- Rest of the game is all Italy - Mark Paston (NZ goalie) brilliant. Very tense but when New Zealand hang on for draw, biggest upset in years! Italians trudge off but Kiwis stay on for party with rest of crowd and NZ fans! Shake Ricki Herbert's (NZ Coach) hand on sideline!
- Wait in cold for buses for ages that take us to wrong destinations. African time and space. Buses zip past narrowly avoiding cars and spectators. Fans get lifts on pick up trucks, on trailers pulled by tractors!
- Jock n Java is packed pub with three bars, packed to rafters; awful table service. Waitress shrugs, "This is Africa". Paul, Ikram and new Kiwi friends Johnathan, Trish and Pat join us at our table of craziness. Drink beer, eat platter, watch Brazil vs Cote d'Ivoire on big screen. Road below, thousands of Kiwis are in big sweaty throng dancing to DJs!
D
Saw the highlights on Seven News. Italians are a joke this world cup.
ReplyDelete