Day 14 2/7/2010 The End

Wake up to the morning news. Every segment, show, is about the game we are going to tonight, Uruguay vs Ghana, and for only the third time in history, an African team is in the quarter finals. Cameroon 1990, and Senegal 2002. All the newsreaders are wearing the Ghana jerseys. A real electricity in the air. A buzz.
Last day in Nelspruit. Say Goodbye to Kiara’s Guesthouse, our last breakfast at the wonderful News Café. I pick up some beautiful beaded art from Redeemer behind the Nelspruit Fan Fest – a massive Rhino and Leopard. Perfect souveneir of my trip.
Drive back to Joburg for the last time, past the Zebra signs and Hijacking signs. Dive to Adri’s, have a quick beer and watch the Netherlands v Brazl quarter final from Durban. Robinho scores the first goal and we are on our way to the stadium.
Darkness is encroaching as we drive through Johannesburg to Soweto in Friday afternoon, peak hour traffic. Joburg is a hideous beauty at night, as we get stuck in traffic, listening to the upset of the tournament on the radio, The Netherlands defeating Brazil 2-1. In shock.
Bribe the fuzz at the Parking lot again and make our way to the jewel of Africa, Soccer City, sparkling in the freezing night, although at least tonight we are well prepared. Walk past the hawkers who are selling everything from flags to vuvuzelas to coffee and hot food. Chris is proudly wearing his Ghana jersey.
Our seats are right at the top of the stadium, four rows from the back, but impossibly wonderful in that we get a birds eye view of the pitch, and panorama of the whole of Soccer City. The crowd is a sea of red, yellow, and green, all behind the Ghana Black Stars. This is history in the making tonight; Ghana could become the first African team to make a semi-final of the World Cup.
In one of the games of the tournaments, both teams play attacking, exciting football, and Ghana hit the lead with a long distance strike on the cusp of half time. Diego Forlan curves a beautiful free kick early in the second half and its 1-1.
The game continues into extra time, when, in the last minute of the game, a Ghanan strike finds its way into the Uruguay goal only for a Uruguyan to deliberately handball to stop the ball going in. He is Red Carded and Gyan is given the opportunity for a penalty shot to send Africa into the semi-finals. The crowd is ecstatic, a blur of Ghanan colours, a crescendo of vuvuzelas and screams. Unbelievably, Gyan sends it over the top of the goal. The ground turns silent.
Penalty shootout – Uruguay win. But what a great game!
Back home, much easier this time, past South Africa’s biggest strip club, not lost on the highways and freeways, back to the guesthouse. A beer before bed. Last sleep in Africa.